Radio+Television Business Report

Until his surprising defeat in the 2018 Democratic Primary Election to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Joe Crowley spent 20 years in Congress representing a working class section of Queens, New York. Today, he’s in the National Capital Region, settling into his first month as Chairman of musicFIRST — a lobbying group described by The Recording Academy as “a coalition that fights for fairness and equity for music creators.”

To say Crowley hit the ground running is perhaps an understatement. Just days after his appointment, he was Tweeting about how “it’s past time to pay artists for their work.” Now comes the introduction of the American Music Fairness Act — crafted in part with Crowley’s input.

In an exclusive interview, Crowley shares why this bill’s introduction is important, and how it differs from multiple failed attempts in recent years to get Congress to pass a radio royalty proposal.

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If at first you don’t succeed … then dust yourself off and try again.”

Those are the lyrics to Aaliyah’s early 2000 chart-topper “Try Again,” the first single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 based solely on airplay. Without radio, would it have been a hit? Would Aaliyah’s place in the annals of rock ‘n’ hip-hop history be sealed?

The argument that Radio cements the success of recording artists continues to be debated, as does the belief by recording industry advocates that the artist isn’t getting its fair share of the royalties they deserve from the airplay of their songs. Numerous attempts at giving singers and musicians more money from Radio have come and gone in the last five years.

The latest effort, which takes a novel scaled royalty payment approach, has just been introduced in Congress. It’s a bipartisan bill from two Members who’ve tried before, and now seek support of what they’re calling the “American Music Fairness Act.”

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Penthera offers a suite of streaming products to OTT providers designed to improve the video experience for their users. Its technology assists in the reduction or elimination of buffering and video quality issues, ensuring that stream abandonment doesn’t happen.

The company has just released a study that looks at the habits and preferences of U.S. Hispanics toward streaming video. Given their role as first-adopters of technology, we believe the findings are important for all in the TV industry to understand.

What’s the biggest takeaway Penthera can share? Its Chief Marketing Officer, Jodi Susman, offers details in this InFOCUS Podcast presented by dot.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Jodi Susman, Penthera” on Spreaker.

Advanced advertising company OpenAP has formed a new strategic alliance with AT&T’s ad technology platform that will enable OpenAP’s OpenIDSM audiences inside Invest TV, Xandr’s buyer self-service platform for linear television.

Buyers using Invest TV will now be able to activate unified audiences across all of the U.S.’s largest premium TV publishers and utilize those audiences in their Invest TV buying workflows.

Xandr will adopt the OpenID, a unique identifier launched by OpenAP that enables centralized activation of advanced audiences for use in campaign targeting, and OpenAP will accept demand from Xandr’s Invest TV buying platform. Invest TV will use OpenAP’s Audience Activation API, RFP and Proposal APIs, as well as its Campaign Post API, supporting interactions between Invest TV clients and publishers accepting demand through OpenAP’s platform.

The collaboration signals a commitment from both organizations to grow the market for audience-based advertising across the entire national video footprint.

With this integration, OpenAP and Xandr will enable a buyer to activate an audience target centrally with OpenIDs and use that OpenID audience within Invest TV to define deals, distribute and collect RFPs across publishers, review and request changes to proposals and analyze post-campaign reporting.

Advertisers will benefit from a consistent ID-based audience used for transacting on a national footprint of premium television advertising inventory, enabling deduplicated reach estimates and reporting.

“TV has and will continue to transform as Connected TV becomes more widely adopted, moving from tested to trusted across all types of advertisers.”

That’s the viewpoint of “the largest independent global measurement and attribution platform for converged TV.” While they certainly have a bias, TVSquared’s latest Connected TV report is worth a look.

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Each of ViacomCBS’ global content leaders have been elevated as part of a structure shift that places each of these executives in charge of their respective genres within Paramount+.

The big announcement: Tanya Giles has been selected to serve as a centralized programming head to chart content strategy for Paramount+ and Pluto TV globally.

