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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Reach. Trust. Public Safety. Localism. Marketplace realities.

These are some of the key themes reflecting the NAB Broadcasters’ Policy Agenda for the 118th Congress, shared by the organization at time when the fight for AM radio has become a major endeavour and ensuring no new performance tax on Radio remains a key battle that, for now, is being won.

Rick Kaplan COMING IN RBR+TVBR’S SPRING 2024 MAGAZINE: Rick Kaplan, the NAB’s Chief Legal Officer and EVP/Legal and Regulatory Affairs, speaks exclusively with Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson about the priorities on Capitol Hill for broadcast radio and TV, and if the FCC is proving to be more challenging than under previous Chairs. Look for it at the 2024 NAB Show in print! RBR+TVBR Members will get an advanced digital copy in their e-mail!

 

 

The NAB opens its Policy Agenda, which outlines its key policy priorities for the 118th Congress, with a review of what radio station owners bring to their local communities, providing essential news, information, and entertainment to audiences nationwide. With a focus on delivering verified news against the spread of misinformation online, broadcasters are trusted sources, committed to keeping citizens informed and engaged, the NAB shares.

The NAB also reminds us how Radio acts as a first informer during times of crisis, utilizing the strength of broadcast infrastructure to disseminate critical updates to listeners and viewers, especially when other communication channels falter.

Then, there is the AM For Every Vehicle Act, which emerged in 2023 as one of the NAB’s key legislative priorities; iHeartMedia, a key NAB Member, owns a host of AM radio stations with no FM translator companion. With electric vehicle manufacturers signaling they would discontinue AM radio availability, the NAB went into hyperdrive on behalf of its members to ensure that kHz-band broadcasters remain accessible to drivers of all vehicles.

This led to bipartisan legislation in both houses of Congress that would mandate the preservation to access of AM radio in all vehicles sold in the U.S. With both versions of the bill nearing critical majorities, the NAB vows to see the AM Act through to the end.

Second, the NAB turned its attention to defending local journalism against Big Tech dominance. Local operators face challenges in sustaining journalism operations against an onslaught from companies like Facebook and Google. The NAB is calling for legislative action to address unfair practices by big tech companies, safeguarding the viability of local news publishers and promoting fair compensation for their content.

Over the last year and three months, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on local journalism has become a major concern. As broadcasters embrace technological advancements, concerns arise regarding the potential misuse of AI in broadcasting. The NAB is urging Congress to assess the implications of AI on journalism integrity and intellectual property rights, ensuring that new technologies uphold the standards of trusted local journalism that have existed for decades.

Finally, an old, unsolved issue for radio returns with the NAB continuing to oppose a new performance tax on local radio. Even as support for the American Music Fairness Act has all but died out, the NAB will continue to advocate for policies that protect local radio listeners and support the industry’s ability to promote new artists and provide diverse music content like the Local Radio Freedom Act.

As the political landscape continues to go through upheaval in a hotly contested Presidential election year, the NAB is using its Congressional policy agenda to underscore the critical role of radio in serving communities and uphold the integrity, accessibility, and sustainability of local journalism and broadcasting.

— With reporting by Cameron Coats, in Nashville

The WNBA franchise that calls Atlanta home has forged a partnership with a locally headquarters broadcast television company with a national presence — a move that brings more sports to its fledgling Peachtree Sports Network enterprise.

Starting on May 15, the Atlanta Dream‘s non-national exclusive games will air locally on WPCH-17 “Peachtree TV” and across the region on the network.

The 2024 Women’s National Basketball Association season runs from May through September.

Peachtree TV is also available on YouTube TV and Hulu Live, in addition to over-the-air and MVPD distibution.

Peachtree Sports Network is available to viewers via Gray-owned stations in the Georgia cities of Albany, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, and Savannah.

“We are thrilled to partner with Gray Television to get the Atlanta Dream into even more households across our state and the Southeast region,” Dream President and Chief Operating Officer Morgan Shaw Parker said. “We believe that 2024 is going to be the most exciting season yet for the Dream. The atmosphere inside our arena is the best in the WNBA, and we are excited to have a television partner who can help us bring that experience to an even bigger audience.”

The Dream adds to Gray’s list of broadcast partnerships with the WNBA, with the team joining the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury.

