Radio+Television Business Report

By Brian Galante
Special to Weekly Tech Roundup

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Sarina Fazan has established herself as a trusted source for local TV news viewers in the Tampa Bay region for nearly 20 years.

As a member of the news team at The E.W. Scripps Co.’s ABC affiliate, WFTS-28, Fazan established herself as an influential storyteller with a reputation for landing exclusive interviews, gaining national attention along the way.

Now, she’s ready to gain a worldwide audience, thanks to what’s essentially a video podcast.

It’s the culmination of efforts that began two years ago, when Fazan launched Sarina Fazan Media. Her flagship production, “On The Record With Sarina Fazan,” is a weekly podcast that largely uses the formula of local public affairs shows seen on broadcast TV stations across the U.S.

As of press time, Fazan has produced 63 episodes.

The rollout of “On The Record with Sarina Fazan” is thanks, in part, to Fazan’s time at WFTS. In 2013, she met the station’s then-Director of Engineering Lowell Beckner. He now serves as GM of CP Communications, the live content acquisition and production company and tech services provider that set up shop in St. Petersburg two years ago. CP, with Beckner’s assistance, helped Fazan to bring the video podcasts to life.

The video podcast proved to be a welcome pivot for CP. Known primarily for its live sports production, its mobile production trucks were idled when the pandemic hit. With the at-home production business rapidly surging, CP moved to serve clients in this arena at a much greater capacity than it already had been doing.

In 2018, CP launched Red House Streaming to fulfill at-home production needs. A year later, the all-in-one CamSTREAM systems for remote shoots were added to the roster of products. With plenty of space in St. Petersburg, a professional studio and network operations center were added.

For Beckner, overseeing the launch of Red House Streaming (RHS) including a talent search, with him sniffing out talent that wished to broadcast live from the RHS studio.

The RHS business officially opened in early January 2021, ahead of Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

LIVE, AND ON-DEMAND

As Executive Producer for “On The Record,” Audra Butler through the end of 2020 oversaw production in a small office studio that, while sufficient, had modest technical capacities.

“We didn’t have the ability to go live, so all podcasts were distributed as pre-recorded content,” Butler said. “That changed when we walked into the RHS studios. Most shows are now produced and streamed live from the set. It is a studio facility with that live broadcast feeling, even when the podcasts are recorded.”

Fazan’s first live-streamed podcast from RHS took place on January 15. The successful “test run” laid the groundwork for what was next.

Butler recalls, “By this point, the Buccaneers had won the NFC Championship and were headed to the Super Bowl. Sarina raised the idea of doing daily podcasts leading up to the game, which, in addition to the studio shows, included a live remote two days before the game. It was the perfect situation to create a podcast series with local and national interest.”

With Kurt Heitmann leading CP operations as CEO and providing the vision that led to RHS’s creation, the studios boast Panasonic cameras, vMix live production and streaming software, Simplylive all-in-one production systems, Aja KiPro quad recorders, and Blackmagic ATEM Studio 4K production switchers.

A professional editing studio, Dante-enabled audio production workflow, and large intercom matrix are also available, along with the adjacent NOC for signal monitoring and quality control.

The technologies are used for full in-house productions such as Fazan’s podcasts and for at-home productions. Clients include Carr-Hughes Productions, CBS Sports Network and Verona Productions.

Beckner notes that a chroma key wall and virtual sets have brought a unique visual experience to each podcast, which were helpful when the podcasts shifted from weekly to daily. The initial run of five shows swelled to eight, including one on Super Bowl Sunday.

Beckner directed up to four camera shots for most of the shows (and, for one special production, served as a camera operator), and assigned a full crew for other positions.
“We had a technical director running the switcher, an audio specialist producing the sound, and an engineer overseeing the entire production from the NOC,” he said. “We used technicians with different skillsets along the way, from experienced professionals to CP warehouse technicians that stepped up when needed.”

