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Tru Optik, a TransUnion company, announced today an agreement with Targetspot to offer advertisers audience-based targeting capabilities for streaming audio.
Tru Optik’s data management platform will be integrated into Targetspot’s tech stack, available starting February 2021.
Through this integration, buyers and sellers are able to identify and segment audiences across mobile and streaming audio devices, including smart speakers.
In addition, media companies and audio advertisers will be able to leverage Targetspot’s audio supply inventory with consumer and behavioral insights across streaming audio and podcasts.
“Mapped against Tru Optik’s patented Household GraphTM of more than 80 million U.S. homes, advertisers will have advanced audio targeting capabilities that result in precise, effective and cost-efficient advertising campaigns across mobile, smart speakers and even gaming consoles,” the companies boast.
In March 2018, The Mainstay Station Trust LLC came to fruition. It was created to take on four stations divested by Cumulus Media in order to complete its Chapter 11 reorganization plan.
The Trust is headed solely by noted broker Elliot Evers.
In October 2019, two of the four properties were spun from the trust. This followed the removal of a Missouri station from the trust, as Cumulus turned in the license for another property in the market.
Now, the last of the stations licensed to Evers is being sold.
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Hey, Alexa … play K-I-N-K on iHeartRadio.
That’s just one of many, many commands one can voice to their Amazon Alexa smart speaker to listen to live audio streaming of a U.S. broadcast radio station.
But, just how many consumers do this, rather than “play Pandora” or audio content that doesn’t represent a broadcast radio station’s live stream?
Triton Digital has the answer.
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In June 2016, well before anyone in Washington, D.C., expected Donald Trump to become the 45th U.S. President, concerns over the re-nomination of a Democratic FCC Commissioner surfaced.
Then came the November election, and the transition of Commission leadership from Tom Wheeler to Ajit Pai. With Republicans in control, Jessica Rosenworcel became a political pawn. She left on Inauguration Day 2017, only to return six months later with her re-nomination from President Trump confirmed.
Now, he’s actually to thank for making Rosenworcel the interim FCC Chairman.
Well … sort of.
President Biden on Thursday (1/21) designated Rosenworcel as Acting FCC Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission.
“I am honored to be designated as the Acting Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission by President Biden,” she said, thanking Biden for the opportunity to lead an agency “with such a vital mission and talented staff.”
Rosenworcel called it ” a privilege to serve the American people and work on their behalf to expand the reach of communications opportunity in the digital age.”
In her stints at the Commission, Rosenworcel has worked to promote greater opportunity, accessibility, and affordability in the nation’s communications services and has been a consistent champion for connecting all.
Prior to joining the agency, she served as Senior Communications Counsel for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, under the leadership of Sens. John D. Rockefeller IV and Daniel Inouye. Before entering public service, Rosenworcel practiced communications law for Drinker Biddle Reath in Washington, D.C.
Her brother, Brian, is the drummer in the alternative rock band Guster.
Republican colleague Brendan Carr extended his congratulations to Rosenworcel, calling her “a talented and dedicated public servant, as evidenced by her eight years of distinguished service on the FCC.”
NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith also applauded Rosenworcel on becoming acting FCC chair. “She is a dedicated and experienced public servant who has demonstrated great aptitude in leading communications policy during her tenure at the Commission,” he said. “We look forward to working with her and her fellow Commissioners on regulatory policies that help local radio and TV stations serve the public interest.”
What are the most important policy issues facing local television and radio stations during the 117th congress that the NAB will be advocating to policymakers and Members of Congress?
That was distributed on Thursday, one day after Joe Biden was sworn in as President of the United States.
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President Joe Biden named Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as acting chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Rosenworcel, a Democrat, joined the commission in 2012. Before that she served as senior communications counsel for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and practiced communications law.
With the departure of former Chairman Ajit Pai and the inauguration of the new president, the FCC has an open Democratic seat and a 2-2 division by party.
The FCC has never had a female permanent chair; Mignon Clyburn held the acting chair for six months in 2013.
“I thank the president for the opportunity to lead an agency with such a vital mission and talented staff,” Rosenworcel said. “It is a privilege to serve the American people and work on their behalf to expand the reach of communications opportunity in the digital age.”
In a statement, Rosenworcel’s office said she has “worked to promote greater opportunity, accessibility, and affordability in our communications services in order to ensure that all Americans get a fair shot at 21st century success. From fighting to protect net neutrality to ensuring access to the internet for students caught in the Homework Gap, she has been a consistent champion for connecting all. She is a leader in spectrum policy, developing new ways to support wireless services from Wi-Fi to video and the internet of things.”