WANF-TV & WPCH-TV VP/GM Erik Schrader commented, “Across the nation, interest in women’s basketball has exploded over the past few years due largely to the amazing talent on the court. We are excited to be the Dream’s official broadcast partner on Peachtree TV this season. It’s another incredible opportunity to grow new fans, on the best platform to reach them, with the top broadcasting company in local television.”

On April 26, 2012, The Walt Disney Company and the company founded by Jeff Smulyan, Emmis Communications, agreed to a 12-year-lease of a radio station that over the years had been known to New Yorkers as “98.7 KISS FM,” “99X,” and “WOR-FM.”

That agreement, which has been profitable for Emmis and in December 2021 was assumed by Craig Karmazin’s Good Karma Brands, is nearing its end. A National Football League team’s shift to a new radio broadcast partner has renewed questions as to what is WEPN-FM’s next chapter.

 

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Los Angeles-headquartered global digital advertising specialist — and U.S. broadcast radio and TV station owner — Entravision has decided when it will release its fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results.

What can analysts and investors expect to hear once the Closing Bell on the NYSE is rung on Tuesday?

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Freshly released highlights of a 2023 Horowitz Research survey of African American consumers that are between the ages of 12 and 27 reaffirm decade-long trends that demonstrate how this segment of American viewers overindex on watching TV content.

And, while mobile viewing of television content is strong, it is the use of an actual TV set that is perhaps most notable — especially as NEXTGEN TV-capable sets increase in availability with the rollout of new markets across the U.S.

 

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Can’t stay up late enough to enjoy the NBC television network’s trio of midnight-hour entertainment offerings? Roku is now an option to enjoy what’s just aired over the air, spreading the distribution of post-broadcast video clips from the three shows.

A new agreement between the OTT platform and NBCUniversal means short-form video clips from “Saturday Night Live,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” are now available on Roku. They’ll appear regularly after airing on NBC.

Additionally, clips from NBC Sports will be launching in the coming weeks.

Roku users can find the latest short-form clips from these shows on The Roku Channel and promoted across the Roku platform. Viewers can also access each show’s regularly updated library of clips via specific landing pages, discoverable through the Roku Home Screen and Roku Search.

The initiative is part of Roku’s efforts to serve its audience with a wide variety of quality content for free within The Roku Channel, including more short-form video, it says.

Current and newly launched NBCUniversal apps and services on Roku include: Peacock: The fastest-growing streaming service in the U.S., providing audiences a singular, unmatched content destination TV Everywhere: NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, SYFY, Telemundo, USA, NBC Sports, NBC News, and CNBC FAST Channels: NBC News NOW, Dateline 24/7, TODAY All Day, LX, NBC and Telemundo local owned stations, The Rotten Tomatoes Channel, Saved by The Bell, American
Crimes, Bravo Vault, E! Keeping Up, GolfPass, Historias de Amor, Lassie, Made in Chelsea, Million Dollar Listing Vault, NBC Sports, Oxygen True Crime Archives, Real Housewives Vault, SkyNews, SNL Vault, The Long Ranger, Top Chef Vault, Murder, She Wrote, Alfred
Hitchcock, Little House On The Prairie, Bad Girls Club, TNBC, Universal Action, Universal Crime, Universal Monsters, and Universal Westerns

“The power of the broadcast model and its ability to reach the largest audience of any medium with important news, sports and entertainment content is as strong as ever,” says Perry Sook, the founder and Chairman/CEO of the nation’s biggest single owner of broadcast TV stations — and NewsNation and WGN-AM in Chicago.

Nexstar Media Group is also the controlling interest holder in The CW Network. In Q4, all of those media assets couldn’t overcome the widespread challenges impacting advertiser-driven businesses as 2023 came to a close, with net revenue falling short of Wall Street analysts’ expectations.

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Bext TFLHOP

Bext Corp. has introduced a new FM broadcast antenna.

The TFLHOP is a horizontally polarized antenna featuring an omnidirectional pattern, constructed from stainless steel. It can be finely tuned to ensure a low VSWR within the 88–108 MHz FM band.

“With a robust power input of up to 5 kW per bay, the TFLHOP can be configured into a 12-bay array, capable of handling a total power output of up to 60kW,” Bext states.

The TFLHOP includes an optional mini radome to provide an additional layer of protection, designed to shield the feed point from the adverse effects of harsh icy conditions, assuring a consistently stable VSWR and optimal performance in challenging environments.