REPORTING FROM ANYWHERE

A list of enthusiastic guests, including current and retired NFL players, drove the series’ expansion to eight shows.

A special remote show highlighted Rebuilding Together’s Super Bowl-sanctioned event, Kick Off to Rebuild, which focused on helping families in need with home repairs. “We traveled to the Northdale community of Tampa,” Fazan said. “We had an established rhythm in the studio, but I was no longer behind the news desk. We were now on location, and needed to meet the same quality expectations.”

It was then that CP Communications’ at-home production model came to life.

“The human element of being back on a normal news set is amazing to me on so many levels,” Fazan said. “They are creating virtual sets with these very different and appealing backgrounds, while using our graphics and colors and giving us creative control. With streaming, it’s all about creating the content you want, and building your own audience.”

Now, Fazan is planning her next moves. CP Communications’ services and products will be involved. “I very much intend to launch my own channel on Roku, Amazon, and other OTT platforms,” she said. “My goal is to bring newsmakers and high-profile people on this show that can draw both local and national audiences.”

As audience numbers continue to rise, “On The Record With Sarina Fazan” has permanently shifted production to the RHS studios. With live streams and podcasts available over YouTube, Facebook, and Fazan’s website at https://sarinafazan.media/podcast, she is planning her next moves with CP Communications.

Audio ad sales network AdLarge has promoted a pair of Vice Presidents to Senior Vice President positions at the New York-based shop.

Donelle Brown is now Senior Vice President of Marketing Insights & Client Relations.

Ilwira Marciszek takes the role of Senior Vice President, Head of Revenue Operations and Digital Sales.

Brown has worked in the audio space for the majority of her career, beginning in local radio promotions in Boston. She has led cross-functional marketing teams at Jones MediaAmerica and Dial Global, and has been associated with AdLarge since 2015, when she took the role of Marketing Solutions Director,

With over 15 years of media experience, Marciszek currently works with AdLarge’s key content and technology partners on driving revenue growth for the company and overseeing sales operations. She is celebrating her 10th year with AdLarge.

AdLarge Media was founded in 2011 by Cathy Csukas and Gary Schonfeld and today includes a digital portfolio, cabana.

Believe it or not, we are just two months away from the 2021-2022 Upfronts. But, what’s different this year are presentations that reflect an internal reorganization that blends together sales, operations, content and distribution.

This single organization approach has very much changed the selling process, and we’re wondering what the biggest change for TV as we prep for the next season.

Providing the answer, and more, in this podcast, presented by DOT.fm: Jay Prasad, Chief Strategy Officer at LiveRamp TV.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Jay Prasad, LiveRamp TV” on Spreaker.

A new webinar focused on the features of The Telos Alliance‘s Axia iQs is planned for St. Patrick’s Day. The online event will offer broadcasters a learning opportunity on how to control their mix anywhere, on any device, for optimum remote broadcast and virtual workflows.

The webinar, “Virtual Mixing with Axia iQs Console Software,” will be held at 1pm Eastern on March 17.

It serves as a coming-out party, if you will, for the Axia iQs AES67 Mixing Console Software.

According to Telos, it the first soft console controlled via HTML-5, allowing users to control a mix from anywhere and across devices and operating systems.

In this webinar, Telos Alliance’s Kirk Harnack and iQs developer Milos Nemcik demonstrate how the Axia iQs “delivers virtualization’s promise of added scalability, adaptability, cost efficiencies, simple deployment, and reliability, with demos, examples of how to deploy iQs” in a way that best fits your company’s needs.

Those interested in attending the webinar can sign up here.

For those that are unable to attend, Telos Alliance recommends signing up anyways, and a recording of the webinar will be sent via email.

It’s business focus is the same. But, the technology infrastructure company founded in May 2019 as Public Media Group has rebranded.

PMG is now Signal Infrastructure Group (SIG) while it recommits to delivering ATSC 3.0-focused products to public and commercial broadcasters.

