Radio+Television Business Report

On May 11, 1951, an AM radio station signed on the air under the ownership of David M. Segal. On that day, KDKD became the fifth station to be owned by Segal.

Today, the AM is part of the Radford Media Group, led by Clifford and Brittany Radford. And, at 5:15pm Central on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021, the Class D radio station that has served Clinton, Mo., to the southeast of Kansas City, will sign off the air forever.

Radford says the decision wasn’t up to them, but the entity that owns the KDKD-AM broadcast tower. That would be Crown Castle, the communications infrastructure provider that saw 2020 revenue of $5.84 billion and has a market capitalization of $88.67 billion on the NYSE.

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Dave “Chachi” Denes, the President and co-founder of radio imaging, production library, programming and jingles company Benztown, is the latest audio content and distribution industry executive to share why he’s attending CES 2022.

What is Chachi looking forward to by traveling to Las Vegas to the mega-conference and expo? Is there one thing in particular that radio industry executives should keep their eye on?

Chachi shares his thoughts in this InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Dave “Chachi” Denes” on Spreaker.

An international linear advertising-based video on demand service headquartered in the far north of Germany is launching both its web application and an app for Android devices as it looks forward to a 2022 arrival in North America.

Kiel-based FAST+AVOD entity rlaxx TV in early December launched its app for iOS and the iPad. As such, it is now available on nearly every smart TV in target markets across Europe and the U.K., as well as Turkey, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

“What we have achieved since September 2020 makes us very proud,” says Ronny Lutzi, CEO and founder of rlaxx TV. “Within a year, we have launched our app on almost every internet-enabled device, in addition to the 24 countries we will be available in by the end of the year. With these final 2021 launches we are keeping our promise and very ambitious annual goal to offer a laid-back experience for viewers in all forms of presentation.”

By the week, rlaxx TV hopes to have services to Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland up and running. This makes NATPE Miami, from January 18-20, 2022, a potentially important event for rlaxx TV. A rollout in the U.S. and Canada is planned for the first quarter of 2022.

The marketing team at rlaxx TV calls its content “premium niche.” Current media partners include international holders of video and TV rights for Vevo Pop, Nitro Circus, Gusto TV, Street League Skateboarding, Comedy Dynamics, People TV, New KPop, New KFood, and PowerNation TV. Thus, rlaxx TV relies on a global network of content partners.

NATPE Miami could bring new relationships.

Unlike other design disciplines, sound design is partly created live during a show.

The cast can change. A performer isn’t 100%. Perhaps there’s a sub in the band. Even the size of the audience, or the weather can have a huge impact on the sound of a show.

It’s no wonder that most sound designers were sound engineers. The upcoming Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry Conference (EPIC), a virtual affair, will offer fresh insight into how the person behind the mixing board is both an artist and an engineer — one who needs all their right and left brain power to create the best audio landscape.

AUDIO ENGINEERS & DESIGN: TECHNICIANS & ARTISTS is one panel that Weekly Tech Roundup readers may have a particular interest in.

This panel of engineers, technicians, and designers (including Jessica Paz, the first woman to win a Tony Award for sound design, with “Hadestown”) will discuss the work they do in their dual roles as technician and artist.

The EPIC event offers four content zones across its upcoming live-streamed event, scheduled for January 10, 2022. Sessions will be available on demand until February 12. Among the better-known participants: Billy Porter, the acclaimed Broadway actor, in a Mainstage Session for all attendees. 

The sessions start at 9am Eastern on January 10.

More info and ticket information may be found at www.GlobalEpicEvent.com

Broadcast industry audio processing pioneer Robert Orban has been named as the recipient of the inaugural Audio Engineering Society President’s Award.

Orban and fellow collaborators were honored for technical achievement in drafting TC Document TD1008: “Recommendations for Loudness of Internet Audio Streaming and On-Demand Distribution.”

The award recognizes contributions to the goals of AES that are made collaboratively in groups; Orban shares this award with David Bialik, Rob Byers, Jim Coursey, Eelco Grimm, Bob Katz, John Kean, Scott Norcross, Shawn Singh, Jim Starzynski and Alessandro Travaglini.

“Bob’s work with his fellow industry luminaries will go a long way toward improving the user experience for billions of internet listeners,” said Orban President David Day. “His leadership and expertise in the processing arena are second to none. We are honored to work with Bob on a daily basis.”