Giles, who currently serves as General Manager of MTV Entertainment Group, will become Chief Programming Officer for Streaming. It’s a newly created role, in which Giles will oversee and execute “a holistic programming strategy” for the global content offering across both Paramount+ and Pluto TV, maximizing mix, prioritization, timing and impact of ViacomCBS resources, franchises and brands “to drive sustained audience acquisition and engagement.”

She will report to Tom Ryan, President and CEO of ViacomCBS Streaming. “Tanya is a stellar media executive who brings a deep familiarity with our brands and audiences, as well as an unmatched talent for harnessing data to make high-impact programming decisions,” Ryan said. “Our content leaders know their genres better than anyone and have been integral to building a strong slate for Paramount+ and growing its audience. Our new structure will enable us to tap into their collective expertise even more effectively, further cementing Paramount+ as a true super service that delivers the content audiences love, all in one place.”

The “global content leaders” mentioned at the top of this report?

Here’s what is about to transpire:

• George Cheeks, President and Chief Executive Officer at CBS, will also serve as Chief Content Officer of News & Sports at Paramount+.
• Jim Gianopulos, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures, will also serve as Chief Content Officer of Movies at Paramount+.
• Bruce Gillmer, President of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events, will also serve as Chief Content Officer of Music at Paramount+.
• Chris McCarthy, President of the MTV Entertainment Group, will also serve as Chief Content Officer, Unscripted Entertainment and Adult Animation for Paramount+.
• David Nevins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Showtime Networks, will also serve as Chief Content Officer of Scripted Originals at Paramount+.
• Nicole Clemens will broaden her responsibilities as President of Paramount Television Studios (PTVS) to include the role of President for Paramount+ Original Scripted Series. She now will lead original scripted content for Paramount+, reporting to Nevins.
• Brian Robbins, President of Kids & Family Entertainment, will also serve as Chief Content Officer of Kids & Family at Paramount+.

As part of the realignment, Kelly Day, President of Streaming and Chief Operating Officer, ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI), will work closely with Giles and ViacomCBS’ content leaders “to ensure the company is executing against its global streaming strategy.” Day will continue to report to Tom Ryan and Raffaele Annecchino, President and CEO of VCNI.

Scott Mills will continue to oversee BET+ in his capacity as President, BET, reporting to Nevins.

Too many choices. Viewer fatigue. Fragmentation. Restricted access.

As OTT and advertising-fueled video on demand (AVOD) services continue to gain speed, both from a marketer and consumer perspective, new research indicates that everyday viewers are getting increasingly frustrated.

What could this mean for the entire television industry?

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In 2020, she was ranked as one of RBR+TVBR‘s top Local TV Leaders, based on her longtime presence in the Motor City and as the head of the local NBC affiliate since 2008.

It is now known that this nationally recognized VP/GM will soon retire from the Graham Media Group-owned station, ending an exemplary career in broadcast television.

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In recent years, institutions of higher learning have decided that operating a radio station is no longer in the best interests of that school. As a result, WBRU-FM in Providence on Sept. 1, 2017 bid farewell. There are other FMs that have faded into the sunset, sold off by colleges.

The latest college to join the list of station sellers is an Ivy League school along the Vermont/New Hampshire border.

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It’s been the “voice of Franklin County” since 1957, serving an area to the south of Roanoke, Virginia, with classic Country music and a mix of news and community-focused programming including an on-air Swap Shop.

Now, this Virginia Class B AM is trading hands, as is the FM translator assigned to this heritage facility.

But, no changes are expected, keeping WYTI in the family following the November 2020 passing of its longtime owner, Bill Jefferson.

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He’s a 30-year radio broadcasting veteran who joined Cumulus Media in 2018.

Now, this longtime programming and operations leader is transferring from the company’s “Texas Country” FM serving the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of the Lone Star State to the center of Georgia’s Coastal Empire: Savannah.