The National Association of Broadcasters issued a statement applauding the announcement: “She is a dedicated and experienced public servant who has demonstrated great aptitude in leading communications policy during her tenure at the commission.”
The post Rosenworcel Is Named Acting FCC Chair appeared first on Radio World.
One week ago, the nation’s chief lobbying group representing small, and small market, MVPDs held court with the office of the newest FCC Commissioner.
What did ACA Connects discuss with representatives from Nathan Simington‘s office?
Consolidation in the broadcast television industry and retransmission consent matters.
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On Tuesday, all eyes were on the U.S. Supreme Court as oral arguments were heard in FCC v. Prometheus, the case that sees the Commission and the NAB teaming to get its cross-ownership rules approved with a reversal of a lower court’s remand.
While that’s certainly a huge matter, other legal issues impacting radio and TV in 2021 deserve attention.
What’s the first one that comes to mind to Gregg Skall, the noted Washington, D.C. communications attorney with boutique firm Telecommunication Law Professionals?
Find out in the latest InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.FM.
Cumulus Media on Thursday revealed what it calls “important changes” to its top-level sales leadership, impacting both its broadcast radio stations and its Westwood One national radio arm.
At Westwood One, Sales President Bryan Forbes is out. He’s leaving the company “to pursue another opportunity.”
As such, Ron Russo is taking the role, gaining oversight of network sales and sales planning. Russo, a 17-year sales leader, was previously EVP/Sales, Northeast at Westwood One. His resume includes roles at iHeartMedia and CBS Radio.
Meanwhile, at the Cumulus stations, Rafe D’Amico succeeds Forbes’ role that saw him oversee the AM and FM properties’ national spot team and manage their relationship with Katz Radio Group.
D’Amico will serve as SVP of National Sales. His resume includes roles as VP of Strategic Partnerships and National Sales at Beasley Media Group.
D’Amico reports to Cumulus EVP/Operations Dave Milner, while Russo reports to WWO head Suzanne Grimes.
In addition to those moves, Westwood One EVP/Sales and Sports Partnerships Brandon Berman, who has focused on sports and overall Midwest region efforts, adds the Northeast region for WWO.
Berman started his career at Westwood One some 15 years ago, as an account executive.
Taking on Southeast region duties at Westwood One is Kim Bryant, adding them to her role as EVP/Sales for the West and Southwest.
Bryant has been associated with Cumulus since the early 2010s. Before that, she held management roles at iHeart predecessor Clear Channel and Entravision.
Finally, seven-year WWO veteran Adam Shifrin rises from a Midwest and West sports sales role to become VP/Sports Sales and Marketing at Westwood One. He now manages all Westwood One Sports Play by Play, CBS Sports Radio, and associated shoulder inventory as well as the dedicated sports sales and operations teams.
“Westwood One is extremely fortunate to have a group of sales executives poised to lead the team forward seamlessly,” Grimes said. “I’m thrilled to announce these well-deserved promotions that will enable us to manage through this challenging pandemic with confidence, commitment, resilience and results.”
In August 2017, RBR+TVBR shared the news that a St. Louis-based provider of private-label online audience engagement and interactive content platforms had agreed to purchase a data-driven email marketing software and consulting business focused on the collection and use of first party data for the media industry founded by Ruth Presslaff.
Now the company that acquired Presslaff Interactive Revenue (PIR) is itself being purchased.
Second Street, which has carved a niche as a provider of private-label online audience engagement and interactive content platforms for broadcast media companies including contesting, quizzes, ballots, polls, surveys, e-mail, and data profiling, is being purchased by Upland Software, which offers products that give its clients opportunities for digital consumer engagement.
The all-cash deal is valued at $25.4 million, paid at closing.
Terms include a $5 million cash holdback payable in 12 months (subject to indemnification claims).
Upland expects the acquisition to generate annual revenue of approximately $9.4 million, of which all is recurring, and will not be subject to reductions for deferred revenue discount as a result of GAAP purchase accounting.
“The price paid for the acquisition is within Upland’s target range of 5-8x pro forma Adjusted EBITDA and it is expected that Second Street will generate at least $4.2 million in Adjusted EBITDA annually once fully integrated,” Upland says.