Mr. Orban commented, “The process took nearly two years with weekly Zoom meetings. Our group was quite large and brought a wealth of ideas to the table, but it did take some time to sort out everyone’s thoughts and present a comprehensive recommendation to the AES. I enjoyed working with this prestigious group of audio engineering experts.”

The AES President’s Award was presented in an online ceremony in mid-December along with technical, fellowship and Board of Governors’ Awards.

The last seven-day period of 2021 has been measured by Media Monitors, the iHeartMedia-owned ad tracking service that covers broadcast and cable television and national radio activity.

The big takeaway once again? Walmart is, by far, the most active user of spot television, but not so much a big user of spot radio.

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In the late 2000s, he was an active buyer of radio stations. Among the stations acquired by Sima Birach and his Birach Broadcasting Corp. in that era is a Class B AM serving Little Rock with 5kw during daylight hours from 1 tower and 240 watts after dark from 2 towers.

Birach acquired the station in October 2007 along with a Tulsa AM in a $1.5 million deal brokered by John Pierce & Co. Now, that AM, which today has a FM translator bringing its Spanish-language programming some FM revitalization, is in the news. Why? An unauthorized period of silence and a OPIF filing deadline miss are set to cost Birach tens of thousands of dollars in FCC fines.

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MILPITAS, CALIF. — A deal involving a FM translator has just been consummated that will bring, pending FCC approval, another South Asian voice to the San Jose radio market.

The programming will originate from the HD3 signal of KUFX-FM, a Bonneville International-owned radio station.

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On December 24, 2020, the husband that shares ownership with his wife of a Class A noncommercial FM radio station serving the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts passed away.

Now, the requisite paperwork is being filed that will give the woman full ownership of “Quahog Country.”

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In September 2019, Monte Miller had his fill of repeated requests to delay the closing of a March 2019 transaction that would see the transfer of six full-power stations and two FM translators by Miller’s Rocking M Media to Allied Media Partners (AMP). “I took the stations off today,” he told RBR+TVBR at the time — a move that would negate a $6.2 million deal.

More than two years later, all but one of the two FM translators involved in that imploded deal are back in the news, as their license renewal applications were under Media Bureau review at the FCC. The Chief of the Audio Division has signed off on the renewals, along with the sale of one of the full-powered FM properties. However, in order for it to happen, Rocking M entered into a Consent Decree and is making a contribution to the U.S. Treasury.

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A select group of Americans may be familiar with the name John Peel, thanks to the late air personality’s time at BBC Radio 1, where he brought progressive rock, punk acts, dub reggae and electronic acts their first national airplay in Great Britain.

Few Americans, if anyone, may be familiar with the name Janice Long. In the United Kingdom, Long is perhaps as equally iconic as Peel, thanks in very large part to their on-air chemistry as the hosts of BBC Television’s “Top of the Pops” program.

Today, anyone who has ever watched TOTP or was raised on Radio 1 is mourning her death, which came on Christmas Day following “a short illness.” Long was 66 years old.

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The largest convention and expo to be staged in two years is scheduled to take place in one week. And, it will be held without the full-scale participation of such companies as Google and Microsoft, each of which confirmed over the Christmas holiday weekend that they will not be engaging in in-person events during the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

With in-person event cancellations at CES 2022, including that of iHeartMedia, growing, what does that bode for attendance at the second most-important event of the season — NATPE Miami?

“NATPE Safe” protocols have been updated. This means that on-site virus testing will be available at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, the sprawling casino-style with no gaming resort adjacent to the Nobu Eden Roc, home to the much smaller (but perhaps more important to broadcasters) Matrix Media Ad Sales Summit.

The “NATPE Safe” protocol already includes proof of vaccination, and the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) believes the on-site testing of vaccinated attendees will ensure that its global programming marketplace and TV industry conference will be a successful event, starting January 18 and ending January 20.

How will it work? Optional Rapid Antigen COVID-19 Testing for all attendees on the main dates of the event will be available via an appointment; sign-up information was still forthcoming at the time of this writing.

“Guests that take advantage of the daily testing will receive identification (i.e. wrist badge) of their negative COVID test,” NATPE said. “Individual exhibitors and sponsors may choose to require testing in order to meet with their staff.”

Meanwhile, NATPE Miami, which traditionally has a diverse global attendance, will offer a PCR COVID-19 Test for international attendees that require a negative test result 72 hours or less before entering back to their country of origin. The cost: $150. It is reserved for those who are attending NATPE Miami from outside the U.S.

