Industry News

With hours ticking on the current Congressional legislative session and the White House sticking with its selection of Gigi Sohn to serve as a Commissioner on the FCC, it appears more and more likely that the agency will have a 2-2 deadlock on all votes for the foreseeable future. Opposition to Sohn remains strong.

In contrast, the Biden Administration’s nominee to serve in a National Telecommunications and Information Administration post, once seen as equally controversial given his “net neutrality” stance, was confirmed Tuesday by the U.S. Senate.

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Among the broadcast media tech players eager to meet and greet radio and TV engineers and C-Suite leaders at the 2022 NAB Show, scheduled for late April, is GatesAir.

In late October 2021, GatesAir added audio processing to its Intraplex IP and Cloud Transport products. For those asked to sign off on a purchase order, cost savings is certainly a big selling point when it comes to auxiliary equipment. But, how does CEO Bruce Swail explain to the C-Suite executive who may not understand what this technology advancement brings to broadcast media means in layman’s terms?

He answers this and questions tied to the topics of supply chain concerns and broadcast media cybersecurity in the upcoming Winter 2022 RBR+TVBR Special Report, our all-new magazine that offers, for the first time, Broadcast Media’s Top Tech Leaders.

This podcast interview with RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson offers a sneak peek at what Swail has to say in the all-new Special Report.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Bruce Swail” on Spreaker.

Nineteen radio station licenses — located in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii — will expire on Feb. 1 unless the Federal Communications Commission hears from them.

The FCC has listed stations that were required to fill applications for license renewal by Oct. 1 of 2021 in those states. These 19 stations did not; the list includes full-power stations, low-power FMs and translators.

Each license will expire if no renewal application is received by Feb. 1.

Call sign Community of License Facility ID Licensee KANC Anchorage, AK 198674 Adventist Radio Alaska Corp. KAUG Anchorage, AK 165582 Anchorage School District K282AW Eagle River, AK 139588 MCC Radio LLC KGKR-LP Galena, AK 193373 Galena Seventh-day Adventist Church K296EL Glennallen, AK 73922 Greater Copper Valley Communications Inc. KOGB McGrath, AK 176402 Blessed Hope Baptist Mission K264AV Waimea, HI 152955 WP Media Lending LLC KSEP-LP Brookings, OR 135276 Anchor Network KGMW-LP Chiloquin, OR 192288 Klamath County School District KZZF-LP Klamath Falls, OR 135243 Jesus Radio Inc. KTOD-LP Lakeview, OR 135707 Hope for Today Broadcasting Inc. KLYC McMinnville, OR 6322 Promedia Partners LLC KEZX Medford, OR 23032 Opus Broadcasting Systems Inc. K290BD Omak, WA 148938 Divine Mercy Broadcasting KDXB-LP Seattle, WA 192777 KMIH.org Radio Booster Club K207DC Tonasket & Oroville, WA 49263 North Okanogan Christian Translator KYNR Toppenish, WA 24586 Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation KNLI-LP Waller, WA 197066 Northwest Leadership Foundation KWEW-LP Wenatchee, WA 135720 Wenatchee Youth Radio

 

The post These Stations Are at Risk of Losing Their Licenses appeared first on Radio World.

Vitec Imaging Solutions, part of U.K.-based The Vitec Group, will acquire U.S. mic maker Audix.

Audix makes mics for studio and live performance audio. “As part of the Vitec family, the Audix team and facility in Oregon will become Vitec Imaging Solutions’ Audio R&D Centre of Excellence, enabling the acceleration of in-house microphone product design, development and manufacturing across all Vitec audio brands,” Vitec announced, saying the acquisition should close soon.

“With the acquisition of Audix, Vitec’s audio capture strategy is now structured around three core brands that cover all growth segments of the $1 billion microphone market.” Those brands are Audix, Rycote and JOBY.

Audix will open its manufacturing facility to the rest of Vitec’s audio brands.

Vitec employs around 2,000 people in 11 countries; it is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The post Vitec Will Acquire Audix appeared first on Radio World.

