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By Renee Cassis

NEW YORK — It’s a new hybrid model that resulted in record attendance for the Television Bureau of Advertising’s annual autumn Forward Conference. With more than 4,000 virtual attendees enjoying a daylong session including a multitrack afternoon program full of “Thought Leaders,” a crowd of over 100 television executives gathered for a live General Session across the morning hours at the event’s familiar Chelsea Piers venue on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan.

The combination of an intimate in-person affair and a more in-depth online program proved to be a big success, allowing attendees to gain insight and knowledge on a host of vitally important topics to TV industry leaders — most notably, measurement.

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Colorado Public Radio’s headquarters has some new residents —150,000 of them to be precise.

Three beehives have found their permanent home on the roof of CPR’s building in Centennial, Colo. The colorful box hives were installed on August 22 with approximately 50,000 bees in each one. While the thought of countless pollinators on your roof may leave some station owners beemused, according to a CPR press release, the unlikely pairing is the result of a blooming partnership with Free Range Beehives.

“When we found out this was an option for our building, we began exploring it right away,” said Stewart Vanderwilt, president and CEO of CPR, in the release. “It’s a great opportunity for us to improve our environmental stewardship by taking an unused space and providing a home for thousands of honeybees.”

Free Range Beehive’s mission is to provide employee wellness programs centered around the health and well-being of local honeybee populations by caring for beehives on corporate properties.

According to CPR, the location of its headquarters and the available space, in addition to the partnership with Free Range Beehives, all proved to be a match made in heaven — sweeter than honey, if you will.

“There are numerous pollinator-friendly plants in the area to keep the honeybee populations thriving,” said CPR. “Throughout the fall, the bees will fill their hives with honey, about 90 pounds in each one. This insulation will protect them through the winter, and they will reemerge in the spring.”

Mike Rosol, CEO and co-founder of Free Range Beehives said, “Our organizations share similar values, serving our communities with respect, inclusiveness and curiosity. We strive to educate professionals in their work setting so that they can make better individual choices at home on how to support the honeybee population. It is great to partner with another organization that cares about and supports the communities we live in.”

As the beehives at CPR are on the roof, they will be inaccessible to employees. CPR did say, however, that its staff looks forward to the homemade honey at the end of the season.

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The post Colorado Public Radio Installs Beehives on Roof appeared first on Radio World.

“Political advertising has been a real motivating and mainly a good thing for us in 2022.”

That’s how Steven Passwaiter, Vice President of Growth & Strategy in the Media Intelligence division of Kantar and a CMAG Senior Advisor, began a TVB Forward Conference presentation midday Thursday that offered a plethora of fresh data on how political ad dollars are trending across the 2022 election season.

“It’s one for the record books,” he said before sharing 2018 and 2020 political ad dollars. With 47 days until Election Day, we are now 10% over the presidential year and 50% over 2018.

Even more, Kantar has upped its record-breaking political ad spending estimate to $9 billion. Los Angeles and Las Vegas are attracting many of those ad dollars. The No. 1 station for political ad revenue? It’s Cox Media Group‘s flagship property, WSB-2 in Atlanta.

The issues most coming up in advertising? Inflation, reproductive rights, healthcare and public safety are tops. 

What another big takeaways did Passwaiter share? They’re all here in this special InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, recorded live on September 22 at Chelsea Piers in New York to close out the live General Session of the TVB Forward Conference.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Steven Passwaiter at TVB Forward” on Spreaker.

Nielsen Holdings has revealed that several groups of debtholders have amended the terms of previously announced cash tender offers.

The key takeaway: The expiry date was extended to the Jewish Day of Atonement.

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Barix announced new features for its IP Audio Client family of IP audio decoders and amplifiers, which are used in applications like paging, emergency notifications and public address systems. 

“New functionality includes integrated scheduling for recurring announcements, rotational advertisements and background music playlists; a REST-based application programming interface (API) for integration with third-party solutions; a built-in parametric audio equalizer; and RTP stream forwarding,” the company said in an announcement.

The new scheduling features offer three types of scheduled audio playback. Recurring “fixed time” messages such as bells and time-specific announcements can be scheduled across a week, while “rotations” enable multiple messages such as advertisements to be played in a specified order and interval. 

Playlists of files stored internally can be scheduled for background music playout. Scheduled playback can be prioritized relative to other decoder sources such as live streams and paging messages.

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The new REST API lets developers integrate IPAC decoders with their own custom management systems and software applications.