“As a company, we serve the entire broadcast industry,” said SIG CEO Joe Chinnici, who believes the company’s old name limited its potential consumer reach. “We feel it is important that our name reflects our mission to serve both commercial and public
broadcasters with our physical and digital infrastructure.”

Having recently launched a new software platform, SIG’s products now include those designed to improve facilitating market transitions; designing, building and operating Single Frequency Networks to enhance signal density; workflow orchestration software to manage and configure the flow of information; and products designed to allow broadcasters to launch new interactive, NextGen applications.

Users of the FreeWheel Strata ad management platform now have access to a single source of insights, giving them greater knowledge of how to budget for a cross-media campaign from the Comcast Company-owned system.

Introducing the Strata platform Data Warehouse, which Comcast says is interoperable with agencies’ existing business intelligence solutions.

“Advertisers have historically faced several challenges when accessing and analyzing insights into their advertising campaigns,” Comcast says. “They often pull insights from multiple locations and platforms, which provide a fragmented look at their media performance. The process of multiple data interfaces can also be cumbersome and time consuming even for the most seasoned data analysts.”

Strata Data Warehouse users are promised a simple, consolidated multimarket cross-media report, something FreeWheel Chief Revenue Officer Mark McKee says is a “must” in today’s ad environment.

“This is valuable time that can be used to put these new insights to work to power the planning, execution, and optimization of their media campaigns,” he says.

Data Warehouse will be available to all Strata users in April and is currently being used in beta phase by five Strata agencies, including Harmelin.

Cooper-Smith, a full-service media agency headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, has also been using Data Warehouse to access and analyze campaign data.

Later this quarter, FreeWheel will be launching the next phase of Data Warehouse that will include deeper analytic tools. These capabilities, says Comcast, will provide “extensive functionality to all agency users – from buying and planning to finance teams. The tool will provide visual reporting options, drag and drop functionality and customization based on users’ needs.”

German converter manufacturer Ferrofish has added the new +24dBu I/O model to its Pulse16 Series of AD/DA converters. The new modification increases the maximum input and output level from +20dBu to +24dBu, an important upgrade for American broadcasters requiring proper headroom.

“One of the core components at Ferrofish is providing end-users with cost-effective, high-performing converting solutions,” said Derek Badala, Director of Sales for the Americas for Synthax, the regiona distributor of Ferrofish products. “This new modification is no different, offering US broadcasters with the tool they need to help them get the best possible audio experience.”

With the new Pulse16 +24dBu I/O modification, maximum input and output levels are increased from +20dBu to +24dBu (in steps of 1 dB), complying with the American SMPTE guidelines which call for +24dBu levels for the analog portion to keep all analog and digital levels uniform.

The Pulse16 is a high-density converter providing 16 x 16 balanced analog TRS I/O. Thanks to its Cirrus Logic converter chips, the Pulse16 operates with an active digital jitter elimination, which compensates shifts or jitters in the audio signal and provides audio engineers with the highest-quality audio possible. The Pulse16 family now includes the Pulse16 DX, Pulse16 MX and the original Pulse16. The new +24dBu I/O model is available for all Pulse16 versions.

In addition to the new Pulse16 +24dBu I/O model, Ferrofish also recently announced a new Pulse16 CV Out, perfect for users working with modular synths using CV/Gate technology.

For more information, visit ferrofish.com.

In American broadcasting SMPTE guidelines call for +24dBu (decibel) levels for the analog portions of audio in order to keep all analog and digital levels uniform. This new Ferrofish Pulse16 model’s input and output levels are increased from +20dBu level (what the old version was) to the new +24dBu level to comply with SMPTE’s guidelines.

Radio and television broadcasting companies publicly trading on U.S. financial markets mostly enjoyed a strong start to the new week.

Monday’s trading saw gains of significance for Salem Media Group, Sinclair Broadcast Group, ViacomCBS, Disney and Cumulus Media.

