Radio+Television Business Report

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From April 2018 until July 2020, it had been in a simulcast with WLIR-FM and branded as “Real FM,” offering Classic Hits programming.

Soon, an FM translator with 10 watts of power covering such Long Island, N.Y., cities as Coram and Medford is set to be come a part of the WNET Public family.

The owner of NPR Member station WLIW-FM 88.3, which serves Suffolk County’s east end and is licensed to Hampton Bays, N.Y., is agreeing to purchase W245BA at 96.9 MHz, licensed to Manorville, N.Y.

The seller is Michael Aliffi, and he is earning $150,000 from the sale.

The deal negates a transaction consummated in November 2020 sale valued at just $10,000. It would have seen the translator become the property of former Big City Radio executive Michael Kakoyiannis.

With the translator, WLIW can expand its coverage westward into populous central Suffolk County.

WNET, known for its Thirteen PBS service, acquired WLIW-FM in October 2019, when it was known as WPPB-FM 88.3. It closed on the $944,834 acquisition in June 2020.

While the Dow Industrials and Nasdaq indices were both down on Friday, broadcast media stocks saw mixed activity.

Among the key gainers are Townsquare Media, TEGNA, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and iHeartMedia.

Decliners include Entravision, Nexstar Media Group, and Saga Communications.

For a look at all of today’s closing prices from the broadcast media sector, please visit the homepage of RBR.com. The Wall Street Report is updated in real time across each business day!

He’s been the General Sales Manager of Hearst Television’s ABC affiliate in Jackson, Miss., since 2017.

Now, he is the station’s President/GM. And, his successor as GSM has been named.

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New advertising spend forecasts for 100 markets worldwide show that the global ad market has largely weathered the impact of COVID-19, so far, and is on course to reach a value of $1 trillion in 2025.

Here’s the somber news for broadcasters: More than half of this money will be paid to just three companies: Alphabet, Meta and Amazon.

But, how are radio and TV poised to perform in the next five years? WARC, the international marketing intelligence service, has some new intelligence on the subject.

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In 2020, DuJuan McCoy-owned Circle City Broadcasting sued Dish Network on the grounds that it refused to offer fair-market compensation for airing WISH-8, Indianapolis’ home for The CW, and MyNetwork sibling WNDY-23. Central to McCoy’s argument is that Dish’s decision was racially motivated. In March 2021, a federal judge ruled the lawsuit could proceed, with a motion to dismiss the suit filed by Dish denied.

Now, an intriguing new twist in the case has emerged, and it sees Dish fail in its attempt to block supplemental expert testimony on behalf of Circle City from a key figure at BIA Advisory Services.

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In March 2019, iHeartMedia engaged in an experiment designed to expand the reach of several of its spoken-word podcasts by airing them as scheduled programming on a 5,000-watt AM radio station covering the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania.

Among the shows: The Daily Dive podcast from Los Angeles with Oscar Ramirez, and How to Money, and podcast stars Robert Lamb and Joe McCormick.

After several ratings periods with a 0.1 share of the audience, ranking last in a market that consumes Philadelphia radio stations and even the occasional New York City AM, iHeart has abandoned the all-podcast programming at WSAN-AM 1470 in Allentown.

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WJR-AM in Detroit afternoon host Mitch Albom, the veteran journalist and author of the wildly popular “Tuesdays with Morrie,” is known for dispensing life wisdom that resonates with audiences worldwide. At his talk at the Miami Book Fair in November, Albom served up valuable lessons about great presentations that caught “Zoom expert” and public relations veteran Rosemary Ravinal‘s attention. In her view, what Albom said provides key learning lessons on how to perfect the great presentation.

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According to the just released Infinite Dial 2021 UK, 41% of UK residents over the age of 16 have listened to a podcast in the last month. That’s approximately 23 million people.

The Infinite Dial 2021 UK was conducted by Edison Research and sponsored by Bauer Media Group UK and Spotify. The study surveyed 1,000 UK residents age 16+ on a variety of measures including online digital audio platforms, radio, social media, smart speakers, and more.

The study revealed that 71% of those age 16+ are familiar with podcasts, and 59% of those age 16+ have ever listened to a podcast putting the UK on par with the United States in terms of monthly listening. .

The UK is slightly behind the U.S. regarding weekly podcast listening as 25% of the UK population age 16+ has listened to a podcast in the last week versus 29% in the U.S.

Weekly podcast listeners in the UK listen to an average of five podcast episodes per week.

Seventy-five percent of UK residents age 16+ listen to online audio each month, and 66% of UK residents age 16+ listen to online audio each week.