Additionally, the company notes that the acquisition will be immediately accretive to Upland’s Adjusted EBITDA per share.
“Adding Second Street to Upland’s product portfolio will provide Upland’s customers the power to build promotions and email campaigns that grow revenue, customer databases, and consumer engagement,” the Austin-based company says.
The Cosine Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to Second Street.
DHD Audio has announced that Norwegian radio broadcaster NRJ Norway now has new digital audio mixing and routing system based on the German company’s equipment.
Soundware Norge was the contractor. The installation consisted of an RX2 mixer surface and an XC2 core router/processor with an AES67 audio-over-IP interface.
[See Our Who’s Buying What Page]
Soundware Norge Sales Manager Ketil Morstøl explained that the new equipment can handle both audio and video and is a dry run for audio and video configurations that will be installed at new studios for NRJ Norway parent P4.
“The goal of this pilot is to evaluate a complete upgraded technical infrastructure for both audio and video production, forming the ideal studio for the P4-Group which is moving to new facilities later this year,” he said. He added, “The P4 group recognized the ergonomic and technical advantages of DHD mixers some years ago and now uses them across its various studios in Norway and Sweden.”
According to DHD Audio, the 1 RU rackmounted XC2 core can handle DHD control consoles of up to 44 faders and link various DHD I/O modules. The RX2 control surface is based on control surface modules which can be combined and configured to match a wide range of radio and TV production environments. The design also scales easily from small production units with 6 or 12 faders to large consoles with up to 60 faders.
Users and suppliers are both invited to send news about recent installations and product applications to radioworld@futurenet.com.
The post NRJ Norway Chooses DHD Audio appeared first on Radio World.
He became a renowned radio industry figure for serving as Station Manager at one of America’s most-listened-to Top 40 stations of the 1970s, with his 50kw Class A AM outdueling its rival, “The Voice of Labor in Chicago,” by March 1976.
In May 1979, he was named President of ABC-owned FMs following the resignation of Allan Shaw.
Now, media executives across the U.S. are paying tribute to Marty Greenberg, who has died of pancreatic cancer.
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SAVANNAH, GA. — Travel 40 miles south of the University of Georgia’s main campus in Athens, and you’ll find Greensboro, Ga., and the small town of Siloam, situated on Carl Sanders Highway.
Here, a Class A devoted to praising Jesus is trading hands. The buyer is based on Florida’s Panhandle.
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The author of this commentary is SVP, Broadcast Radio at Xperi.
At the start of a new year, it seems like many people are wondering about what’s next. After all, in 2020 — otherwise known as the Year of Utter Uncertainty — the idea that something else was going to happen took on an entirely new edge, with memories of lockdowns and Zoom calls. It should not surprise anyone that radio has been vital through it all.
Radio creates a feeling of personal connectedness, community and belonging. Expanding that value around the world, and across content channels, is what has driven our work innovating radio through DTS Connected Radio.
It converges technology and partnerships to make possible engaging, rich, multimedia content that is global, accessible, consistent and relevant.
If that sounds impossible, well, for the right company, with passion and commitment to broadcast radio, it is not. Here we are, with the only global connected hybrid radio ecosystem — just launched in the new Mercedes S-Class, with more to come.
DTS Connected Radio’s ecosystem comprises tens of thousands of radio stations globally, our TiVo metadata catalog and so much more.
Now Playing, at-a-glance information gives users real programming choices in a visually rich interface.Synergies gained from our merger with TiVo have accelerated deployment, enhanced our offerings and helped ensure unsurpassed security and operational support. TiVo’s massive music metadata platform and Xperi’s hybrid radio platform make an entirely new radio experience possible with premium radio content enhanced with visually rich data and deep content descriptors.
Especially notable is TiVo’s content aggregation, discovery and recommendation engines, which make content easier to discover for a richer listening experience — all harmonized through an ecosystem that delivers a unique, consistent and verified content experience from broadcast to in-vehicle.
Importantly, DTS Connected Radio’s platform is the only one in the world that caters to the unique requirements of both broadcasters, who retain content control, and automakers, who get a turnkey, secure and global solution.
Always delight the consumerDTS Connected Radio is all about delighting the consumer.
Because the content is so engaging, and interactive, radio can outclass pure-play digital audio platforms that are crowding out space on vehicle infotainment systems.
It starts with the ecosystem: built on rich multimedia metadata experiences sourced directly from broadcasters, enhanced with our content library and harmonized to deliver a unique end-user experience in the car.