“In an effort to address the challenge of rising freight costs, Bext also employs a strategic design approach, ensuring that all of its antenna arrays are designed for compact shipping, thereby not only enhancing ease of handling and installation but also significantly reducing associated shipping expenses.”

Bext says the new antenna exceeds industry standards. Null fill, beam tilt and customized wave spacing at no additional cost. The company provides live engineer phone support for help during and after installation.

Info: www.bext.com

The post TFLHOP Is New FM Antenna From Bext appeared first on Radio World.

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Tomas Granryd. Photo by Micke Grönberg/Swedish Radio via EBU

Across Europe, there are about 413 million, about 28% of the world’s vehicles, according to automotive research agency Hedges & Company. And as in the United States, radio is an important part of the European in-car audio ecosystem.

Given the importance of in-car radio in Europe, it’s no surprise the European Broadcasting Union is thinking strategically about how the driver–radio interface works. Writing on the EBU Blog, Tomas Granryd, head of digital partnerships at Sveriges Radio, outlined what is being called “The Playbook.”

“But despite its popularity with the public, it can be increasingly difficult to find the radio in modern cars. Too often the radio is hidden behind a confusing maze of buttons and menus. Or radio is listed along with connectivity standards such as USB and Bluetooth,” Granryd writes.

He noted that the issue isn’t simply the in-dash interface, but also the proliferation of digital apps broadcasters have created for nonlinear listening, especially if the driver is interacting with the car’s entertainment system through voice controls.

“Today, there is little regulation or consensus regarding how voice control should interact with services in the car. As opposed to a search in a web browser, voice search can typically only return a single result. What happens when you search for a particular podcast name by voice?,” writes Granryd. “If I ask to listen to the SR P3 channel on my way to work, does it start live streaming of our morning show or does it start playing a song called ‘P3’ from Spotify? Without action from broadcasters, we may make it harder for our audiences to continue to connect with our content.”

Granryd and the EBU are calling for the radio industry as whole to act together to ensure radio — including broadcaster’s apps — are easily found by drivers. The Playbook effort is beginning with EBU members assuming “a common, clear map of who are the key players (including broadcasters) and what is required to ensure that audiences can continue to easily find and listen to the content they love.”

The effort, Granryd writes, is focused on collaboration “all parts of the value chain: the car industry, operating system providers, app stores and the radio industry must work together.”

It’s no surprise Granryd has been tasked with coordinating The Playbook project on behalf of the EBU. As head of digital partnerships for SR, he has been leading the Swedish public-service broadcaster’s work on the presence of radio and SR in connected cars for the past five years.

Read his full blog post here.

The post EBU Playbook Targets Radio in Connected Cars appeared first on Radio World.

What’s it like to be a broker today? “I think we are in the middle of a cycle,” says Eddie Esserman, Managing Director of Media Services Group. “It’s very cold but not frozen … Deals are being done.”

On the radio side of the media transactions landscape, “neighbors” are getting deals done with each other. Is this a welcome new trend for the industry? What’s the outlook for broadcast television station deals?

Esserman shares his thoughts in a new InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Eddie Esserman” on Spreaker.

There’s a newly created position of Chief Growth Officer that has just been filled at broadcast TV station ownership group TEGNA, and it is being taken by the SVP/Business Development who has also been President of the company’s Premion arm.

Earning the promotion is Tom Cox, who is now responsible for leading efforts to accelerate TEGNA’s existing digital businesses and for identifying new opportunities. He will also lead TEGNA’s technology and digital product divisions.

With his promotion, Daniel Spinosa will rise from Chief Financial Officer at Premion and will now serve as its President, reporting to Cox.

“As we look to the future, Tom’s extensive experience leading transformative transactions and scaling early to mid-stage businesses will be instrumental as we chart our future trajectory,” said Dave Lougee, TEGNA’s President/CEO.

Cox commented, “This is a pivotal moment in TEGNA’s history and media overall. I am eager to work with our digital, technology, and Premion teams to drive innovation and further growth across the business, leveraging the strength of TEGNA’s great assets.”

Before joining TEGNA in 2011, Cox served as SVP at FOX Digital. Before that, he spent almost eight years in a variety of executive roles at AOL in the business affairs, strategy, and corporate development departments. He began his career in the investment banking and interactive divisions at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey.

Spinosa has more than 20 years of media and finance experience, advising media companies, working with executives and board members on strategic investments, content strategy, deal valuations and equity financing. Earlier in his career, he held multiple finance, product and digital leadership roles at Comcast and spent 12 years at AOL as a senior executive in finance.

