Industry News

TEGNA has promoted the woman who holds the dual roles of LSM and GSM of its ABC affiliate in Lexington, Ky., to the role of President/GM of its bigger Bluegrass State sibling in Louisville.

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Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group (AMG) has selected a VP of Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships with the highly focused role of representing all platforms associated with its African American-targeted brand theGrio.

Taking the role is Jocelyn Langevine. Her task: to bring advertisers to theGrio website, the broadcast and digital television network theGrio.TV, and theGrio free-streaming app to be introduced later this year.

Langevine comes to AMG from ViacomCBS, where she held both Director of Integrated Marketing and Senior Director of Integrated Marketing titles. Prior to ViacomCBS, Langevine worked at ESSENCE magazine, where she was Director of Marketing & Multiplatform Development of ESSENCE and Executive Director of the ESSENCE Festival. Langevine also held previous marketing and branding positions with NBCUniversal Media, BET Networks/Viacom, and CBS Outdoor.

TheGrio free-streaming app aims to provide super hyper-local news, information, weather, sports, and traffic geo-fenced to the user’s zip code, as well as free movies, television shows, documentaries, and entertainment channels.

Langevine will also focus on cross-platform initiatives and brand integration for theGrio.

Langevine reports directly to Cindy Kelly, President of Advertising Sales for AMG’s Entertainment Studios Networks, and is based at the AMG offices in New York City.

WideOrbit announced a new release of its WO Traffic ad sales and commercial operations platform for broadcasters.

“The newest release of WO Traffic marks a significant milestone in the industry with the introduction of the Electronic Material Instructions module, the first automated solution to address the long-standing need to simplify and streamline the material instructions process,” it stated in a press release.

The licensed module integrates with several material instructions providers including ECN, PremiumMedia360, ITN Networks and SpotGenie. More integrations are planned, including Warren Lamb and vCreative.

“These integrations simplify the exchange of new and revised material instructions, helping broadcasters reduce errors (and costly makegoods) while increasing staff productivity,” the company stated.

WO Traffic v21.0 has other enhancements including more intuitive log editing functionality, a customizable Inventory Analysis Report and improved New Orders navigation with easier property location and selection.

The announcement was made by Chief Product Officer Will Offeman, who called the EMI module “a significant step forward in automation for what was previously a highly manual process.”

Info: www.wideorbit.com

The post WideOrbit Releases WO Traffic v21.0 appeared first on Radio World.

The parade of second quarter fiscal report cards ramped up on Tuesday, with the nation’s largest owner of broadcast television stations sharing their results as the sun rose across North Texas.

For Nexstar Media Group, it was a fine three-month period ending June 30, with earnings per share and revenue surpassing Street estimates.

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One year ago, Cumulus Media‘s stock price was six cents below the $4 mark, a far cry from the $20.90 closing value seen in late August 2018, just weeks after CMLS began trading on the Nasdaq GlobalMarket following the company’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Today, despite some softness across July, Cumulus shares are poised for a full recovery. It just reported Q2 earnings that, while not stellar, easily surpassed Street expectations — sending CMLS up by nearly 3% as of 11am Eastern.

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One week ago, respected financial house Zacks Equity Research revealed that it expected Sinclair Broadcast Group to post a quarterly loss of $4.23 per share in Q2, with revenue growing to $1.6 billion.

How accurate was the Zacks forecast? The EPS was slightly below expectations, while revenue was right on the money when subtracting non-media dollars.

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Radio World’s Buyer’s Guide section turns each summer to the important category of codecs and related products used for remote broadcasting, STLs and infrastructure planning. Read about the latest from AEQ, Angry Audio, Barix, Comrex, Ferncast, GatesAir, Telos Alliance, Tieline, WorldCast and 2wcom.

Also, Ryan Star of Stationhead explains why he thinks the future of radio is in social audio. The Federal Communications Commission looks at possible changes to several radio technical rules. Clay Freinwald will ease back in his duties at the Washington state SECC. And Workbench has a tip about keeping bees out of your feed horn.

