Industry News

Ten more Members of Congress have pledged to refrain from voting for any new “performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge” on local broadcast radio stations.

Their decision further puts the latest attempt by Reps. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to “provide fair treatment of radio stations and artists for the use of sound recordings, and for other purposes” in doubt of succeeding on Capitol Hill.

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Take a look at the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten TV report, and you’ll see auto insurance specialists dominating the Top 5.

That said, there’s also a new entrant that’s particularly notable. It’s Starbucks.

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Their brand mission is simple: they’re “the ones who get it done.”

Perhaps it is a tag line Radio can incorporate to demonstrate how audio commercials can lift a brand’s sales.

And, it can use Grainger as an example, given its brand-new use of Spot Radio.

For the week ending July 11 as determined by Media Monitors, Grainger — the industrial supply company — ranks No. 5 by spot play count.

This puts Grainger behind just Indeed and No. 1 paid advertiser Progressive.

The activity from Grainger is highly positive, as it demonstrates the use of a media for a company that’s proven to be selective with its mix of consumer outreach platforms.

Meanwhile, Capital One is back on the Spot Ten with some 30,726 spot plays.

 

The author is manager of the Media Intelligence Service at the European Broadcasting Union.

In these days of flashy audio innovations — with professionals, the trade press and dedicated events and conferences often focusing on podcasts, vocal assistants and social audio — we tend to forget the central role that old-fashioned and resilient broadcast radio plays in peoples’ lives.

At the EBU, we estimate that broadcast radio still represents between 85 and 90% of total radio consumption, which remains the bulk of audio consumption.

[Read: The Great Unbundling of Radio]

To understand the situation of broadcast radio, we have recently conducted research on the distribution networks used by radio services in Europe and the northern African territories that form part of the EBU, i.e. in 56 countries with a total population of more than 1 billion.

Many readers will no doubt be surprised to learn that our census found more than 12,000 radio services across the area. These are services operating each under their own brand, independently from the number of frequencies or transmitters.

Less surprisingly, 95% of those services broadcast in FM. This sends out a strong signal showing how prevalent FM remains.

Of course, the picture on the ground is more diverse, from Southern Europe where dials are typically overcrowded to Algeria, the sole remaining public radio monopoly in the area, and on to Norway, the only country to have shut down analog FM radio nationwide. Although some countries still grant FM licenses, the total number of services in this band is on the decrease.

The future looks darker for other analog networks, medium- and longwave. There are already 19 countries with no medium-wave services, although the U.K. still operates 69 services in that band, nearly as many as all 27 countries of the European Union taken together, where 74 services were identified.

There are only 12 services available in longwave, down from 21 in 2017 and 18 in 2019. Those originate in 10 countries, with public radio in Algeria and Iceland broadcasting two different signals. The LW band is only used for radio in Region 1 of the ITU, and outside the area covered by our study, in Mongolia and Turkmenistan.

As the reader may guess, digital radio broadcast networks are the fastest-growing. In 2021 nearly 2,000 different services were identified, a 23% increase in only two years, with no sign of slowing down short term. Again, the U.K. is an outlier here, with 80% of the 265 DAB stations identified. Meanwhile, DAB+ continues gaining ground.

And what about international radio? More shortwave services are appearing, but often at a high cost: large, well-known broadcasters are turning away from a bandwidth that is increasingly being taken over by religious denominational and other niche services. DRM, for its part, has not been embraced so far as a viable digital alternative to shortwave.

Comment on this or any story. Email mailto:radioworld@futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

 

The post EBU Finds That Radio Is in the Air appeared first on Radio World.

REC Networks founder Michi Bradley is criticizing the National Association of Broadcasters for running what she describes as a conspiracy campaign against her petition to increase the maximum power for low-power FMs to 250 watts.

NAB has been a vocal opponent of REC’s “Simple 250” proposal, telling the FCC it has concerns about potential interference to existing FM signals, in particular to translators. The association also has questioned the capabilities of some LPFM stations to address interference complaints adequately.

The petition would amend Parts 73 and 74 of the rules to create an LP250 class of service with an effective service contour of about 4-1/2 miles, in addition to the current LP100 service. The NAB has been vigorous in opposition, and last week we told you about its latest reply comments.

REC Networks too has filed replies, alleging that NAB relies on several “conspiracy theories.”

One, Bradley says, is the “crowded spectrum” argument: “NAB continues to [revel] in this ongoing conspiracy theory that claims that LP250 would result in ‘further congestion’ of the already crowded FM band, yet provides absolutely no technical data to support their claim.”

REC continues: “[C]ontour overlap between commercial stations already exists because of the use of distance separation instead of contours in order to space stations apart. The NAB does not seem to have any problem with that kind of spectrum crowding and interference as it would likely involve its own membership. If anything, it is REC and not the NAB that has been the most transparent in disclosing isolated incidents of interference with the upgrade to LP250 and as we will explain, that upgrades to LP250 follow the same accepted standards that currently allow full-service commercial FM stations to be able to be spaced, without regard to contour overlap.”