Cumulus Media has a lot on its hands right now. It’s balancing a weak national advertising climate while trying to tamp down expenses and fend off a potential hostile takeover.

Newly released financial numbers for fiscal 2023 reflect its challenges. The company posted a net loss of $117.9 million in 2023, compared to net income of $16.2 million a year earlier. Total revenue in 2023 was $844.5 million, a decline of 11.4%, according to a report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Broadcast revenue continues to shrink, though the category is still by far the largest reporting business segment for the company. Spot revenue was off 14% for the year at $412 million.

Even worse was the performance of the company’s Westwood One Radio network, which reported total revenue for last year of $182.5 million, down 20.6% from the year before, according to the filing.

The company said during an earnings call that it generated digital revenue of $146.4 million in the 12 months ending Dec. 31, an increase of 2.9% YoY. Digital represents 17% of total revenue. Cumulus increased streaming revenue by 16% thanks to audience growth from NFL streaming, but podcast revenue was off 8%.

In the fourth quarter specifically, the company reported net revenue of $221.3 million, a decrease of 11.9% from the same period in 2022, and it had a net loss of $98 million in Q4. Its broadcast revenue for the quarter was $153.5 million, down a whopping 18.2%.

Some of that loss was attributable to a reduction in political advertising from the year prior, it says. Cumulus booked $1.6 million of political revenue in Q4 compared to $8.3 million in the same quarter in 2022.

Digital growth in Q4 2023 was up 5% led by streaming. Total digital revenue for the quarter was $39 million.

Nevertheless President/CEO Mary Berner says the company is making some progress. “While 2023 was a tough year across the media landscape, we were able to offset some of the effects of the weak national advertising climate through strong execution in our key focus areas. Specifically, we grew our digital businesses, meaningfully reduced fixed costs, and improved our balance sheet.”

The company reported $14.8 million in cash proceeds from selling its share in BMI. It also trimmed its expenses by $33 million in 2023 through what it called efficiency measures and “rationalizing” its real estate footprint. In all, Cumulus has found about $120 million of annualized fixed-cost reductions since 2019, Berner says, about 26% of its annual fixed costs.

Looking ahead, the company is seeing revenue pacing down in the low single digits in the first quarter “despite some encouraging signs from national advertisers,” Berner said on the call.

Chief Financial Officer Frank Lopez-Balboa said the company’s cap-ex spending in 2023 was $24.8 million and that he expects it to be around $30 million in 2024.

Cumulus, with about 400 owned-and-operated stations in 85 markets, retired $43.6 million face value of debt last year. It reported $675.8 million in total debt as of Dec. 31. Lopez-Balboa said the company expects to prioritize debt reduction efforts in the near term.

The earnings report comes a week after Cumulus launched a limited-duration shareholder rights plan in an attempt to hold off a possible hostile takeover by Renew Group, led by Indian American businessman Manoj Bhargava, the founder of 5-Hour Energy.

Several analysts asked about this “poison pill” plan during Tuesday’s investor call, but Berner and Lopez-Balboa for the most part referred to an earlier press release last week outlining the effort.

As of January of last year, Renew Group held a 10% stake in Cumulus. Renew Group has told Cumulus that it hopes to eventually acquire a 20% stake in the company but Cumulus hopes to throttle its investment strategy by limiting the investment to no more than 15%, the point at which measures take effect to make Cumulus less attractive to activist investors and prevent them from grabbing a controlling interest.

 

The post Cumulus Revenue Tumbled 11.4% in 2023 appeared first on Radio World.

Student Chief Engineer Corey Carpenter, left, and former student Chief Engineer Steve Floyd stand with the new Nautel transmitter.

College radio is alive and well at Virginia Tech, with WUVT-FM celebrating 75 years of broadcasting last year.

The anniversary was marked with a festive alumni reunion weekend and the installation a few months later of a new transmitter and remote control system.

WUVT, broadcasting on 90.7 MHz at 6.5 kW from nearby Price Mountain, operates today as a community-focused public radio station, with studios in the Squires Student Center on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. The students are responsible for all aspects of running this popular station.

Many notable broadcast engineering and media professionals have benefited greatly from the practical experiences and enthusiasm unique to WUVT.