That said, Veritone Inc. suffered another dip of significance, falling $4.29 to $28.92 to continue a retreat from a recent growth trend for the audio attribution technology company actively seeking TV and radio clients.

 

The FCC has issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to the licensee of a low-powered FM radio station in Bryan, Ohio, for the apparent willful violation of section 73.3539 of the Rules, resulting in the willful and repeated violation of section 301 of the Communications Act — the broadcasters’ regulatory Bible.

What, exactly, went wrong? This LPFM’s license renewal application was sent in too late.

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On Thursday (3/4), RBR+TVBR was first to share just how Salem Media Group successfully turned its financial fortunes from shaky to sturdy. Digital and publishing revenue growth fueled the impressive Q4, which sparked investor interest.

Now, an influential Wall Street blog declares that the company focused on Conservative Talk radio programming and Christian-themed content “is possibly approaching a major achievement in its business.”

That would be a profit.

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It’s been said that less fluctuation means more continual participation, breeding a group of believers — rather than experimenters.

That seems to be scenario shaping up at spot radio, the latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report suggests.

With Indeed in the lead among fully paid advertising campaigns, by play count, Progressive, Babbel, GEICO, ZipRecruiter and Allstate have established strong commitments to audio advertising via AM and FM radio.

That said, the auto insurance category remains one of the most consistent, while there’s more fluctuation in other categories for Radio as the end of the first quarter of 2021 reports.

Here’s the latest Spot Ten Radio report, in full:

Yes, GEICO and Liberty Mutual Insurance are ahead of Progressive for yet another week, showing the continued dominance of auto insurance specialists in the Spot Ten TV report from Media Monitors.

That said, new activity is seen from a health and beauty aide brand, and from a furniture retailer.

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“SuperFrank” Copsidas has made a name for himself in New York State, in the Deep South, in the Hoosier State, and across New England for his investment in low-power television operations.

Now, the producer of the TV series “Pop Up Psychic,” “Just Eat It” and “Ghost Rapper” is adding another television station to his roster of LPTV facilities.

Copsidas’ MOTV LLC, referencing the state of Missouri, is agreeing to acquire KEFN-CD in St. Louis.

KEFN is a Class A station serving the Gateway City on Channel 20. As of 2019, it was using an ERI Model AL8N-20-PLC circularly polarized AL PLUS Series UHF television antenna with a narrow cardioid azimuth pattern.

Until now, KEFN had been an EWTN member station, licensed to Eternal Family Network. On March 18, 2020, KEFN went silent under an STA; its agreement to use its licensed transmitter site was “terminated.”

Now, it is poised to return to life, but with a different ownership arrangement.

Eternal Family Network wishes to continue its mission of the sharing of the Catholic Faith and “traditional values” through multimedia but is unable to do so without “the benefits obtained through entering into this agreement.”

That agreement will see EFN team with kNow Media in forming a new limited liability company, “MOTV, LLC.” Copsidas will oversee it, while MOTV will be a partnership majority owned by EFN (taking 55% equity interest).

kNow and EFN will then divide all income received with respect to the operation of the station 60/40, after expenses. Such revenues and expenses are subject to audit at the sole expense of the party requesting it.

What if KEFN is sold, or is permitted or required to participate in a reverse auction at the FCC? EFN will get $650,000. Then, kNow and Eternal will split the remainder of any proceeds 60%/40%.

For EFN, EWTN will return, with ATSC 1.0 and ATSC 3.0 broadcasts contractually guaranteed by Copsidas. The benefit for him? Digital multicast access, and the pending NEXTGEN TV data capability, which presents broadcast TV with a new revenue-generation opportunity.

All is contingent, however, on getting KEFN-CD 20 back on the air by March 18. If that doesn’t happen, the deal is off — and the station’s license is deleted and cancelled by the FCC.