REC Networks proposes that an upgrade from LP100 to LP250 be allowed as a simple minor change application.

It acknowledges the potential for an LPFM to create or increase overlap with an authorized facility due to specific geographic situations, and says it understands comments from ABC-Disney expressing concern over LP250 and its potential impact on WPVI(TV), a legacy Channel 6 station in Philadelphia.

However, REC says the possibility of any new LP100 stations near Philadelphia is extremely small. “ABC-Disney should not need to be concerned about the outcome of this proceeding as it will have no impact on WPVI operations.”

NAB also portrays LPFM stakeholders as “having no regard for the rules,” Bradley wrote, but this generalizes to the entire service from a small number of situations, she argues.

Further, she argues that “NAB tries to play the COVID sympathy card.” The association, she wrote, “claims that radio stations had to quickly reconfigure their systems to comply with social distancing guidelines and remote operations, newsgathering and reporting. It would be completely pathetic to assume that these reactions and precautions to protect and inform the local community were exclusive to full-service broadcast stations.”

And NAB says the economic downturn caused by the pandemic has severely impacted the radio industry and that advertising dollars which sustain radio were among the first business cuts when businesses contract during downturns, according to REC.

“They fail to recognize that LPFM stations were in a similar situation during the pandemic,” REC told the FCC.

There are 2,159 licensed LPFM 100 stations in the United States, according to the latest data from the FCC. The approximate service range of a 100 watt LPFM station is 3.5 miles radius.

The post REC Networks Sees NAB “Conspiracy Campaign” appeared first on Radio World.

They proudly serve Wyoming’s Wind River Basin.

Now, an AM/FM combo, along with an FM translator, are heading to a new owner in a deal brokered by an individual who knows the lay of the land — Cody, Wyo.-based Larry and Susan Patrick.

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Scott Incz

Broadcast equipment manufacturer BW Broadcast has shut down, at least temporarily, after the death of its co-founder Scott Incz, according to BW’s U.S. distributor SCMS.

The manufacturer’s other co-founder, Roger Howe, died last year.

SCMS President Bob Cauthen said he was notified last week by BW Broadcast that Incz had died but that he had no further details.

Cauthen said he expects BW “will be reopened at some point under a new ownership.”

“As the U.S. distributor, we will continue to provide service and parts to our U.S. customers as well as offer service at our North Carolina corporate facility and provide parts as they are available,” Cauthen said. “We have a significant stock of finished product and parts to accomplish this. Additionally, we will be able to work closely with several BW employees for worldwide service support.”

BW Broadcast makes transmitters, audio processors, monitors and other equipment. It was founded by Roger Howe and Scott Incz in 1997. Howe died in early 2020.

“Scott was a valued business partner for many years,” said Matt Cauthen, vice president of SCMS, “and more importantly, a friend. He will be missed.”

The post BW Broadcast Closes, at Least Temporarily appeared first on Radio World.

According to an amended statement of ownership filed Monday with the SEC, the sixth-largest institutional investor in radio industry pure-play Saga Communications has lowered its attributable interest in the company.

Based on reported share totals as of March 30, this puts this investment management house founded by Larry Fink out of the top 10 of Saga’s Wall Street dollar-injectors.

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The Museum of Broadcast Communications has revealed the selection of the Radio Hall of Fame 2021 nominees, comprised of 24 people and shows in six categories. The nominees were chosen by the Radio Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, with input from the radio industry and listeners. 

 Voting for inductees began July 12 in four of six categories:

• Longstanding Local/Regional (20 years or more)
• Active Local/Regional (10 years or more)
• Longstanding Network/Syndication (20 years or more)
• Longstanding Network/Syndication (20 years or more)

These categories will be voted on by a panel of 600 industry professionals.  

On July 26, listeners nationwide will vote on the other two categories, Music Format On-Air Personality and Spoken Word On-Air Personality. The winners in those categories will be determined by the public and the Radio Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. The outcome of the listener vote will count as one vote among the committee votes.

Radio listeners may vote once starting July 26 at www.radiovote.com. 

The 2021 Radio Hall of Fame inductees will be announced Monday, August 16, and honored in-person at the 2021 Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony on October 28 at Chicago’s Wintrust Grand Banking Hall. Tickets will go on sale August 16. 

THE 2021 RADIO HALL OF FAME NOMINEES TO BE VOTED ON BY INDUSTRY VOTING PANEL ARE: 

Longstanding Local/Regional (20 years or more) 

John & Ken- KFI-AM / Los Angeles 

Melvin Lindsey-Washington (The Quiet Storm) 

Matt Siegel- WXKS-FM “KISS 108” / Boston 

Brother Wease (Alan Levin)- WAIO-FM Radio 95.1 / Rochester, NY 

  

Active Local/Regional (10 years or more) 

Laurie De Young- WPOC-FM /Baltimore 

Mercedes Martinez- KMXB-FM/ Las Vegas 

Elliot Segal- WWDC-FM “DC101” / Washington, DC 

Bob Stroud- WDRV-FM “97.1 The Drive” / Chicago 

  

Longstanding Network/Syndication (20 years or more) 

