Industry News

As a benefit to investors and analysts, Gray Television offered a look at its net income and Broadcast Cash Flow on a year-over-year-over-year basis, with comparisons to Q4 2019 and Q4 2020 offered in its fourth quarter 2021 fiscal report card.

How did Gray do? Net income was down, while BCF was ever-so-slightly under what the 2019 level was.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Mark 10am on Thursday, March 3, on your calendar. That’s when the Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by State of Washington Democrat Maria Cantwell, will convene an executive session that puts to vote the presidential nominations of nine individuals.

Among them: Gigi B. Sohn, the controversial selection by the Biden administration to fill the fifth Commissioner’s seat at the FCC.

A vote on Sohn’s nomination is third of the nine on the agenda, with the first vote for Arun Venkataraman, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service.

Other votes are for nominees to serve in roles at the Department of Transportation, Department of Commerce, and the CPSC. Also up for a vote: the nomination of Alvaro Bedoya to be a Federal Trade Commission Commissioner.

As of today, Sohn’s nomination remains highly contentious. And, her path to the FCC could come down to Sen. Ben Ray Luján, who is recovering from a stroke. The New Mexico Democrat is said to be the deciding vote, one that would seat Sohn.

Then, there’s chatter Inside the Beltway that Ranking Member Roger Wicker and other Republicans, likely to include Ted Cruz, would “boycott” a vote on Sohn based on how she answered their follow-up questions. Republicans are extremely concerned about Sohn’s ties to now-shuttered “OTA via IP” television service Locast, and of her tweets that called Fox News a form of state-sponsored propaganda during the Trump administration.

Sohn is also a supporter of “net neutrality,” fueling concerns among Democrats that the GOP is “blocking” Sohn, despite Wicker’s testimony at a second nomination hearing that this was not the case.

While the opposition to Sohn is vocal, she does have an ally in Christopher Ruddy, as the head of conservative cable TV news operation Newsmax has come out in support of Sohn for her commitment to diversity, something Newsmax can benefit from as it further seeks to grow against established news and political opinion-focused cable giant FOX News.

With very tough year-over-year comps due to strong political advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020, broadcast television industry performance in Q4 2021 can’t be judged by solely the topline numbers being reported.

That’s why the 8.1% rise in core advertising revenue in the final three months of 2021 at The E.W. Scripps Co. is particularly noteworthy, and encouraging.

Nevertheless, Scripps’ EPS for the quarter fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has set March 3 for a vote in her committee on the nomination of Gigi Sohn for the open Democratic seat on the FCC.

Commerce has chief oversight of communications issues.

Sohn has had two nomination hearings but as yet no vote in the committee on whether to favorably report her to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.

Signaling that there would not be enough Democratic votes to secure a favorable report of her nomination to the full Senate, the scheduled February 2 vote on her nomination was pulled from that executive session.

The post Gigi Sohn FCC Nomination Vote Scheduled appeared first on Radio World.

CARIAD, the software arm of the Volkswagen Group, has joined RadioDNS.

“Audi were innovators in the automotive sector for hybrid radio, using the RadioDNS standards to enable new experiences of radio for drivers in connected vehicles,” RadioDNS wrote in its announcement. Audi is a member of the Volkswagen Group.

“Functionality like the unique ‘range extender,’ which switches seamlessly between broadcast radio and IP streaming, uses our standards to get the required stream information directly from radio stations. CARIAD will now continue to work with RadioDNS to implement and develop standards for their hybrid radio offering, which will be available in Volkswagen Group’s connected vehicles.”

The announcement was made by RadioDNS Project Director Nick Piggott and CARIAD Development Engineer Christian Winter.

Winter said, “Many vehicles in the premium segment of the group are already using RadioDNS technology and we are looking forward to bringing hybrid radio solutions to the volume segment.”

Other organizations joining RadioDNS recently include Hubbard, Gracenote, G&L and NXP.

The post CARIAD Joins RadioDNS appeared first on Radio World.

Radio World Buyer’s Guide articles are intended to help readers understand why their colleagues chose particular products to solve various technical situations. This month’s articles focus on products for radio remotes and sports.

Radio Sintonía with its AEQ Talent audio codec readying for a broadcast from the village of Betancuria on Fuerteventura.

Radio Sintonía is the reference station on the FM band for the island of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, which recently was the subject of intensive news coverage due to a volcanic eruption on the neighboring island of La Palma.

“We transmit on six different frequencies to provide the best geographical coverage possible to reach our listeners,” said Technical Director Iván Travieso Gómez.

“Our budget is limited, but we are devoted to serve the community and we focus on making what we call ‘street radio,’ with coverage of local sports, events and tourism on the island.”

The station obtained the AEQ Talent audio codec in 2020, but unlike many stations, it wasn’t concerned primarily with “radio from home.”

“Even if we also have been producing programs from home during pandemic lockdowns, we focus on taking the radio out into the street to interact with our community. Also, out in the open, COVID is less contagious than indoors. Further, the fantastic climate of the Canary Islands allows both sports or other events to take place outdoors.”

While the codec is suitable for personal use, the station seldom uses it for a one-man show.

“Talent has an ancillary line and Bluetooth connections. Therefore, we can use it as an ‘OB unit.’ Sometimes we connect it to a 16-channel live sound console, a headphone amplifier, some wireless microphones and a 3G/4G router and we take the radio out to any plaza or town square.”

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Through the Bluetooth link to a smartphone, the team can receive calls and make them part of the program, usually using WhatsApp, which Travieso Gómez said provides very good sound quality.