Read the issue.

The post Inside the Aug. 4, 2021 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

He’s been a President at Entravision Communications, where he had a hand in launching the company’s national radio arm. He’s also spent time at the now-defunct Radio Unica and at Univision. Today, José Villafañe is both the CEO of Hispanic media rep firm MNA Sales, and national Hispanic radio network Nueva Network.

You can soon add radio station owner to the curriculum vitae.

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The United Kingdom’s Office of Communications is asking for comments about its plan to relicense the country’s two national commercial radio DAB multiplex licenses.

Ofcom is hoping to gather opinions from stakeholders about different roadmaps to renew the national commercial digital radio licenses held by Digital One Limited and Sound Digital Limited. Together those organizations provide access to 40 free-to-air commercial digital radio stations across the nation.

Digital One Limited launched in 1999 and carries three national analog commercial services — Classic FM, TalkSport and Absolute Radio — as well as 17 other services, reaching around 91% of UK homes. Sound Digital Limited launched in 2016 and currently reaches 83% of UK homes. The Digital One license is set to expire in November 2023 while the Sound Digital license will expire March 2028.

The aim of the review is to seek views and collect information in an effort to better inform decisions about the licensing process, said John Whittingdale, OBE MP, minister of State for Media and Data for the UK, who posted a wide-ranging document on the issue. It describes the policy and regulatory issues, lists policy options for consultation and sets out a series of key questions.

He said the goal is come up with a plan that will clarify that the relicensing process for these national radio multiplexes works in the best interests of the commercial radio industry and audiences across the UK.

“We believe it is appropriate to give consideration to the policy on the licensing and renewal of the national DAB multiplex licenses to give the commercial radio operators who use these networks clarity and certainty about the future of the platform and ensure there is no disruption of the services broadcast on the network,” he wrote.

The department is seeking views on three potential options: one, to allow the two licenses to expire and be re-advertised through an open competition every 12 years; two, to amend the Broadcasting Act of 1996 and allow both companies to renew their license until December 2035; or three, amend the broadcasting act so that both licenses have a matching expiry date of December 2030.

A longer renewal term would provide national broadcasters and license holders with stability that in turn would help support the government objective to support a listener-led transition of radio to digital, he said.

A shorter license renewal term would harmonize the expiration dates and allow for a more strategic approach to be taken in regard to the use of broadcast spectrum by commercial radio in the 2030s; for example by allocating more spectrum to national, local or small scale DAB services.

The department is also seeking views on other issues such as whether a renewed license should include obligations for a higher level of DAB coverage, and whether in offering a renewal to 2030 or 2035 there is need for a mechanism to protect stations that are carried on either multiplex from future carriage fees charged by the national commercial radio multiplex operators.

The review period is open now and runs until Sept. 14. Responses can be sent to nationalmultiplexconsultation2021@dcms.gov.uk.

The post UK Looking for Opinions on Relicensing of DAB Radio Licenses appeared first on Radio World.

COVID has disrupted another broadcast event. The Alabama Broadcasters Association has postponed its annual conference until January.

“While we are disappointed to have to make this change, it is in everyone’s best interest,” ABA stated in an email. “The surge in the rate of infections and hospitalizations has to be addressed. We’ll all do our part and put off our gathering for a few more months.”

The conference was to have been held Aug. 13 and 14. It will now be held on Jan. 21 and 22 at Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa in Birmingham.

Companies of interest to Radio World readers that were listed as exhibitors for the event include BGS, Bonneville Distribution, Dielectric, GatesAir, Nautel, RCS, SCMS, Shively, Telos Alliance and Tieline.

The association said people who have already registered can email ABA either to hold the registration for January or request a refund.

Meanwhile, 680 miles to the southwest, the Texas Association of Broadcasters opened its two-day convention and trade show in Austin on Tuesday.

The post Alabama Broadcast Conference Postponed appeared first on Radio World.