Industry News

Cumulus is planning to convert an AM talk radio station in the New York City suburbs to all-digital transmission next month.

WFAS(AM) in White Plains will use the slogan “Digital AM 1230 HD: New Talk for New York.”

The company filed an application with the FCC that it plans to flip on May 24. Its website carries a notice advising listeners that analog radios will no longer hear the station, but that listeners can find it using an HD receiver, online streaming, mobile app or smart speaker.

“Broadcasting in digital will eliminate annoying static and interference, improve the sound quality to equal FM radio and streaming, and extend the range for clear reception,” it told listeners.

WFAS will use the enhanced mode of digital HD Radio.

The decision by one of the country’s biggest broadcast chains to commit an AM frequency to all-digital is a notable one.

The Federal Communications Commission recently approved the option for stations to take this step. But as Radio World has reported, there are only a couple of other stations on the air in the country with all-digital AM, including the Hubbard station WWFD in Maryland that has been a kind of national test case.

Cumulus declined to comment on its plans for the station in response to a query from Radio World.

In Florida, broadcaster NIA Broadcasting, run by Neal Ardman, had flipped one station, WMGG, and told Radio World that as of today he is waiting on a transmitter with plans to flip WTMP, which is also in the Tampa area.

The post A Cumulus AM Near NYC Will Go All-Digital appeared first on Radio World.

The New York Festivals Radio Awards has named content creators and “global storytellers” Jennie Caltaldo, Helen Shaw, and Carole Zimmer to the Radio Awards Advisory Board.

The 13-member Advisory Council, formed in 2010, is comprised of content creators and thought-leaders within the radio industry. They provide NYF’s Radio Awards competition with ongoing knowledge of emerging trends and critical industry insights.

Cataldo is the VP of Programming and a radio and podcast producer for BMP Audio, owned by Ben Manilla.

Shaw is the Founder/Director of Ireland-based Athena Media. She ran RTE Radio for five years, launching RTE Lyric fm and leading RTE’s digital transformation before taking a sabbatical at Harvard University.

Zimmer is a freelance reporter for The New York Times and host of the Now What? podcast. Her resume includes stints at Bloomberg, NPR, and the CBS and NBC radio networks.

The Radio Awards receives entries from radio stations, networks, and independent producers from over 30 countries around the globe. The mission of the competition is to honor the achievements of the men and women who make up the global audio storytelling community.

This year is the eleventh year of NYF’s strategic partnership with NAB Show, the ultimate marketplace for people passionate about media, entertainment, and technology. All attendees will have access to the multi-day NAB event which is the world’s largest media entertainment marketplace taking place in October 2021.

The deadline to enter the 2021 Radio Awards competition is May 20. To enter please visit HERE

Across the Southeast’s biggest emerging Hispanic markets, perhaps no company has invested more in reaching this Spanish-language audio content consumer of late than Norsan Media.

Now, it is grabbing what will become its third radio brand in the largest city in the U.S. by square miles.

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Say goodbye to the Westwood One Podcast Network.

Starting May 6, it will have a new name — one that reflects WWO’s parent company.

Introducing the Cumulus Podcast Network.

According to the company led by Mary Berner, the move consolidates Cumulus’ national and local podcasts into one entity, “capturing the full breadth and diversity of the portfolio and providing advertisers with a comprehensive offering of podcasts, in addition to streaming, mobile, social and display.”

There will be no change in duties for Cumulus EVP/Corporate Marketing and Westwood One President Suzanne Grimes, who will continue to manage the company’s podcast sales network. 

“Placing our podcasts under the Cumulus umbrella allows us to offer our advertising partners easy access to the company’s full arsenal of digital products,” Grimes said. “This exciting expansion takes our fast-growing podcast network to the next level, as well as simplifies the buying process for agencies and brands, allowing our partners to seamlessly tap into the full power of our premium on-demand audio content.”

Nielsen Audio reports “significant gains in radio listening” across the aggregate of its PPM rated markets in the United States.

While still not quite reaching the highest numbers of the pandemic period, which came last fall, both AQH and weekly reach were up in March compared to a month earlier.