He likes the simplicity of the Talent control surface and the fact that its Talent Pilot app allows them to manage the unit from a phone.

On the studio PC, the free ControlPhoenix application is installed, which allows him to manage the Talent codec in the field as well as the Phoenix rack-mounted codec at the studio. “We can monitor the status of both in real time and, if required, intervene to modify some configuration parameters or resolve other issues.”

The application shows the connection status and VU meters of both audio inputs and outputs. It also allows them to route signals to the headphones and control the gain.

Radio Sintonía uses the Opus algorithm included in AEQ’s codecs and the free registration on its SIP server. “It saves us from having to complicate our lives setting up one of our own, an effort and cost that is beyond our budget and capacity.”

Travieso Gómez said the Talent has helped the station stay close to its listeners and even improve its audience figures.

Info: www.aeq.es, email AEQ sales or call +34 91 686 1300

The post Radio Sintonía Connects With Talent appeared first on Radio World.

The balance of power between radio listenership and live and time-shifted television viewing continues to tip in radio’s advantage, with greater reach and average audience among persons 18–34 and trending in the same direction for 18–49s. That’s based on Nielsen Media findings.

Radio sales executives have long battled TV for advertising dollars and now the shift in audience size should help give radio more of an edge when it comes to head-to-head evaluations.

Nielsen’s Q2 2021 Total Audience Report shows AM/FM radio’s weekly reach among persons 18–34 is 12% greater than television in terms of average audience, according to the marketing team at Cumulus Media.

Pierre Bouvard, chief insights officer at Cumulus Media and Westwood One, highlights the Nielsen findings in an online video and blog post posted this week. In it he outlines the latest in TV and AM/FM radio audiences using data from Nielsen’s Total Audience Report, Edison Research’s “Share of Ear,” and examples from Nielsen Media Impact.

“The most surprising finding is that TV is being beaten by radio in ratings 18–34. In an average week 82% of 18–34 Americans are being reached by radio. Only 57% are reached by linear TV in a week. So that means that nearly half of 18–34 year old are not reached by linear television,” Bouvard said in the video.

Bouvard continues: “In the 18–49 data you can really see the full collapse of linear television. In 2018 when you look at reach 82% of 18–49 were watching at least some linear TV in a week. That has now shrunk down to 66%.”

TV’s continued viewing slide is evident, according to Nielsen’s report on Q2 2021. For instance, persons 18–49 TV audiences are down 38% since 2018. “Today, one of out of three American persons 18–49 never watch linear TV in a typical week, Bouvard said.”

When Bouvard compares radio and television, the numbers are even more striking when you consider radio’s gains in the 18–49 demographic. Weekly reach for AM/FM radio in the demo is 85% but only 66% for TV, according to the video presentation. Radio is also closing the gap in daily time spent with TV in Q2 2021 with only 30 minutes separating the two mediums.

Bouvard said AM/FM radio is poised to overtake live and time-shifted TV in average audience 18–49 by 2025; assuming current patterns projections hold true. And that changeover has already occurred when considering the 18–49 Hispanic population, Bouvard said.

“AM/FM radio beats TV among Hispanics 18–49. Radio has a massive reach advantage over linear TV. It’s 90% to 67%,” Bouvard said.

Bouvard goes on to explain the collapse of linear television, saying linear TV erosion is fueled by cord cutting and streaming. “For those who stream, half say it has replaced traditional TV,” he said. “There are three types of TV households: cordless, cord tepid and cord content.”

Bouvard concludes his presentation with an added bonus for radio time sellers from the Nielsen Media report: “AM/FM radio continues to have a dominant 76% share of ad-supported audio. When introduced into a TV media plan, AM/FM radio generates an extraordinary increase in campaign reach.”

Randy J. Stine has spent the past 40 years working in audio production and broadcast radio news. He joined Radio World in 1997 and covers new technology and regulatory issues. He has a B.A. in journalism from Michigan State University.

The post Radio Ratings Overtake TV in Some Demos appeared first on Radio World.

With a winter weather advisory in effect for Manhattan, Wall Street is bracing for sleet and a little snow. For investors, that was nothing compared to the pre-market slide for stocks.

Then came an afternoon address from President Biden on how the U.S. will react to Russia’s incursion into Ukrainian territory early Thursday. Investors reacted positively.

In fact, the Dow Industrials posted a 92.07-point gain, to 33,223.83 and the Nasdaq was up 436.10 to 13,473.58. The gains on Wall Street came after the FTSE in London dipped by 3.9%.

Among TV broadcast companies gaining ground when all was said and done is Sinclair Broadcast Group, up 55 cents to $26.33. Also up: The E.W. Scripps Co., rising 55 cents to $22.06; Nexstar, which gained $1.57 to $171.09; and Paramount, up 65 cents to $29.05.

Radio companies moving ahead include Audacy Corp., which continued its rebound with a 25-cent jump to $2.74; and iHeartMedia, which gained $0.90 to end the day at $19.98.

Meanwhile, Apple, which in pre-market trading was in the $152 range, finished the day at $161.83.

Of the radio broadcasting companies reporting Q4 2021 earnings results, thus far all have shown year-over-year growth, even when factoring in political ad dollars in the final three months of 2020.

The opposite was seen in the last quarter of 2021 for Xperi, as the company moved to a net loss from net income one year earlier.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

PQ Media has released its ninth annual Global Consumer Spending on Media Forecast.

The latest edition, which covers trends for 2021-2025, takes a deep dive on digital and traditional media content and technology with respect to consumer spending.

What are the key takeaways from this study?

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)