Among the high-profile sponsors of NATPE Miami are Univision Communications, AP, A + E Networks, The CW, Horowitz Research, Lionsgate, WB, and Tubi, the FOX Corporation over-the-top offering.

“With the health and safety of exhibitors, buyers, sponsors, honorees, partners and all attendees as top priority, NATPE will be following the highest standards and COVID-related protocols,” the organization said.

Furthermore, NATPE has created a daily health survey which will be filled out by attendees on everyone’s mobile phones. Complimentary face masks will be available on-site. Temperature checks will be taken before entering certain parts of the NATPE event, such as the mainstage conference session or the exhibition floor.

There will also be a NATPE Networking Tent, which will provide an outdoor option for networking.

While masks are “highly recommended” for all attendees, even as the event requires vaccination, face masks will be mandatory for all NATPE staff, service providers and vendors as cleaning will be reinforced in all exhibition spaces and high-contact areas will be frequently disinfected.

The Fontainebleau is also doing its part to segregate hotel guests who are not attending NATPE Miami from those who are.

As such, things will not be back to normal for NATPE Miami attendees, with outdoor tents for sessions and meetings and designated NATPE Safe zones fully controlled by the event production team planned for the entire resort, where in years past it was perfectly expected to see Byron Allen walking the corridors of the Tresor towers as Kalil & Co. representatives met with current and prospective clients in a suite with a near-perfect view of South Beach.

RBR+TVBR has confirmed that Kalil & Co. will again have a suite at NATPE Miami.

— Adam R Jacobson, in Delray Beach, Fla.

RBR+TVBR will be offering selected NATPE Miami coverage, based on COVID-19 safety protocols and updated guidance. It will be present January 20 at the Matrix Media Ad Sales Summit, where Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson will be moderating a panel discussion on ATSC 3.0 and OTT opportunities for television.

The Univision network affiliates serving two of the nation’s biggest emerging Hispanic markets — Kansas City and Minneapolis-St. Paul — has a new VP/Station Group Manager.

He takes the expanded role at Media Vista Group after seven years of experience overseeing the Twin Cities operations.

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In the Florida Keys, there’s a station called WKIZ. It’s a digital low-power TV facility, and is a sibling to a Class A digital TV facility also serving the Conch Republic. Paul Garber has been the Manager of the stations’ licensee.

Thanks to a deal finalized just before Christmas, a reorganization in the stations’ ownership is moving forward. This puts David and Penny Drucker in the driver’s seat.

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On December 21, RBR+TVBR was first to share the news that Gray Television had agreed to purchase a low-power TV construction permit and five fully built LPTVs from the licensee led by Jeff Winemiller.

Now, Gray has struck again — this time grabbing a half-dozen LPTV CPs across the South.

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Nielsen on Thursday morning announced that it plans to move forward with its introduction of Broadband-Only (BBO) Homes in its local television market measurements, beginning in January 2022.

The Media Rating Council (MRC) recently completed an audit of the BBO Homes. And, just after the Closing Bell on Wall Street, shared several “perspectives” on the matter.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Copyright Royalty Judges on December 23 announced that they have adopted existing rates and terms for the retransmission of over-the-air television and radio broadcast stations by cable television systems to their subscribers.

Here’s what that means.

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Corpus Christi, Tex.-based Mako Communications found itself with a group of low-power TV stations with a unique trait: the deadline to build them isn’t until 2023.

It decided to sell them, attracting a variety of buyers and prices. Now, it has a buyer for a facility serving the home of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

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It bills itself as a Chicago-based multimedia company that offers extensive radio programming offerings including mix show syndication, production and imaging.

Now, the entity majority-controlled by Robert Jamrog is poised to become the licensee of a FM translator licensed to serve Monterey-Salinas, Calif.

The seller? One of the biggest acquirers of radio stations in the last decade.

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For Nashville radio listeners, there’s been a longtime presence of a unique Classic Hits station targeted to those that may very well been labeled a “hippie” some 50+ years ago.

Class A WHPY-FM is Hippie Radio, and together with an AM/FM combo in Gallatin, Tenn., and a group of stations in Warsaw, Ind., comprise Kensington Digital Media.

Now, its founder has selected the GM of the Warsaw stations to serve as the company’s COO.

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