The features are part of the recently released version 2.9 IPAC firmware. 

Relevant products include the IP Former TPA400 decoder with amplified output for 4-ohm loudspeakers; Exstreamer M400 decoder with line-level analog audio output; and Exstreamer MPA400 decoder/amplifier with up to 40-watt audio output for 2- to 8-ohm analog speakers. 

The post Barix Upgrades the IPAC Family appeared first on Radio World.

MIAMI — Earlier this week, RBR+TVBR confirmed that Christopher Wood, Univision’s SVP/Associate General Counsel for Governmental and Regulatory Affairs, quietly exited in June.

Now, his successor has been appointed to the NAB Television Board of Directors. And, it is the first public acknowledgment of a transition at TelevisaUnivision.

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A new GatesAir Flexiva 7.5 kW FM transmitter is on the air at WKHS, the voice of Kent County High School in Worton, Md. 

Station Manager Chris Singleton switched over from the station’s old Harris HT7 in mid-August. The transmitter was sold by distributor SCMS and fired up with an assist from Brian Szewczyk from GatesAir. Singleton said the Flexiva sits on the same spot on the floor where the station’s original Gates FM-3H3 once stood, installed in 1973. 

An FM Class B1 station broadcasting at 90.5 MHz, WKHS describes itself as one of the most powerful high school stations in the country. 

“At 17,500 watts with flat terrain all around, our signal can be heard for up to 60 miles in any direction,” it states on its website. “In a time when many educational stations are being scuttled to divert funding elsewhere, we are proud to continue to inform and entertain our listening audience, while training the broadcasters of tomorrow.”

Click to toggle between photos. 

Its STL system is a Barix Exstreamer 500 over a fiber connection across campus. Audio processing is an Orban 5500i. The remote control is a Burk Arc Solo, which is also connected to an MCI Series 61000 coaxial transfer switch, using the Harris HT7 as an aux transmitter.

The antenna system was upgraded in 2009 with a Shively 6810 six-bay that replaced the original Gates horizontally polarized system that had been installed in 1973. The 198-foot tower is the original Utility Tower constructed in 1973 and reguyed in 2011. 

The station plays a diverse music format for all ages of listeners. It positions itself as “Public Radio: Music for Everyone” and “Maryland’s only high school student public radio station on the FM dial.”

WKHS renovated its studios in 2018 and will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024.

[See Our Who’s Buying What Page]

The post WKHS Fires Up New Flexiva appeared first on Radio World.

The Georgia Association of Broadcasters has named the 2022 recipients of its Angelo Ditty – Frank McLemore Engineering Award.

They are Sandy Griffin of WYAY/ABC Capital Cities/WDUN/Jacobs Media; John George, GAB ABIP Coordinator; Charles Kinney of Radio One Atlanta/Cox Radio Atlanta/Cox Media Group Atlanta; and C.B. Gaffney- DBC Savannah/Audacy Atlanta.

“This award recognizes exceptional broadcast engineers who have had a lasting impact on the radio and television stations in the state of Georgia,” the association said. “Beyond their own stations that they have kept on the air, they must also demonstrate professionalism among their colleagues and a willingness to help and support other engineers in the support of the industry.”

They’ll be honored at an event at the annual convention of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters next month.

Angelo Ditty was an FCC inspector for decades who later worked as an Alternate Broadcast Inspection Program inspector for GAB for more than 20 years. He died in 2012.

Frank McLemore was also a former commission agent/inspector and inspector for the ABIP. He passed in 2017.

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The post GAB Honors Broadcast Engineers appeared first on Radio World.

From our Who’s Buying What page: Sound agency TM Studios was hired by Boost Radio to create a suite of elements, sound design, IDs and jingles to help it brand the station across its network and into major markets in which it is expanding. 

Boost Radio is a rhythmic Christian format; Mike Couchman is program director. It describes its format as “Pop, hip hop and hope music that moves you. Songs you can move to. And DJs who keep things fun, clean and positive.”

TM Studios co-owner Dave Bethell said the new imaging used talent in Dallas, Los Angeles and the markets in which Boost is heard. “We created a package of IDs that are a hybrid: part jingle, part sweeper, featuring vocalists, rappers, and Boosts’ station voices.”

The supplier posted a sample of the sound on YouTube.

[See Our Who’s Buying What Page]

The post Boost Radio Deploys TM Studios Package appeared first on Radio World.