The Chairman of CBS Sports has been selected to deliver the opening keynote at the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE)’s virtual conference devoted to “The Business of Live Sports,” a new event set to take place later this month.

The new event will be held across three hours of March 23.

To register, go to https://www.natpe.com/sports/attend/

 

Topics slated to be covered include the promotion of live sports, the distribution of live sports to streaming fans, the changing playing field of sport sponsorship, the power of pay per view, as well as the rise of sports gambling, international fandom, local broadcasters, and sports.

While Sean McManus of CBS Sports gets top billing, he’ll be participating in a virtual event that also includes appearances by Wyatt Hicks, the Managing Director of Digital Media at NASCAR; and Miheer Walavalkar, the CEO of LiveLike. Both will be discussing the ways of engaging fans around live sports in 2021.

Additionally, Jennifer Storms, the Chief Marketing Officer of Entertainment and Sports at NBCUniversal, will speak on promoting live sports viewership while Telemundo Deportes President Ray Warren will join a panel of other programmers and streaming service providers to discuss the benefits of distributing live sports to streaming fans everywhere.

Julian Mintz, Head of West & Central Brand Sales at Roku, and John Stainer, Managing Director of North America at Nielsen Sports, will also take time to discuss trends in where the money is flowing in live sports.

Until eleven months ago, his voice could be heard in morning drive at WIHT-FM “Hot 99.5” in Washington, D.C., and WFLZ-FM in Tampa, in addition to stations in Baltimore, Louisville, Memphis and Harrisburg via Premiere Networks syndication.

He also hosted a Sunday night program, also syndicated, that aired on some 100 stations.

In April 2020, iHeartMedia canceled the programs, hosted by a Syracuse University alum legally named Peter Deibler.

Now, legions of former listeners are joining members of the radio industry across the U.S. in remembering the life of the man known as “Kane,” as he has died “after a long illness” at the age of 43.

Lawyers for Deibler’s family at Joseph, Greenwald & Laake P.A. released the news to local Washington, D.C., media Monday morning (3/8). He passed away on Friday, March 5, at Shady Grove Adventist Medical Center.

As an anchor for Hot 99.5 from 2006 until his surprising dismissal amid a major reduction-in-force initiative at iHeartMedia, “Kane” also served as a contributor to NBC O&O WRC-4 in Washington.

“Although co-hosts came and went, Kane remained a constant, comforting voice for thousands of people driving to work, dropping the kids off at school and running errands,” lawyers for Deibler’s family said in a statement.

In another statement sent to WRC-4 by the former employer of “Kane” and those associated with The Kane Show, iHeartMedia said, “We are deeply saddened to share the news that Kane has passed away. Kane has been an important part of our iHeart family for many years, from his early days at WFLZ in Tampa, to his network of stations and success at HOT 99.5 in D.C. and ‘Club Kane.’ Please keep Kane’s family and his girls in your thoughts and prayers.”

Deibler was father to two daughters, Sam and Sophie.

“The family is requesting that their privacy be honored during this difficult time,” his representatives said.

A memorial service will also be planned at a future date.

Deibler made headlines in June 2016 after being arrested for assault after his soon-to-be ex-wife accused him of second-degree assault, The Washington Post reported at the time.

It was a blemish on a storied career that began at WKCI-FM “KC101” in New Haven, where he was an intern while still in high school, Lance Venta of RadioInsight.com reports. He’d later hold nights at WWHT-FM “Hot 107.9” in Syracuse and joined WFLZ in 1998 for evenings.

Two years later, he moved to Washington, to join the former XM Satellite Radio.

In 2004, Deibler would return to Tampa, as PD/afternoon host of WFLZ. Then, in October 2006, “The Kane Show” would debut at Hot 99.5; he’d continue to host afternoons on 93.3 FLZ in Tampa.

