Industry News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The NAB; Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC); and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) have filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging a FCC order mandating disclosures for foreign government-sponsored programming.

In the petition, the organizations argue that the FCC adopted unnecessary and overly burdensome rules that impose on every broadcaster onerous requirements to make specified inquiries of, and conduct independent research on, all the entities with whom broadcasters currently or will in the future have lease agreements. The requirements would be particularly burdensome for smaller broadcasters, including stations owned by women and people of color and new entrants seeking to gain experience through leasing arrangements.

In the FCC order, broadcasters — which collectively have many thousands of contracts for the lease of time to air programming — would need to determine and announce whether the sponsor of programming is a foreign governmental entity or its agent. These determinations would be required even if the leased programming (such as an infomercial or local religious broadcast) poses no colorable risk of foreign sponsorship.

Broadcasters would also need to conduct inquiries and investigations at the time any lease is initially entered into and repeat them every time that same lease (with the same, already-investigated party) is renewed. Stations also must memorialize those inquiries and investigations and maintain that documentation.

The new regulations authorized by the FCC’s order are imposed only upon broadcasters, even though the problem that the Commission purports to address — the failure to identify a foreign government entity that is the source of the programming — is almost entirely associated with satellite and cable channels and, above all, with social media and the Internet.

In a joint statement, the NAB, MMTC and NABOB said they are “deeply concerned with the FCC’s misguided attempt to develop uniform rules for disclosing foreign government-sponsored programming. The Commission’s decision to require broadcasters in all circumstances to investigate the source of leased programming exceeds its statutory authority, is arbitrary and capricious and violates the First Amendment. Broadcasters strongly oppose foreign interference in American elections, but the Commission’s order fails to even address this core objective. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”

“Transmission Talk Tuesday” Host Jeff Welton

Transmitter maker Nautel has released its August schedule of “Transmission Talk Tuesday” webinars.

For Aug. 17 Kirk Harnack will join TTT regular host Jeff Welton to talk about the various forms of MPX delivery and will feature practical examples of implementation in the field, including microMPX.

The Aug. 24 session gets into Raspberry Pi. Joining Welton will be Nautel’s Alex Hartman. He will present some of the designs he has done using Raspberry Pi and Arduino technology. Hartman explains, “Mini computers seem to be taking over the world. For well under $100 you can get a full blown computer on a tiny circuit board, with peripherals. You can do some great things with these devices.”

Ending the month, on Aug. 31, Welton will be joined by the NAB’s VP of Advanced Engineering David Layer along with Radioplayer Worldwide General Manager Lawrence Galkoff for a discussion centered on RDS. According to Welton they’ll discuss “how what you put on your RDS can make a big difference in the appearance on the dashboard — and going forward, it will make a significant impact on your stations’ ability to work with hybrid radio.”

The Transmission Talk Tuesday webinars start at noon (ET) and are free though they require preregistration. Sessions are posted for those who can’t make the live performance. Attendance can earn one-half of an SBE recertification point.

 

The post Nautel Releases August TTT Webinar Schedule appeared first on Radio World.

Several leading U.S. media organizations are bringing suit against the FCC for requiring disclosures of programming sponsored by foreign governments.

“The National Association of Broadcasters, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters today filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging a Federal Communications Commission order mandating disclosures for foreign government-sponsored programming,” they announced.

As we reported in April, the FCC unanimously enacted this new rule in April. When a broadcaster leases time, it now needs to ask the “lessee” if they or their programming are from a foreign governmental entity.

“If the answer is yes, a sponsorship identification will need to be placed on air and documented in the station’s public file,” Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel explained in April. “If the answer is no, a broadcaster will need to independently verify the lessee using the Foreign Agent Registration Act website from the Department of Justice and the FCC’s semi-annual foreign media outlet reports.”

The FCC believes that foreign governmental entities are increasingly purchasing time on domestic broadcast stations. “We know that foreign entities are purchasing time on broadcast stations in markets across the country, including Chinese government-sponsored programming and Russian government-sponsored programming right here in our nation’s capital,” Rosenworcel has said. She credited Rep. Anna Eshoo for pushing the FCC to take this action, which Rosenworcel said is “about national security and the preservation of our democratic values.”