The listener enjoys an immersive experience where they can “favorite” a station, get detailed station information, give a thumbs up or down on programming, as well as access a global events database for concerts, performances, museums, festivals and more.
Quality, accuracy and completenessBack when we started developing DTS Connected Radio, we shared the concept with automotive clients who offered detailed requirements. Paramount was global support and consistency across nearly 50 countries.
Meeting this initial requirement wasn’t easy, but we’ve exceeded it with over 75,000 stations, in nearly 80 countries. All this content resides in a global ecosystem that is fully integrated, secure and ready to meet the high expectations of automakers and radio listeners around the world.
Here’s a bit of insight into how we’ve made that happen:
Content Aggregation: To do this globally requires an entire infrastructure that includes content management, station integration, content distribution, service optimization, operational support and more. Radio station partners can join our platform through a variety of approaches. Most have chosen robust direct integrations, others have leveraged aggregation platforms. We also ensure that all publicly available information from regional sources is included. This first step of content aggregation is critical, but is only the beginning of delivering a global, commercial hybrid radio solution.
Content Validation: This is where the real work begins, as the content takes shape within the DTS Connected Radio platform. The validation process starts with ingesting radio station feeds and ensuring accurate matching and integration into the platform. This process is supported by automated analytics and assets verification, as well as hand curation, localization and confirmation by a dedicated team of subject matter experts.
Content Enrichment: We enhance the user experience through premium content integration, including leveraging our TiVo music metadata library of over 40 million tracks, artist biographies, song lyrics in 14 languages and global events that have been curated by location, station format and programming.
Infrastructure: Network Operations and Security: To meet automotive requirements, we’ve built a global network, geographically deployed and redundant with 24x7x365 support. The system has coverage wherever a vehicle may need to connect, and an unmatched level of security. That includes rigorous requirements such as recurring third-party security audits (we consistently achieve an A rating). Given the scope of the deployments, and number of concurrent connections, we’ve ensured the platform is dynamically scalable, able to handle 5 billion queries daily, and architected to meet the peak-loading requirements of local markets.
Services API: Our unique services interface is designed to ensure exceptional response time, security and privacy, while offering flexibility to our automotive partners. It’s the integration and connection point with consumers, and includes adherence to privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA), copyright enforcement, content stream protection and content moderation at a localized level. It also enables us to infer consumer engagement to provide consistent metrics and analytics to our broadcaster partners.
A new connected realityWe believe that at the heart of DTS innovation is the ability to harmonize and do so securely — worldwide. It’s what drives the user interface and the interactivity of the experience.
In a world gone mad by the noise of social media, this is the “what’s next” that creates a consistent and rich experience, validated by our experts and bolstered by our content. For broadcasters it puts the real value of radio on a global scale and in a personalized way for each and every listener.
That’s what’s next. And now.
View Joe D’Angelo’s Radio Show presentation “DTS Connected Radio: Looking Under the Hood.”
The post DTS Connected Radio: A Global Enhanced Radio Experience appeared first on Radio World.
It’s a topic of conversation no one wants to have: a big transaction that a company hoped to close didn’t make it to the finish line.
That’s exactly what has transpired with multiple deals involving Deb McDermott and radio and television properties found across the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York; and TV stations that were to be sold by Bill Christian and Mike Reed.
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A resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives last night by Rep. Cheri Bustos and 42 House Members thanking journalists for their reporting during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.
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It’s been a radio station in the capital of the Old Dominion, pitching itself as a home of “Timeless Rock N’ Roll, Pop & Soul,” for the last few years.
Now, “Boomtown Richmond” is officially getting a little more oomph.
It is officially purchasing two AMs and an FM translator that were once part of Davidson Media Group’s Spanish-language holdings across the East Coast, operated via an LMA for nearly three years.
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As 2021 began, the FCC formally objected to a Petition for Reconsideration of a Commission Report and Order that effectively eliminates the radio duplication rule for AM stations … and FM stations.
The petition was filed by three groups, who have come together to challenge the sudden re-inclusion of FM stations in the R&O, approved in August 2020.
Last week, the trio of groups submitted a joint “final consolidated reply” — as did a fourth group that’s been a NAB antagonist.
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In November 2020, RBR+TVBR first reported on the October 16 signing of an Asset Purchase Agreement that would see the transfer of ownership of a pair of UHF properties to Soohyung Kim-led Standard Media Group from Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The FCC last week gave its blessing to the sale.
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