Its alumni are appreciative and supportive. During reunion weekend, a plan was conceived to raise funds to provide a new transmitter to replace its aging system. In less than three months the required funds had been donated by station alumni. After careful research, the university purchased a new Nautel GV5 transmitter and Burk ARC Plus Touch control system funded entirely by station alumni — a 75th anniversary gift to the students at WUVT.

The new equipment was installed professionally as a donation by Virginia-based Radio Cardinal Communication Service. RCCS owner and WUVT alum Josh Arritt and field techs Jon Light and Jason Perdue accompanied student staff and other alumni on the installation day work.

Carrier-current roots

WUVT, in one form or another, has been on the campus of Virginia Tech since its founding as an experimental station in 1948. It is one of the longest-running noncommercial stations in the state.

It began operations at 640 kHz when a student built an unlicensed carrier-current AM transmitter system in a dormitory room. The station quickly became popular, providing music programming and local news not available elsewhere.

WUVT eventually became a formal student organization on campus. WUVT-FM, 90.7 MHz, signed on as a licensed noncommercial station in 1969. Along with other student media organizations, it is a division of The Educational Media Company at Virginia Tech, an independent governing body for student mass media. Its board includes Virginia Tech faculty and staff, students and members of the Blacksburg community.

WUVT is known for its eclectic programming, covering a wide swath of past and present music styles. The volunteer DJs typically are students or alumni, and they select content based on their personal preferences within a daily “block” format. WUVT serves the wider community by offering music and local news rarely heard on commercial stations. Activities such as engineering, management, fundraising and programming are the responsibilities of the student staff.

Sadly, readers may remember that on April 16, 2007, a mass shooting on the campus took 33 lives. WUVT provided accurate news reporting to major news outlets and the local community in the immediate aftermath, showing professionalism and compassion to the world media.

Kevin Sterne, WUVT’s student chief engineer, was critically wounded that day in a classroom. Thankfully he survived.

Those events called attention to the station’s infrastructure needs. Donations from several broadcast equipment manufacturers allowed the station engineers to move the WUVT transmitter site off campus to its Price Mountain site location, where it enjoys improved antenna height and a power increase to 6.5 kW. [Read about that effort in this Radio World story from 2009.]

Today WUVT’s young broadcasters represent the future of industry talent. It is up to all of us to stay actively connected to our favorite college radio stations, offering generous financial support and encouragement, making sure student stations continue to bring future generations of passionate people into the industry.

The station’s new equipment was placed into service in November. WUVT thanks Nautel and Burk for their support and encouragement, and Radio Cardinal Communication Service for the installation. The station now sounds better than ever. Student staff enthusiasm is sky high. And the generosity of station alumni has now positioned this unique radio station for continued success.

Hear the station at www.wuvt.vt.edu/listen-live or search for WUVT on your streaming app.

The post Virginia Tech’s WUVT Celebrates 75 Years appeared first on Radio World.

NASHVILLE — A six-year-old company offering “a complete and robust radio management platform powered by advanced AI” has teamed up with the parent company of HD Radio and DTS AutoStage and station ownership group Cumulus Media for the launch of two new HD Radio digital multicast brands.

These channels, the companies say, will serve as a testing ground “for exciting new radio programs and related services” — some 20 years after in-band, on-channel HD Radio multicasts first arrived in the U.S.

While iHeartMedia and Audacy Inc., to a lesser extent, have been champions of HD multicasts, other companies have been slow to build out channels that can extend listener engagement opportunities and attract more advertising. In some markets, HD Radio isn’t present at all on an HD-1 signal.

The Super Hi-Fi, Cumulus Media and Xperi Corp. partnership seeks to convince the naysayers that investing in HD multicast programming can pay dividends.

In Nashville, the three companies ahead of this week’s Country Radio Seminar (CRS) gave birth to HD Radio multicast stations “The Hill” and “Nashville Songwriter Radio.”

They’re the HD2 and HD3 offerings, respectively, now heard on WGFX-FM 104.5, the Gallatin, Tenn.-licensed Cumulus-owned Sports Talker with a Class C1 58kw signal.

As Super Hi-Fi, Xperi and Cumulus see it, these two multicast stations can be “testing grounds for next generation broadcast radio services and programming in the connected car.”

In particular, there’s a business opportunity at play for Super Hi-Fi, as its “Program Director” Radio Operating System is powering “The Hill” and “Nashville Songwriter Radio,” eliminating the need for a human to spend their time crafting what could ultimately be a niche audio offering.