The legal tug of war continues between the Federal Communications Commission and several broadcast organizations over the new rule about disclosing when programs are sponsored by foreign governments.

At issue is the FCC’s order, adopted last April, requiring that U.S. radio and TV stations disclose when foreign governments lease air time. All four commissioners voted yes, saying the change would ensure that audiences are aware when a foreign government or its representatives use the airwaves to persuade the public.

The National Association of Broadcasters, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters earlier had asked a federal appeals court to put a stay on the order pending judicial review. The FCC opposed their request.

[Related: FCC Denies NAB Stay Petition on Foreign-Sponsorship ID Rules]

Now NAB, MMTC and NABOB have filed a reply brief, reiterating their arguments that the FCC doesn’t have authority for this requirement under the Communications Act and the First Amendment, that it would be an undue burden and that broadcasters face imminent, irreparable harm unless the court pauses the FCC action.

They criticize the regulation for its “extraordinary reach and sheer pointlessness” and call it a “content-based compulsion of speech.” They repeated their arguments that a broadcaster would have to conduct an investigation of “every programming lease, even commercial and local programming (since virtually every lessee will deny, virtually always truthfully, that it or another person in the production or distribution chain is a foreign governmental entity, thus triggering the duty to investigate).” And they say the whole rule is in place to solve a “phantom harm never known to occur.”

Read the brief.

The post Broadcasters Again Push Back on Foreign Government ID appeared first on Radio World.

HONOLULU — SummitMedia LLC, owner of stations formerly part of the Cox Media Group family, has promoted its Local Sales Manager to the role of market President.

The elevation in duties comes amid widespread local media coverage of several high-profile layoffs across the Birmingham, Ala.-based company’s five radio stations serving O’ahu, higher elevations of Maui, and all of the Hawaiian Islands via Spectrum MVPD services.

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NEW YORK — One is a 10-year-old independent ad sales company connecting audio publishers, brands, and audiences. The other is a full-service network audio company offering sales, marketing, and affiliate products to some 4,000 affiliates that is a division of Gen Media Partners.

As of today, the two entities have forged an ad sales partnership.

With AdLarge and GMP’s G Networks combining sales networks, “a new dynamic and impressive ad sales powerhouse in network audio” has been created, the companies boast.

They also note that, in addition to continuing to represent top-tier content producers, AdLarge will oversee the management, sales, and fulfillment of the network audio ad sales inventory for both companies. G Networks will continue to offer and affiliate their programming and services through their existing affiliations team to radio stations across the U.S.

Warren Friedland, President of G Networks, comments. “AdLarge has a reputation for delivering innovative campaigns to help brands reach their media goals. AdLarge’s ad sales efforts coupled with our own extremely targeted networks will lead to a better return on investment for advertisers, brands, and agencies.”

Gary Schonfeld, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of AdLarge, adds, “This unique partnership will enhance our already robust ad sales networks, as well as generate greater critical mass and increased coverage of major markets. This is a win-win for the advertisers and the network audio community. The partnership with G Networks will greatly benefit the audio campaigns of our advertisers and agency partners.”

He was widely known in the advertising industry for his five years as Chief Marketing Officer of Sprint, now a part of T-Mobile. From today, he’ll be getting new recognition as the first CMO of Streaming at Univision Communications.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The NAB, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) late yesterday (1/10) filed a reply brief with the D.C. Federal Appeals Court in response to the FCC’s opposition to the group’s stay request of an FCC order mandating disclosures for foreign government-sponsored programming pending judicial review.

What do the groups have to say now on the matter?

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TORONTO — It’s been a not-so-dissimilar family battle to the storyline of acclaimed HBO comedy-drama Succession, which centers on a highly dysfunctional dynasty at one of the world’s largest media and entertainment conglomerates.

On Monday (1/10), the future of Rogers Communications entered a new chapter, as the company now under the control of founder Ted Rogers’ son, Edward, selected its new President/CEO.

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