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One was the Chairman of the FCC when its cross-ownership rules were enact.

Another was the FCC’s Chairman that successfully, thanks to the Supreme Court’s input, erased many of those rules through “modernization” efforts allowing for common ownership of TV and radio, or newspaper and radio, assets in a given market.

They’ll be joined by the agency’s chairman during the second term of Bill Clinton as President, and by an interim FCC leader who, in taking the role, became the first female Chair of the Commission.

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In May 2018, a station swap was consummated that saw Salem Media Group trade a Class B AM serving the Seattle-Tacoma market to a company based in San Jose, Calif.

The agreement handed Salem the keys of an AM in Portland, Ore., it had been operating via an LMA with the station’s new owner, Intelli LLC.

Now, Intelli is selling that Seattle property to Salem.

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By Rosemary Ravinal

Public speaking is the foundation of leadership. Whether you are facilitating an online meeting, delivering a new business pitch, representing your company on an industry panel, doing a podcast interview, or speaking at a condo board meeting, how well you communicate will set you apart.

Public speaking mastery is hard work and requires tons of practice and great coaching.  But if you take your delivery alone and the mental blocks that hold you back from greatness, there are a few things you can do improve right away.

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For the fifth year in a row, representation of people of color in local TV news improved overall and, for the fourth year in a row, a record high percentage of the local TV news workforce are people of color.

That’s according to the final installment of the 2021 RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey.

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Actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan — a five-time Grammy-nominated comedian, actor, writer and producer and contributor to CBS Sunday Morning — will entertain NAB Show attendees with a special Sunday afternoon performance.

Gaffigan will play a key role in the formal opening of the 2021 NAB Show, the first convention and expo from the National Association of Broadcasters since April 2019. He will offer a live comedy performance at the NAB Show Sunday Kick Off scheduled for 4:15pm Pacific on October 10.

“After a difficult year and unfortunate hiatus for NAB Show, we look forward to celebrating the opening of the show floor with the ever talented and hilarious Jim Gaffigan,” said NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith, who will preside over his final NAB Show in his role, as he is retiring at year’s end. “His notoriously fun and entertaining performance is ideal for this momentous occasion as we reunite and reengage in Las Vegas.”

Gaffigan’s performance will be exclusively open to attendees of NAB Show and co-located events.

With a deadline fast approaching, the State of Alaska was pressed with an urgent situation. More than a dozen TV translator stations needed to drop their analog transmissions. But, that wouldn’t be possible, putting the licenses and viewers at risk.

The FCC listened, and agreed with the state.

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Your favorite radio stations without commercial interruptions.

That’s the brand promise of Auddia, the developer of a proprietary AI platform for audio and innovative technologies for podcasts that is now reinventing how consumers engage with audio.

It’s the subject of the latest InFOCUS Podcast, distributed ahead of a major announcement from the Boulder, Colo.-based technology company. Auddia, not to be confused with Audacy (formerly Entercom), says it’s achieved “a major advancement” in its proprietary technology at the core of its Artificial Intelligence engine.

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Last week, the FCC adopted an Order of Reconsideration that rejected a pair of petitions seeking reconsideration of the Commission’s Low Power FM (LPFM) Technical Rules Order.

The Order adopted rule changes designed to “improve the LPFM service and provide LPFM stations with greater flexibility,” the Commission notes. Importantly, the Order rejected a proposal to increase maximum Effective Radiated Power to 250 watts.

It appears a new petition for rulemaking seeking a LPFM power increase has surfaced. And, the NAB has already voiced its opposition to the request.

FOR MEMBERS ONLY: We’ve got a RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION to share on this subject. The NAB should be pleased with what we believe … sort of.

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Global media ad sales platform maker Matrix has named a new Chief Operations Officer.

The Pittsburgh-based company says she will be “instrumental in helping execute the company’s global growth strategy, expanding their solutions portfolio into existing and new market verticals.”

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