Is Brandt Hershman The Next FCC Commissioner?
Talk of who will fill the two open Commissioner slots on the FCC has been a part of many D.C. conversations in the last several weeks, with three individuals associated with the American Enterprise Institute dominating the discussions. That's why Hershman's name was met with shrugs from several Inside the Beltway Communications attorneys RBR + TVBR spoke with upon learning that he may be a leading candidate to take the remaining Republican slot at the FCC. More ..
Was The FCC Wrong To OK Entercom/Sacto Renewals?
Media Action Center on Jan. 9 filed a motion to expand the FCC's October Hearing Designation Order on KDND-FM in Sacramento to include the other five radio stations that comprise Entercom's Sacramento cluster. MAC cited shared management, identical lapses of oversight and control, and a jury's finding in a wrongful death case that Entercom/Sacramento as a whole was liable for the homicide of "Hold Your Wee For A Wii" contestant Jennifer Strange. Rather than allow the Chief Administrative Law Judge overseeing the KDND license renewal matter at the FCC to adjudicate the motion, the FCC's Media Bureau handled it and shot down the MAC request. That has MAC and its founder, Sue Wilson, furious. More ..
RBR + TVBR OBSERVATION: This is a delicate situation that sadly involves the death of a contestant in a radio station's promotion. But, this was neither a multi-market promotion, nor a cluster-wide promotion. While cluster management may have had oversight over five other radio stations, those stations likely had no involvement in any way with this tragedy.
NTIA Reauthorization Hearing Set For Next Week
Congress has not reauthorized the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) since 1992. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the new chair of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, intends to do something about that. More ..
Top Tips On Reaching Radio's NextGen Listener
There's a new generation of radio consumers .. and some of them may never tune to an AM or FM frequency to hear your over-the-air content. Chances are these consumers are also multicultural. Do you know what they want and how to deliver it? If you seek answers, a Hispanic Radio Conference panel set for late March is a must-attend for your C-Suite decision makers. More ..
Here's How To Prepare For FCC Auction's Next Step
The FCC has received "several questions" regarding the assignment phase, and it has responded by providing detailed information related to assignment phase timing and bidder education as Stage 4 of the Forward Auction resumes with Round 12 at 10 a.m. today. At the same time, bidding is set to accelerate on Monday, with four hour-long sessions now scheduled until further notice. More ..
NAB: Auction Repack Progress Form 'A Good Start'
The NAB has filed comments with the FCC on the post-incentive auction transition, and the NAB has made it clear that the forms to be used by repacked television stations to report progress on their new channels following the close of the broadcast spectrum incentive auction are lacking a few key things. In its view, the NAB recommends, among other things, that the form be revised to remove any suggestion that broadcasters can or should be forced to operate on backup facilities that do not allow it to maintain coverage for an indefinite period of time. More ..
Who's Joining Pai At MMTC Event? RBR + TVBR already told you that newly minted FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will be making one of his first speaking engagements in his new role at the Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council (MMTC)'s eighth annual Broadband & Social Justice Summit & Fintech Empowerment Forum. It's now known that Pai will be joined by FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael O'Rielly, and that one of the television industry's biggest executives will be in attendance. More ..
Intelligence Brief The Next OOH Opportunity For Radio: Your Car
Is the privately owned vehicle the next frontier for advertisers? A digital tech company based in Southern California thinks so. So does CBS Radio's Washington, D.C. station group, which has become the first radio partner to give its advertisers access to what it considers to be the ultimate out-of-home branding opportunity. Is this crazy, or pure genius? Be the judge by reading our exclusive report. More ..
High Desert AM Sold Ahead Of Tower Shift
A Class C AM in a rural area of San Bernardino County, Calif., is being sold. The buyer has his work cut out for him: The station's transmission facilities must be removed from its present location by Feb. 10, the current offices and studios need to be vacated by Jan. 31, and the buyer may need to reimburse the seller for an FCC STA request giving it the OK to go silent until its transmitter ends up in a new locale. More ..
CBS Surges Ahead Of Dividend Announcement
Thursday's trading on Wall Street brought ups and downs for media stocks, and a day of riches for CBS Corp. investors. CBS shares increased 1.8%, to $64.16, its second-highest close ever. The gains came prior to the company's announcement that its Board of Directors gave the OK on a quarterly dividend of 18 cents per share. The dividend is payable on April 1 to shareholders of record on March 10. On the decline was Entercom, which dipped 2%, to $14.50, and iHeartMedia, which slipped 0.9%, to $1.14.
The RBR Radio Index fell 1.729, or 0.29%, to 600.445. The TVBR Television Index rose 6.110, or 0.63%, to 974.069.