The Hill is described as a station “designed with the tastes of high school students in mind,” featuring a mix of popular and emerging music across Pop, Hip-Hop, Alternative, and Country genres. Developed in partnership with Green Hill High School in Mt Juliet, Tenn., the station, Super Hi-Fi says, “offers students a unique opportunity to engage with programming and on-air activities, fostering a practical learning environment within the broadcasting field using next-generation programming and operations tools.”

It could also prove to be a competitor to iHeartMedia’s WRVW “107.5 The River,” in a way, as that station has been the default Top 40 home in Nashville since Midwest’s WNFN in June 2023 switched to Country music.

“By partnering with Super Hi-Fi and Xperi, we are adopting innovative technology that allows us to connect to new, local communities with targeted programming by leveraging our HD radio ancillary channels that have the potential to reach different audiences around the country,” Cumulus Media Chief Technology Officer Conrad Trautmann said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The individual who led the Federal Communications Commission for the majority of Jimmy Carter’s tenure as U.S. President has died.

Charles Ferris, a Name Member of the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., in Washington, D.C. who once headed the office, died on February 16, 2024.

A longtime aid to Sen. Mike Mansfield, Ferris played a key role in the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” legislation during his presidency.

A decade later, in 1977, Ferris was nominated by President Carter to chair the FCC. Before assuming the chairmanship, Ferris worked initially as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, and from 1964 to 1977 as general counsel to the U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee and chief counsel to Senator Mansfield. He also served as general counsel to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr., in 1977.

Following the election of Ronald Reagan as U.S. President, Ferris departed the Commission in April 1981, beginning a 32-year career at Mintz. In particular, Ferris established the firm’s communications practice.

“We are grateful for Charlie’s countless contributions to our clients, our people, our culture, and the communities that Mintz serves,” the law firm said in a statement. “We will remember him as a distinguished lawyer, trusted colleague, and cherished friend.”

 

Cumulus Media has launched new radio formats on two FM HD Radio channels in Nashville using Super Hi-Fi’s Program Director platform.

Super Hi-Fi, Cumulus and Xperi announced the partnership jointly. They said these channels will serve as a “testing ground for exciting new radio programs and related services” to enhance radio’s prominence in the digital dashboard.

The formats are called “The Hill” — which involves input from a local high school — and “Nashville Songwriter Radio.” They are now being broadcast on the HD2 and HD3 channels of Cumulus station WGFX, which airs on 104.5 MHz, and can be heard by any vehicles with HD Radio receivers in the market.

The announcement was made by Super Hi-Fi CEO Zack Zalon, Xperi SVP of Broadcast and Digital Audio Joe D’Angelo, and Conrad Trautmann, the CTO of Cumulus Media.

Trautmann was quoted saying Cumulus hopes to “connect to new, local communities with targeted programming by leveraging our HD channels to reach different audiences around the country.” The stations are also participating in Xperi’s DTS AutoStage platform.

The formats “are designed to explore the potential for using the HD Radio spectrum more broadly to deliver human-curated radio experiences that are designed to speak directly to a local audience, with local programming and a local feel,” the companies said.

Super Hi-Fi Program Director is described as a radio “operating system” driven by artificial intelligence.  We asked for more about how the technology is being applied here.

“These stations are curated by the Super Hi-Fi team, and programmed using Program Director,” a spokeswoman said by email. “We’re also working with world-class voice talent to brand and host the stations. Program Director uses Super Hi-Fi’s production AI to create all of the segues as well as insert and mix voice tracks and branding elements. But the stations are hand-curated by our human music experts.”

The Hill, on 104.5 WGFX HD2, is “designed with the tastes of high school students in mind, featuring a mix of popular and emerging music across pop, hip-hop, alternative and country genres.” It was developed in partnership with Green Hill High School in Mt. Juliet, Tenn.

Nashville Songwriter Radio, heard on 104.5 WGFX HD3, “serves as a platform for the vibrant songwriter community in Nashville.”

The post Cumulus Deploys Super Hi-Fi on Nashville HD Subchannels appeared first on Radio World.

With an expected $1.3 billion in political advertising to be spent on Connected TV in 2024, campaigns have a crucial impetus to “get it right” as linear broadcast TV remains a key media choice. Now, a new Madhive local Connected TV marketplace is designed to further boost OTT campaigns.

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