Dr. Bobby Jones-host, The Bobby Jones Radio Show 

Dan Patrick-host, The Dan Patrick Show 

Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me– NPR

Suzyn Waldman-color commentator, New York Yankees Network 

  

Active Network/Syndication (10 years or more) 

Bob & Sheri-co-hosts, The Bob & Sheri Show 

Kim Komando-host, The Kim Komando Show 

Sid Mark-host, Sounds of Sinatra 

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo-host, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo Show on SiriusXM 

  

THE 2021 RADIO HALL OF FAME NOMINEES TO BE VOTED ON BY LISTENERS/RADIO HALL OF FAME NOMINATING COMMITTEE ARE: 

  

Music Format On-Air Personality 

Russ Parr-host, The Russ Parr Show 

Javier Romero-morning host, WAMR-FM /Miami 

Alex Sensation-morning host, Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) 

Steven Van Zandt-host, Little Steven’s Underground Garage 

  

Spoken Word On-Air Personality 

Alex Bennett-morning host & talk show personality 

Larry Elder-host, The Larry Elder Show, Salem Media 

Preston Elliot and Steve Morrison-co-hosts of Preston & Steve-93.3 WMMR / Philadelphia 

Sally Jessy Raphael-talk show personality 

   

Kraig T. Kitchin, the Radio Hall of Fame chairman, commented: “I’m so thrilled to recognize our 2021 nominees, and look forward to our upcoming in-person induction ceremony in Chicago Thursday, October 28. We’ll not only welcome 2021 inductees, but we will also welcome and honor the 2020 inductee class on that special evening this fall.” 

Dennis Green, who serves as the Radio Hall of Fame’s Nominating Committee chair, added, “It is an honor to chair the Nominating Committee of the Radio Hall of Fame and recognize our industry’s most esteemed professionals and their tremendous achievements informing and entertaining audiences throughout their careers. We look forward to welcoming the 2021 inductees as well as the 2020 inductees to honor them in person this year in Chicago.” 

The Mix Group is a presenting sponsor of the 2021 Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  The Radio Hall of Fame was founded by the Emerson Radio Corporation in 1988. The Museum of Broadcast Communications took over operations in 1991. 

Don Backus has announced his retirement.

He is well known in broadcasting for his equipment sales and marketing roles at companies like Rohde & Schwarz, ENCO, BE and Audio Broadcast Group. And for two decades before that, he came up through the station side, in management, on-air, news, sales and ownership.

Throughout his career, he has maintained close ties to the state of Michigan.

Backus attended Michigan State University in East Lansing, where he worked at the carrier current radio station. His early career included programming, production and on-air positions at WVIC in East Lansing, doing mornings and middays; WITL in Lansing doing afternoons; and WSJM in St. Joseph doing middays and FM programming.

At the microphone of WVIC(FM) East Lansing, Mich., in 1979

From 1983 to 1993, he was co-owner, president and general manager of FM station WDBI in Tawas City, Mich., where he also worked on-air and as chief engineer. His final station role was as general sales manager of the Williams Communications stations in Longview and Tyler, Texas.

His career in technology sales started at Audio Broadcast Group, another Michigan firm, which he joined in 1994 and where he was a sales engineer and digital systems manager.

“I moved into the technology side when I realized that my passion for broadcasting could be channeled into enabling broadcasters to use the newer technology coming onto the market to both improve programming and profitability,” he told me. “I felt then, and still feel, that my experience as a station manager provided me with an empathy all too rare in equipment sales.”

At the 1985 NAB Show

He later joined radio automation provider ENCO Systems in 1999 and held the position of VP of sales and marketing. A highlight of his time there was winning a contract with National Public Radio as part of its ContentDepot rollout to provide 125 automation systems to affiliate stations.

After that he became the eastern U.S. sales manager for Broadcast Electronics, where he sold automation systems, broadcast transmitters and mobile and social media platforms.

And for the past four years Backus has been North American Account Manager, Radio Transmitters for Rohde & Schwarz, where a key responsibility has been to be that company’s face to the U.S. market for its liquid-cooled solid-state FM transmitters.

He estimates he has traveled a half million miles in that position. “The R&S people are great and were a dream to work with,” he said.

Backus has been part of the fabric of the radio technology side of our biz. He has been a member of the National Radio Systems Committee, active in several of its subcommittees and working groups. He also has been a member of the NAB Radio Technology Committee, working on its Next Generation Architecture Digital Radio Working Group.

He’s a director of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation and he served two terms as associate director of the MAB itself. For 25 years he has helped plan the engineering content of the MAB’s annual Great Lakes Broadcast Conference.

“Since Michigan State college radio in the fall of 1972, I’ve always considered myself a broadcaster,” he told me. “I have never had a job that wasn’t interesting, challenging or fun, and most of the time, all three.”

He and his wife of 48 years, Nancy, live in Grand Rapids. They plan to travel and spend time with their five grandchildren.

“The technology, however powerful, isn’t the point,” he told me in a career summary. “The point is the benefit that you, your people and your listeners get out of it.”

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