Smart speaker growth in the U.S. market has plateaued, and AM/FM radio stations are benefiting from these devices being in U.S. homes. Those are two of eight conclusions about smart speakers contained in the Cumulus Media 2022 Audioscape PowerPoint document. It is based on data from Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” Q2 2022 Report. 

Here are those conclusions in order, as cited from Cumulus Media’s Westwood One blog (Westwood One) that succinctly summarized the Audioscape data. It was written by Pierre Bouvard, the Chief Insights Officer of the Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group. A combined link for the blog and report can be found at the end of this article.

Smart speaker ownership has stalled Pierre Bouvard

According to the Westwood One blog, smart speaker ownership in the U.S. soared from 7% to 33% from 2017 to 2020. “The pandemic froze purchases until Christmas 2021 when ownership jumped to 40% in Q1 2021,” Bouvard says. “Since then, ownership has stalled with no post-Christmas ‘pop’ in 2021.” 

As for why? “Perhaps ownership rates have stalled due to limited consumer applications besides playing music and answering simple questions,” says Bouvard. “Since smart speakers are inherently at-home devices, consumer interest and attention might be more focused on out-of-home activities in the post-pandemic era.”

Smart speakers skew younger

According to the Westwood One blog, 46% of Americans 13-34 who were surveyed own smart speakers. This rate drops to 44% for the 35-54 demographic and 27% for those over 55, “perhaps due to limited perceived benefits,” Bouvard observes. “It is interesting to note that the older the demo, the greater the growth in smart speaker ownership.”

The growth of radio streaming on U.S. smart speakers has also slowed, in pace with ownership growth

“According to Triton Digital, since 2021, AM/FM radio streaming via smart speakers has stabilized, growing slightly from 25% to 27%,” says Bouvard. “It is impressive that in five years, over a quarter of total AM/FM radio streaming is now occurring via smart speakers.”

[Related: “Use of Voice Commands Is on the Rise“]

Smart speakers are often the only “radio devices” in U.S. homes

Unexpected good news: The decline in tabletop radios in US homes is being offset by smart speaker streaming AM/FM radio in these spaces. This is because smart speakers “are now more likely to be the only ‘radio device’ in the home,” Bouvard says. “Edison’s recent Infinite Dial study revealed that 40% of smart speaker owners do not have a radio in their home, up from 28% in 2018.”

Alexa rules

Based on its analysis of Edison Research’s data, the Cumulus Media Audioscape report says that Amazon Alexa smart speakers have 80% penetration in U.S. homes. “32% of smart speaker homes have a Google Home,” Bouvard notes. “12% of homes own both devices.”

So does Amazon Music

“Given Alexa’s dominant device footprint, it is no surprise that Amazon Music is the most listened to platform on smart speakers,” says Bouvard. “According to Edison’s ‘Share of Ear’ Q2 2022, 20% of all tuning minutes on smart speakers goes to Amazon Music.” For the record, YouTube videos come second at 12% and AM/FM radio is tied with SiriusXM at 11%, followed by Spotify at 10%, podcasts at 8%, audiobooks at 7% and Pandora at 5%, among others.

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 Promoting radio playback on smart speakers pays off

Proving once again that radio advertising works, the Westwood One blog reports that promoting AM/FM radio feeds on smart speakers motivates people to listen to them. “AM/FM radio stations are consistently number one in ad-supported audio shares on smart speaker devices,” Bouvard says. “No wonder as streaming now represents 16% of all time spent on AM/FM radio.”

The larger the market, the more smart speaker penetration

Just as with podcast listener rates, “smart speaker ownership over-indexes in top markets and under-indexes in smaller markets,” says Bouvard. “In the top 10 DMAs, smart speaker ownership is 17% more likely than average. In markets 51 and smaller, ownership is 20% less likely.”

Pierre Bouvard’s Westwood One blog and the Cumulus Media 2022 Audioscape document can be accessed here.

The post Has the Smart Speaker Spurt Stopped? appeared first on Radio World.

Phoenix, AR – Job Description and Responsibilities:
KFNX is Arizona’s Fastest Growing Radio Station: The home of the CBS Radio Network, and Arizona Wildcats sports, plus many of the biggest names in Talk Radio, like Brian Kilmeade, Dan Bongino, “Markley Van Kamp & Robbins”, Joe Pags and Guy Benson. They are five of the “Top 100” Talk Radio Hosts in America according to industry trade publication Talkers.com KFNX operates at a power of 50,000 watts, the highest transmitter output authorized by the Federal Communications Commission—and covers much of Central and Southern Arizona including all of Metro Phoenix and Maricopa County. KFNX Radio is expanding its sales staff and has an immediate opening for a highly motivated and proven sales professional. If you’re an ambitious self-starter and have outside sales experience, then we’re looking for you! KFNX revenue has increased 15% year-over-year each of the last 3 years. Don’t let the exciting world of media sales pass you by! Apply now to be the next KFNX Sales Superstar.