But the three media organizations say they are “deeply concerned with the FCC’s misguided attempt to develop uniform rules for disclosing foreign government-sponsored programming.”

They said the decision to require broadcasters to investigate the source of leased programming “exceeds its statutory authority, is arbitrary and capricious and violates the First Amendment.”

They said broadcasters strongly oppose foreign interference in U.S. elections “but the commission’s order fails to even address this core objective. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”

NAB had already told the commission that the rule is overly burdensome because it requires every broadcaster to conduct research on all the entities with whom they have or want to have lease agreements.

The groups say the rule will particularly hit smaller broadcasters “including stations owned by women and people of color, and new entrants seeking to gain experience through leasing arrangements.” And they said these new determinations would be required even if the programming, “such as an infomercial or local religious broadcast, poses no colorable risk of foreign sponsorship.”

“Broadcasters would also need to conduct inquiries and investigations at the time any lease is initially entered into and repeat them every time that same lease (with the same, already-investigated party) is renewed. Stations also must memorialize those inquiries and investigations and maintain that documentation,” they argue.

And, they added, these regulations affect only broadcasters, even though failure to identify a foreign government source of programming “is almost entirely associated with satellite and cable channels and, above all, with social media and the internet.”

[Read the petition from NAB, MMTC and NABOB.]

The post NAB and Others Sue FCC Over Foreign ID appeared first on Radio World.

Among the big gainers on the NYSE in Friday’s trading is Audacy Inc., the audio content and distribution company formerly known as Entercom. As of 12:48pm Eastern, AUD was trading at $3.40, up 13.3% after sequential dips came following the result of a lackluster Q2 2021 earnings report.

While that’s good for shareholders, a high-profile departure from the company’s executive leadership team is generating greater industry chatter.

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ORLANDO — With a tag line straight out of Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard‘s much-repeated presentations of late, the 2021 ANA Masters of Marketing conference is moving forward with a four-day affair at its favored locale of choice — the Rosen Shingle Creek.

The event, which immediately precedes the NAB Show and co-located Radio Show in Las Vegas, has one key differentiator with respect to attendance.

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Broadcast associations around the country are showing their support for legislation designed to boost broadcast ownership by women and people of color.

Broadcast associations from all 50 states along with the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, sent a joint letter asking Congress to support and pass two new diversity tax certificate programs. The legislation is designed to provide a tax incentive to individuals who sell their majority interest in TV and radio broadcast stations to people of color and women. Two pieces of legislation — Expanding Broadcast Opportunities Act of 2021 (H.R. 4871) and the Broadcast Varied Ownership Incentives for Community Expanded Service Act known as Broadcast VOICES Act (S. 2456) — would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to reinstate a diversity tax certificate program.

Similar legislation was in existence from 1978 to 1995 called the Minority Tax Certificate program. During that time, TV and radio broadcast station ownership by people of color increased by more than 550%. Today, however, there exists a dearth of diverse ownership in the broadcast industry due primarily to lack of access to capital, the groups said in their letter. Today, women make up less than 7% of broadcast radio ownership while people of color make up less than 3%.

“Our strength [as broadcasters] is in our ability to cover diverse community experiences and tell stories from an authentic perspective,” the undersigned wrote in their letter. “The tax certificate program will help us build a local media landscape that reflects our communities on the air, both in the control booth and boardroom.”

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The associations also noted that the Expanding Broadcast Ownership Opportunities Act of 2021 and the Broadcast VOICES Act will help to build a pipeline for a new generation of broadcast station owners — one that is inclusive of women, people of color and other underrepresented individuals. “We therefore urge Congress to act swiftly and pass H.R. 4871 and S. 2456 to make sure that all voices are accurately represented in the broadcasting industry,” the associations said.

The legislation also has support from the National Association of Broadcasters. Earlier this month the NAB released a statement expressing its commitment to market-based initiatives that expand radio and TV station ownership opportunities for women and people of color, calling a tax incentive program a “proven solution that significantly diversified the ranks for broadcast owners over its nearly two decades of existence.”

The support comes after the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council called on the FCC in early August to adopt seven new initiatives designed to better advance diversity within the media industry. The MMTC called the 1978–1995 tax certificate policy “by far the most effective vehicle for advancing minority broadcast ownership.”