DISH Network Corporation has embarked on a big business initiative that’s designed to shift it away from strictly offering direct broadcast satellite TV services that, quite often, do not offer consumers every local channel due to its penchant to play hardball with respect to any retransmission consent accords.

It involves 5G, and wireless technology. DISH just took another step toward achieving that goal, by acquiring a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that’s using the T-Mobile infrastructure.

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So much for that COVID-19 subscriber bump.

Full market estimates from Kagan, the S&P Global Market Intelligence media research group, are out. And … they’re not pretty.

Millions of subscriptions by multichannel video services were shed in 2020. As such, the cord-cutting story is real.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Senate late Friday (3/5) approved a budget reconciliation bill that doesn’t raise the minimum wage to a statutory $15 per hour and will put an extra $1,400 in the hands of many Americans.

The legislation also will direct hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19 related emergency assistance to public radio and television stations.

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BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) has a new Vice President of Creative for its Latin arm.

Jesus Gonzalez will join the company as will oversee BMI’s Latin Creative team helping to sign and develop new talent, assist BMI’s family of songwriters and publishers and serve as a liaison between the Latin music community and the industry at large.

Based out of BMI’s Los Angeles office, Gonzalez reports to BMI SVP/Creative Alex Flores.

“Throughout his career, Jesus has forged strong relationships within the Latin music community as a songwriter and a music executive,”  Flores said. “His background gives him a deep understanding for both the artistic and business side of what we do, which is invaluable to our music creators, and his ability to forecast industry trends within the ever-growing Latin music space is second to none. I look forward to working with Jesus on developing new talent and supporting our incredible roster of Latin songwriters, producers, composers and music publishers.”

Prior to joining BMI, Gonzalez spent nearly seven years at Universal Music Group, where he was most recently SVP/Brands & Partnerships.

In that role, he spearheaded major collaborations between top Latin artists and global Fortune 500 companies, developed marketing plans around releases to amplify those partnerships and forecasted industry trends. During his tenure at Universal, he helped secure deals for internationally acclaimed performing songwriters, including J Balvin, Juanes and Luis Fonsi, with top brands such as Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and Mastercard, to name a few.

Other roles include a stint as Vice President of Music Partnerships working with Rogers & Cowan, FRUKT and Octagon under the Interpublic umbrella, and he was the Principal partner at Maleco Music, a music and brand consulting agency.

As a songwriter, he is a voting member of the Recording Academy for the GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY Awards, and was a mentor for the 2020 Adweek Executive Mentor Program. Gonzalez received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside.

“Spurious Emissions.”

It’s something the FCC takes seriously, and will issue a Notice Of Violation for any offense. This week, two notices in one day were issued, and as Wilkinson Barker Knauer attorney David Oxenford notes, both involve low-power radio stations.

It shows that even micro FMs are subject to policing.

Specifically, Oxenford says an FCC Field Office cited Low Power FM operators for using transmission systems that, in addition to transmitting signals on their authorized channels, were also emitting signals on other channels that posed the potential for interference with other users on those other frequencies – sometimes not even broadcast frequencies.

In one case, the FCC noted that it was the FAA that reported the interference.

“All broadcast transmissions have the potential for these spurious emissions on channels other than the ones for which a station is authorized, especially if a station is near other stations as frequencies can interact to produce these unintended emissions,” Oxenford says. “When constructing and operating any broadcast station, care should be given to ensure that these off-channel emissions are not of a signal strength beyond that permitted by the FCC rules as interference can occur and the FCC can potentially impose fines.”

Neither of these NOVs proposes a fine.

Rather, each asks for a response from the operator of the LPFM station and reserves the right to impose a fine depending on the response and any corrective action that is taken, Oxenford says.

It should be noted that the Commission rarely publishes these “routine” NOVs in its Daily Digest. But, it did so with these two notices.

“This publication may be meant as a warning to all stations to ensure that their transmissions are within the permitted limits to avoid any enforcement action, so consider yourself warned!” Oxenford concludes.