Responsibilities include; telephone and in-person outreach to advertisers and prospective advertisers, preparation of sales proposals providing customized advertising solutions, creation of client creative campaigns, sales reports to the VP/Sales and attendance at sales meetings. Comprehensive education and ongoing training will be provided by KFNX management and the Radio Advertising Bureau. KFNX also provides competitive compensation and fully paid health insurance.

Qualifications:
The right candidate will have strong marketing, phone and presentation skills, be organized and detail-oriented plus possess a strong desire to excel. You will meet and work with major players in the Metro Phoenix business and governmental community in your position as a KFNX Account Executive.

Candidates should possess an enthusiastic and positive attitude, strong written and oral communication ability and organizational and time management skills. A car in working order, car insurance, and a valid driver’s license are required. The candidate must pass a drug test, credit and background check.

Applicant must have computer knowledge – including Social Media, Internet, Windows programs (or their equivalent such as Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint and others)

Work Experience: Prior broadcast sales or outside sales experience preferred
Education: College Degree a plus
Job Status: Full Time Compensation: Salary + Commission
Benefits: Health Insurance Location: Phoenix, AZ
Website Link: https://1100kfnx.com/careers

To Apply: Please email resume and cover letter: operations@1100kfnx.com

KFNX is an equal opportunity employer.

As of September 1, a non-binding resolution officially known as H.Con.Res.33, known as “The Local Radio Freedom Act,” officially reached a bipartisan majority of co-sponsors in the House of Representatives.

This support all but killed any efforts by music industry lobbying organization such as musicFIRST to get a House vote for the “American Music Fairness Act,” introduced by retiring Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.).

While the “AMFA” is flailing in the House, the Senate has just gotten companion legislation. But, does it have any legs?

That remains to be seen, as two Senators who voted against an amendment designed to get the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act passed on Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee have introduced a version of the AMFA in the Senate.

The legislators now in the crosshairs of the NAB — and Radio — are Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). As they see it, the AMFA “would require broadcast corporations to pay performance royalties to creators for AM/FM radio plays.”

With H.R. 4130 gaining no further co-sponsors after its 33rd signed on at the end of March, musicFIRST believes the Senate bill sets Congress up for action “this summer and fall.”

Former Rep. Joe Crowley, who infamously lost his House re-election bid in a primary race to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is today the Chairman of musicFIRST. He played up the Senate introduction of the “AMFA” by claiming it is “gaining momentum” on Capitol Hill.

He then took another swipe at what he considers “Big Radio,” which has used “an antiquated loophole to deny payments to artists for decades.” In a musicFIRST release, both iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media were singled out. “[T] hey have never shared a penny of that money with artists,” musicFIRST claims, not mentioning royalty fees paid through BMI, ASCAP, GMR or any other fees radio stations already pay for the right to play certain songs.

With Audacy Corp. shares below $0.40 for the first time in the company’s history and both Cumulus Media and iHeartMedia each seeing their stock below the $10 mark, the radio industry is far from bathed in luxurious profit margins. In fact, the FCC has acknowledged the fiscal challenges of many radio broadcasting companies, entering consent decrees with several licensees instead of levying a fine. Additionally, it lowered its increase in fiscal year 2022 regulatory fees for Radio, something the NAB heavily lobbied.

Don’t tell that to Crowley, who is eager to “finally end this injustice” with respect to “the thousands of American artists and creators who deserve to be paid fairly when their work is played on AM/FM radio.”

Members of the musicFIRST coalition include the American Federation of Musicians, American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), the Recording Academy, The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), SAG-AFTRA and SoundExchange.

The “AMFA” is the brainchild of Rep. Ted Deutch, who is leaving Congress this month to become the CEO of the American Jewish Committee, effective October 1.

With his exit in just eight days, the House Judiciary Committee has one week left to consider the House AMFA legislation before the November elections.

With that unlikely, what will the Senate discussion of the AMFA look like? At a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Vermont’s Pat Leahy, president pro tempore of the Senate, said, “the American Music Fairness Act was well intentioned, but doesn’t address the concerns of small town radio stations – it could force them out of the broadcast business.”