 

The post Broadcast Associations Call on Congress to Reinstate Tax Credit appeared first on Radio World.

It’s a key position that involves the retransmission consent agreement reached with DBS providers DirecTV and DISH, and with every MVPD across the U.S.

And, Sinclair Broadcast Group — presently gearing up for a war with DISH — has given it to a Senior Corporate Counsel in that role for six years.

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It owns and operates the “River Radio Network,” comprised of a Weirton, W. Va.-based AM/FM combo and an FM translator.

Now, its owner has signed off on an asset purchase agreement giving it three FMs, and an AM with an FM translator, in the nearby Wheeling market.

With Tim Ohalek and Cindy Taylor the driving forces of River Radio Network, parent company Ohio Midland Newsgroup is growing beyond WEIR-AM & WCDK-FM in Weirton by agreeing to acquire the following properties from Forever Media:

• WLIE-AM 1290, licensed to Bellaire, Ohio, on the left bank of the Ohio River. It is a 1kw Class D with 30 watts at night and associated with FM translator W261DH at 100.1 MHz in Wheeling. It airs a Classic Country format as “Willie,” a homage to Willie Nelson.
• WBGI-FM 100.5, also licensed to Bellaire. It is a Class B 48kw facility branded as “Biggie 100.5,” airing a contemporary Country format.
• WUKL-FM 105.5, in Bethlehem, W. Va. It is a Class B1 13.5kw facility known as “Kool 105.5.” It is an Adult Hits station with a playlist ranging from Haddaway to England Dan and John Ford Coley.
• WRQY-FM 96.5, in Moundsville, W. Va. The Class A is a Classic Rocker, branded as “Rocky 96.5.”

Ohio Midland Newsgroup, a subsidiary of Cody Barack-led Morning Star Media, is paying $885,000 for the properties, with Lynn Deppen signing off on the agreement for Forever Media. A $50,000 escrow deposit has been made to Forever by Ohio Midland.

In return, Ohio Midland is spinning silent FM translator W235BX at 93.9 MHz in Colliers, W.Va. to Forever Media for a token price of $10.

The translator will be used to rebroadcast what WOHI-AM 1490, licensed to East Liverpool, Ohio.

Forever Media is owned by Kirby Confer and Donald Alt.

Do you know a broadcast engineer in Georgia who does outstanding work?

The Georgia Association of Broadcasters is accepting nominations for its 2021 Angelo Ditty – Frank McLemore Engineering Award.

Here at Radio World we wish that more state associations had award programs specifically for engineers and technical people and we appreciate those that do. GAB has been doing so since 2013.

It will present the awards on Oct. 23 during its annual GABBY Award ceremony.

Nominees must have 20 or more years in broadcast engineering, with the majority of that time in Georgia. They must exhibit professionalism among their colleagues and a willingness to help other engineers in support of the industry.

Nominations are due Sept. 20. Email yours to mailto:gchapman@gab.org.

The idea for this award came about when the state of Georgia revised its Emergency Alert System plan in 2012; the association worked closely with the state and received important support from four engineers, so decided to honor them.

It was then named the Angelo Ditty Engineering Award after the association’s longtime ABIP inspector. GAB added the name of another ABIP inspector, Frank McLemore, after his death.

Below is the list of past recipients.

2013

Dick Boekeloo

Robert Butler

Daniel L. Davis

Frank McLemore

 

2014

Marty Foglia

Michael Lawing

 

2015

David Williams

Jeff Brock

 

2016

LaVaughn Thompson

Randy Mullinax

Perley Eppley

 

2017

Bill Williams

Stu Graham

Knox Carreker

 

2018

John York

Dick Byrd

Vic Lester

 

2019

James Gay

Tom Giglio

Bob Helbush

 

2020

Phil Baker

Jim Gantner

Charlie Harrell

 

The post Nominate a Georgia Broadcast Engineer appeared first on Radio World.

Given what MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson calls The Walt Disney Co.‘s “relatively flat share price performance” through the first 8 1/2 months of 2021, his Wall Street financial house believes there is “ongoing tension” in the market between those that look at the drivers of Disney’s Earnings Per Share and those that look at the drivers of Disney’s valuation multiple.

What is the main driver right now? Theme parks are driving the U.S., not Disney+. The latter is fueled by international growth.

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