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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.

 

Streaming services provider Quortex has won a contract from the French radio/TV broadcaster and multimedia company M6 Group.

M6 will use Quortex I/O SaaS to stream its radio services. Both companies are based in France. M6 brands include radio stations RTL, RTL2 and Funradio.

[See Our Who’s Buying What Page]

The announcement was made by Marc Baillavoine, CEO of France-based Quortex, and Valéry Gerfaud, chief of digital innovation technology at M6 Group.

Quortex said it provides “an end-to-end, turnkey service, from the mezzanine feed to the end-user” and is compliant with HLS streaming protocol.

Gerfaud was quoted saying, “M6 Group is the first mover in the French market regarding HLS, and we are looking forward to upcoming developments, such as the integration of dynamic ad insertion and content protection.”

Submit announcements for Who’s Buying What to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post M6 Group Will Use Quortex Streaming appeared first on Radio World.

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 People News: Don Brake has been promoted to become the new operations manager for Cumulus Media in Savannah, Ga.

That cluster includes country station KIX 96/WJCL(FM), urban outlet E93/WEAS(FM), urban station Magic 103.9/WTYB(FM) and classic rock station I-95/WIXV(FM).

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

Brake will also be program director for KIX 96. He succeeds Gerry McCracken, who is retiring.

Brake will move from Beaumont, Texas, where he has been PD and host of a midday country music show. His background includes programming and operations positions for Cumulus and other companies in markets including Morgantown, W.Va.; Frederick, Md.; Binghamton, N.Y.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Hagerstown, Md./Chambersburg, Pa.

The announcement was made by Regional VP Eric Mastel.

Send news of engineering and executive personnel changes to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post Brake Is Cumulus Ops Manager in Savannah appeared first on Radio World.

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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Further relaxation of ownership rules seems unlikely, but the FCC now is seeking to refresh the record before it completes its 2018 Quadrennial Review.

Inexpensive adapters help with an AoIP EAS connection.

A radio station in Ontario is delighted with the money it is saving by switching to wind and sun power.

Also: Promo Power, apps from AIM and products from AudioLogger, Shure, MOVO, Inovonics and ENCO.

Read it here.

The post Inside the June 23, 2021 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

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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WorldDAB is highlighting the number of new cars in Europe that now ship with DAB+ as a standard feature.

“In the second half of 2020, over 80% of new cars in key European markets came with DAB+ radio as standard, a dramatic increase on the same period in 2019,” the organization stated in releasing a market report.

“This step-change reflects the impact of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), which, from December 2020, requires all new car radios in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio.”

President Patrick Hannon was quoted saying that the numbers “demonstrate that DAB+ is firmly established as the core future platform for radio in Europe,” and he said progress in Germany, France, Italy and Benelux “has been particularly impressive.”

The report stated that as of the end of 2020, about 100 million consumer and automotive DAB/DAB+ receivers had been sold in Europe and Asia Pacific, “up from 92 million six months year earlier.”

The organization also released a detailed infographic with the rollout status in various markets in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The post WorldDAB Celebrates Automotive Penetration appeared first on Radio World.

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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Automation provider WideOrbit has snagged a big win, reaching agreement with Salem Media Group to covert its radio properties to WO Automation for Radio.

Salem has 99 radio stations. WideOrbit said 56 of those in the top 25 U.S. markets.

Scott Foster is senior VP of engineering at Salem Media Group.

The announcement was made by WideOrbit VP of Radio Automation William “Dub” Irvin and Salem SVP of Engineering Scott Foster.

“Implementations are set to begin in July 2021 and will complete in 2023. Once implementations begin, 13 of the top 20 radio operators in North America will be powered by WO Automation for Radio,” the company said in its announcement.

Version 5 of the automation software was released this year; the manufacturer emphasizes its improved remote voice tracking capabilities and native apps to run live shows remotely.

Salem is an existing user of WO Traffic; the software company said integration with the automation platform will enable live log editing, playlist delivery, real-time reconciliation and automatic start and stop date synchronization between the two.

The automation system will also integrate with Salem’s MusicMaster music scheduling system.

Send news for Who’s Buying What to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Salem to Standardize on WideOrbit Automation appeared first on Radio World.

This is one in a series of articles from the ebook “The Real World of AoIP.”

This story is excerpted from the ebook “The Real World of AoIP.” Click the cover to read it for free.

Radio World recently asked several manufacturers to identify the most important technical development or trend in the use of audio over IP.

“The biggest trend in 2021,” said Greg Shay, CTO of Telos Alliance, “is the empowering of live broadcast facilities to use the full range of IT industry resources, including public and private server resources, global fiber optic networks, failover redundancy, all at global competitive costs, and the personnel to support it all.”

He said the experience of the pandemic supercharged the demand for broadcasting from anywhere, from home, and forced less reliance on purpose-built facilities.

“Both sides, the broadcaster and the IT service provider, have learned more of what it takes to operate the Professional broadcast facility over IP,” Shay said.

“Social networks blazed a trail for personal broadcasting, using no more end equipment than a phone. The hitch is that it ‘works when it works, as well as it works.’ I maintain this is not due to the underlying technology but comes from assumptions made in how it is deployed.”

So far, he noted, professional broadcasters produce content with highly hardware-centric facilities.

“Where is the coming together in the middle? Is all that hardware plant, duplicating the global IT infrastructure, really required to reliably create, produce and deliver professional commercial content?

The answer to produce the reliable, always-on broadcast channel, Shay said, is to leverage the same global IT infrastructure that underpins the social networks, but with the resource allocation and planning for consistency needed by commercial users.

“It is not good enough ‘if it works when it works’, it has to always work,” he said.

“Audio over IP was the entryway for getting professional audio broadcasting onto the IT infrastructure. The IT infrastructure providers are now becoming aware of the needs and requirements of the commercial professional broadcasters, and are stepping up the level of their services, both operationally and contractually, to meet those needs.”

The post Greg Shay on AoIP Empowering Broadcast appeared first on Radio World.