Nielsen said its March PPM survey showed an 8% increase month-over-month in total average quarter-hour audience. “This marks the largest single-month increase in average audience since June of last year,” the company stated.

“These gains were driven by increases in both weekly reach (adding nearly 4 million consumers in March, a 3% increase versus February) as well as time spent listening (gaining by over 20 minutes on average, a 5% increase compared with last month).

It released these two charts.

The company said that in terms of weekly reach, the radio audience in March 2021 is 96% of what it was a year ago as the pandemic was taking hold in the United States, and the AQH number is 93%.

“This uptick in radio usage mirrors the positive changes in consumer sentiment and habits observed during Nielsen’s latest radio consumer study conducted during the March survey,” it said.

Nielsen cited other encouraging data for radio. It said six in 10 Americans feel life is becoming more normal in their communities, and that the number of people working outside the home have increased about 70% since a year ago. The number of consumers spending more than an hour daily in their cars more than doubled in that time.

[Related: “In 2020, Radio Hit a Proverbial Iceberg”]

The post Nielsen Reports “Big Gains” for Radio Listening appeared first on Radio World.

Hearst Television has promoted its Director of Human Resources to VP of the department.

It’s an individual celebrating five years with the company.

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iHeart announced a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

It said the mentoring organization was selected as part of its grant program to advance social justice, which would be highlighted on its 850 radio stations.

“The goal of the program is to provide a platform for organizations to inspire, educate and empower listeners to take a stand against systemic racism and promote social justice,” the media company announced.

[Read: NFL, iHeartMedia Launch NFL’s Podcast Network]

A series of PSAs features voices of young people airing on the company’s stations and the iHeartRadio app. “The spots are focused on the need for Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors, and most especially Black men,” it stated.

The announcement was made by Tony Coles, president of iHeartMedia’s Black Information Network (BIN) and division president of Metro Markets at iHeartMedia, along with Artis Stevens, president/CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Stevens also has joined the BIN Advisory Board.

iHeartMedia will participate in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America 2021 Virtual National Conference that takes place in late June.

The post iHeart Partners With Big Brothers Big Sisters appeared first on Radio World.

America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) and PBS on Tuesday shared their thoughts with the FCC in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on changes to the Emergency Alert System.

BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!

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IBC 2021 is set to go ahead as planned in September, with organizers saying they are focused on delivering “a fantastic event” at the RAI in Amsterdam.

However, the fall back dates for December are still in place, and an announcement on that is expected to be made in June. Organizers are asking the industry to keep their options open for both possible sets of dates.

The current dates for the show are Sept. 10–13 with the fall-back option of Dec.3–6.

IBC CEO Michael Crimp said organizers realize this year’s show might be the first large scale event many people have attended in a long time, and the team is putting lots of planning into that. They are working closely with the city of Amsterdam and the RAI, monitoring changes as they evolve.

“The industry is telling us that people are keen to come together again after being apart for a long time. In the coming months, a number of factors will help us decide when the event can happen and in what format. From macro trends such as vaccine roll out and testing, to the willingness of our attendees to travel, we will take all things into consideration as we make those important decisions,” he added.

IBC said it is budgeting for exhibition space to be about 30% less than in 2019, with the two pavilions not being used in 2021.

This year’s event will have more of a festival feel, said Crimp, with a perimeter to the site that will enable them to move around more freely. Attendees will have their temperatures checked before entering the perimeter, and will need to declare that they have recently passed a COVID test.

There will be no onsite registration for people who have not preregistered.

Inside, the halls will have extra wide aisles and one-way for ease of access. IBC intends to use cameras to monitor capacity in each hall. Each exhibitor will be told of their stand capacity, with attendees being scanned-in and out to monitor numbers.

Steve Connolly, head of sales at IBC, said support from the industry continues to be strong, with 30,000-sq. foot of booth space booked so far.

IBC will also run a digital platform for exhibitors alongside the physical event to enable them to promote products and book digital meetings.

The post IBC Set to Go Ahead as Planned in September appeared first on Radio World.

One of the nation’s two direct broadcast satellite (DBS) TV services provider just took a further step toward becoming a much broader operator — a better competitor to the traditional MVPD.

And, it is thanks in part to the selection of an Amazon.com company to help get the job done.

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