Industry News

The nation’s biggest owner of radio stations has repurchased and cancelled all of its outstanding shares of Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock. To do so, it used cash on hand, wiping 60,000 outstanding shares out of existence.

It is officially iHeartMedia Inc. subsidiary iHeart Operations Inc. that made the move, one that sees the audio content and distribution company behind iHeartRadio voluntarily repurchase the full balance of its $60 million preferred stock.

According to iHeartMedia Chairman/CEO Bob Pittman, it demonstrates the company’s commitment to strengthening its balance sheet and increasing free cash flow, while still maintaining “ample liquidity.”

Pittman added, “Repurchasing early allows us to realize interest savings, exit the most restrictive instrument on our balance sheet, and continue to reinforce iHeart’s commitment to improving our capital structure. This action continues to demonstrate our confidence in our business moving forward.”

The cash repurchase price for each Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock is $1,000, plus a premium equal to the remaining dividends required to be paid through the optional redemption date of May 1, 2022 — discounted at a negotiated rate. This results in an aggregate redemption amount of $64.35 million to be paid to the holders of the $60 million Series A Perpetual Preferred Stock.

On word of the repurchase, IHRT shares were up 22 cents to $19.81 in after-hours trading on Wednesday.

Following in Spot Inc.‘s footsteps in 2016 would have been a good move. Today, with respect to its finances, it is ill-advised.

Tell that to Jack Dorsey, the billionaire CEO at Twitter. His company’s shares plummeted Wednesday on Wall Street following the release of less-than-stellar Q3 2021 results.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

The Board of Directors at the Northern Virginia-based broadcast TV company that’s reportedly considering bids from Byron Allen and from a partnership between embattled investor Soohyung Kim’s Standard General and Apollo Global Management has declared a shareholder dividend.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

With Wednesday’s Closing Bell on Wall Street, 100 shares of Audacy Inc. stock would cost, minus any broker fees, $321.

That’s still not even close to the revised price target one financial analyst just put on a single share of Spotify stock, lauding the streaming audio company for an “excellent” Q3 2021 report card and an outlook that is “quite strong.”

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

ANNAPOLIS, MD. — For 24 years, he’s served as a partner at radio industry programming and sales data and insights consultancy Research Director.

Now, after 40 years in the radio industry, he’s announced his retirement at year’s end.

On December 31, Charlie Sislen will conclude a career that began in 1981, and since 1997 has exclusively involved his role at Research Director.

Sislen comments, “It has been a pleasure being part of Research Director for the past 24 years. I woke up every day excited not only about what would come next, but also more importantly the people I would interact with. I enjoyed every conversation with Research Director’s amazing team, our tremendous clients, and everyone who makes our industry great.”

Sislen thanked his partner, Marc Greenspan, who he says had the vision to bring him into the company.

Sislen continued, “I am leaving a phenomenal team, whose hard work made my role as the face of the company easy. They made the difference for every one of our clients. Now is the time of my life where I must shift my focus from my career, which I love, to my family and my community. Research Director and the radio industry will always be in my heart.”

Sislen’s transition is already underway, with much of his duties being handed to new Director of Client Services Karen Morriss.

She was most recently a senior account manager at Nielsen Audio.

There is a way to buy radio advertising that is thousands of times better than using ratings points.

What, pray tell, could that possibly be? The Southern California Broadcasters’ Association (SBCA) has the answer, thanks to a study conducted for the advocacy group by Nielsen — the very company delivering audience measurement via Nielsen Audio ratings every month to local radio.

According to SCBA President Miles Sexton, the study demonstrates the power of impression-based buying for the AM/FM radio industry.

The findings, SCBA reports, show that agencies are increasingly using impressions to evaluate media, while also demonstrating the usefulness of impressions to evaluate radio and digital using a common metric.

According to the study, the benefits of impressions-based buying offers increased granularity over ratings and adds value to more dayparts and easier comparison across markets.

The SCBA also notes that it gives audio and digital platforms the ability to capture all of their audiences no matter where content is consumed.

Additionally, the study showed that impressions also provide a brand safe environment for advertisers looking for premium impressions at the local level.

“The importance of combining radio and digital advertising effectively cannot be overstated, and impressions are clearly where the industry is headed,” Sexton commented. “As radio continues to evolve within the digital ecosystem, the building blocks of a successful cross-platform campaign will include impressions.”

Today, some 54% of agency professionals are now buying on impressions.

• To view the report in full, please click the link below:

SCBA-Nielsen Impressions 10-27-21

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On August 2, television stations located in Illinois and Wisconsin  were required to file applications for license renewal for terms expiring on December 1.

Two stations failed to do so.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

Since October 19, the musicFIRST Coalition-backed American Music Fairness Act has gained the support of nine House of Representatives Members.

It suggests the lobbying efforts of Florida Democrat Ted Deutch and former Congressman Joe Crowley have turned an important corner on Capitol Hill.

The NAB reminds us that those seeking to impose new royalty fees on broadcast radio stations have much more work to do.

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

“The last year has placed the media industry at a crossroads, and it’s clear that the chosen path ahead is the road less traveled,” remarks Bill Livek, Executive VP and CEO of Comscore. “The marketplace is no longer willing to settle for a measurement source that relies on small panels to drive decision-making for a multi-billion-dollar industry. Rather, the appeal of the future is a transparent path built on a stable, reliable methodology and a foundation of proven technology, which captures the shift change of modern viewership consumption.”

With that, Livek has made it clear that Comscore has “pioneered” the modern technology powering the future of media measurement. And, the company executive trumpets that view in what he calls “an open letter to the industry.”

Please Login to view this premium content. (Not a member? Join Today!)

GatesAir announced that 10-band audio processing software from ATC Labs is now part of its Intraplex IP Link 100c hardware codec and Intraplex Ascent cloud transport platform.

“The embedded software innovation … can save Intraplex IP Link customers thousands of dollars in auxiliary equipment,” the manufacturer said.

“Broadcasters who activate this accurate high-resolution audio processing functionality within either product will eliminate the costs and rack space of an external audio processor, while achieving exceptionally bright and open sound.”

[Read: GatesAir Adds Native Livewire Support to Intraplex Ascent]

The announcement was made by Deepen Sinha, CEO of ATC Labs, and Keyur Parikh, vice president of engineering, GatesAir, which will demonstrate the integrated solutions at IBC2021.

Sinha was quoted in the announcement: “Higher-resolution audio processing brings far better control to broadcasters as the technology affects only the specific and targeted audio characteristics. In Perceptual SoundMax, high-resolution audio processing technology is combined with psychoacoustic principles and wide-band perceptual models, which ensures the greatest possible accuracy in tuning the sound quality for each application.”

He said this improves audio quality with consistent loudness and minimizes listener fatigue.

“This processing also inherently reduces the perception of artifacts introduced due to digital compression codecs, which are integral to audio transport solutions.”

The post GatesAir Adds Audio Processing to Intraplex Gear appeared first on Radio World.