BIG RADIO? LOOK AT BIG MUSIC

Interestingly, the introduction of the AMFA in the Senate comes one day after the release of a mid-year 2022 RIAA music revenue report.

U.S. recorded music revenues in the first half of 2022 rose 9% to $7.7 billion at estimated retail value, “building on the strong growth experienced the prior year,” the RIAA reports.

Streaming revenues from paid subscriptions, ad-supported services, and other formats grew 10% to $6.5 billion during this period.

The number of paid subscriptions grew to a record high of 90 million.

NAB SPEAKS ON ‘AMFA’ SENATE INTRODUCTION

Minutes after the news was first shared with the radio industry, NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt issued a statement confirming that his organization “remains steadfastly opposed to the AMFA, which disregards the value of radio and would undermine our critical public service to line the pockets of multinational billion-dollar record labels.”

LeGeyt added that the NAB thanks the 250 bipartisan members of Congress, including 28 senators and a majority of the House, who instead support the Local Radio Freedom Act, “which recognizes the unique benefits that radio provides to communities across the country and opposes inflicting a new performance fee on local broadcast radio stations. We are committed to working with lawmakers to find a mutually beneficial solution to this decades-old policy disagreement, but this one-sided AMFA proposal is not the answer. We urge the recording industry to return to the negotiating table in an effort to find common ground.”

The full report can be found here. Commentary from RIAA Chairman/CEO Mitch Glazier is on Medium.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two weeks ago, an unexpected introduction of an amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) to the long-negotiated Journalism Competition and Preservation Act won over not only bill co-sponsor John Kennedy (R-La.) but a majority of those who sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The amendment, which Cruz said was “simple,” led the original bill sponsor, Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), to withdraw the legislation. This led Klobuchar and the bill’s supporters to regroup, and as of Sept. 15 she said “good thoughts and good ideas and plan to bring a bill to you for this Committee to vote on next week.”

That transpired this morning. And, with just the right tweaks, S.673 passed and is heading to a full floor vote in the upper body of Congress.

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Dear RW:

I read the piece about the FCC tracking outages in Puerto Rico after Fiona struck.

I am part of a ham radio group that uses radio and internet. We call it Skynet and it’s a group that uses Zoom for video and radio for audio.

None of the guys from Ponce, P.R., have been on since the storm, because they need a working internet connection. This is a fundamental problem with DMR radio, but we put up with it since 99% of the time it works great. And it keeps a lot of hams in touch from Europe and the USA at the same time. Without the internet, band conditions would prohibit that.

Also, it’s FM-quality audio.

 

The post Letter: DMR in Puerto Rico appeared first on Radio World.

Soledad O’Brien — the journalist, CEO of Soledad O’Brien Productions, philanthropist and
author — will keynote the Alliance for Women in Media (AWM)‘s Gracies Leadership Awards on Monday, November 14.

At the event, to be held at Tribeca 360 in New York, AWM will present its Legacy Leadership Award. Who is the recipient?

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Skyview Networks, the audio technology, syndication and network audio sales-focused company, strutted its stuff on Wednesday afternoon in a fifth annual Upfront presentation for more than 400 advertising agency executives.

With top network and media agencies dialed in to the virtual event, the “Power of Momentum” presentation saw Skyview map out it goals and strategies for the coming year while country music artists Tim McGraw and Carly Pearce served as hosts.

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Spanish International Broadcasting Company (SIBC), with a 20% investment from Mexican mogul Emilio Azcárraga, on Sept. 29, 1962, launched a UHF television station devoted to the largely Mexican population of Southern California.

Until then, no other station was serving this audience. And, for its first few years, it was a money-loser that required a converter to receive the channel, given UHF’s nascent state at the time.

Today, that investment is being celebrated as TelevisaUnivision’s West Coast flagship TV station prepares to celebrate its 60th birthday in grand style.

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On July 14, 2022, the Media Bureau issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) in the amount of $6,500 to the licensee of a low-power television station offering religious programming to viewers in a small city to the north of Yakima, Wash., along Interstate 90.

The facility is still paying a financial penalty for its transgressions, but it will be a smaller one.

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Ahead of today’s TVB Forward Conference, a hybrid affair that sees 100 VIP executives attend an event at Chelsea Piers for the first time in three years, BIA Advisory Services unveiled data from its U.S. Local Advertising Forecast that underscores just how fast OTT advertising is growing.

What does this mean for broadcast TV station owners?

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