According to Larry Rosin, President of Edison Research, “It is exciting to analyze the findings from the UK Infinite Dial in the context of other countries. It is evident that the UK is on par regarding many measures of consumption, including monthly podcast listening, and actually outpaces the US in areas like weekly radio reach and weekly online audio reach.”

Download the full report HERE.

The NBC affiliate serving the Panama City Beach, Fla., area of the Sunshine State has become the latest television station to receive a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture for failing to timely file its quarterly TV issues/programs lists.

How much is Gray Television paying to the FCC as a result of the transgression?

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The media company known for its conservative Talk radio programming and its non-secular media assets serving Christians will see its C-Suite leadership present at the upcoming Singular Research “Best of the Uncovered” Investor Conference.

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The town of Port Jervis, N.Y., lies at the heart of the “other” Tri-State Area within the vast New York City DMA — New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

It is situated along the bucolic Delaware River, a popular spot for canoeing and camping enthusiasts, and its proximity to fast-growing Sussex County, N.J., is likely why a low-powered TV station licensed to this municipality has just sold for nearly $2 million.

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From our interview this week with the part-owner, GM and News Director of a 1,000-watt AM serving Plattsburgh, N.Y., to exclusive conversations with SBS President/COO Albert Rodriguez, groupM’s Brian Wieser, AURN’s Chesley Maddox-Dorsey and musicFIRST’s Joe Crowley, the RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, offers more insight on the key topics of interest to broadcast media’s C-Suite leadership. As 2021 soon comes to a close, take a moment and enjoy one of nearly 170 audio reports hosted by Radio + Television Business Report Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson.  

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For a full menu of our podcasts, simply click here

The President/CEO and the COO of Hearst Television’s Litton Entertainment arm have announced that they will each retire from their roles at the end of the year.

This puts Frank Biancuzzo, president of the recently created Hearst Media Production Group, in a position to directly oversee Litton.

Litton Entertainment is one of broadcast television’s top content providers, both in the U.S. and in the international marketplace. NATPE Miami is one of the big marketplaces for Litton, and come January its founder and chief executive, Dave Morgan, and Chief Operating Officer Pete Sniderman will no longer be involved in the operation.

Commenting on their retirement, Biancuzzo said, “Over the course of three decades, Dave has built a tremendous organization, recognized by the industry for unique programming that entertains, educates and inspires. Together with Pete Sniderman, they’ve positioned the company for an exciting and innovative period of growth.”

Commenting on his departure on December 31, Morgan said, “I’m most proud of our Litton partnerships and my Litton colleagues who helped me define the gold standard in quality, educational television in America. I leave the television industry better than I found it. We created a great company, and we’re pleased that Hearst Media Production Group will bring the resources to help grow Litton to the next level.”

Sniderman added, “I’m so gratified to have had the opportunity to make a contribution to programming that educated generations of young people. And I’m excited for the future of the enterprise — the people and the projects.”

Moving forward, Litton Entertainment’s management and creative teams, under the direction of Biancuzzo and the Hearst Media Production Group, will continue to expand original programming across linear and streaming platforms for domestic and international distribution.

Hearst acquired a majority interest in Litton Entertainment in 2017, and the balance in 2021, perhaps explaining the timing on the retirement of its founder/CEO and its COO.

Morgan created Litton Entertainment in 1989; he resides in Charleston, S.C.

Sniderman has been with Litton since 1995.

The E.W. Scripps Co.‘s digital multicast network super-serving African Americans has a new leader, effective today.

Taking the spot within the Scripps Networks arm is an individual who has held various roles at the network since it was launched in 2011 as the first offering from Katz Networks.

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SANTA CLARITA, CALIF. — From Fresno to Bakersfield, she was widely known as “a first-class executive who is efficient, effective, and engaged.” One former co-worker took to LinkedIn to take note of her understanding of the media business, calling it “exceptional, earning her deep respect by those who work with her.”

Now, media and marketing leaders from across the San Joaquin Valley are paying tribute to Mary Lou Gunn, who died on November 24 after a brief illness.

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On November 24, three men were convicted of murder Wednesday in the February 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man on a leisurely run through a residential community near Brunswick, Ga. The trio of strangers, all of whom are Caucasian, trapped Arbery on a quiet street and, subsequently, used a shotgun to kill him.

The case drew national attention and condemnation for its racial overtones. Locally, a radio element surfaced that Media Services Group Managing Director Eddie Esserman — himself a licensee in the Brunswick area — believes is overlooked.

It involves a Talk radio station owned by iHeartMedia.

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The future of a 630-watt FM radio station atop Mt. Hunsack, serving Somerset County, Pa., is now a bit clearer, thanks to a two-page Termination Order released Wednesday (12/1) by the FCC‘s Administrative Law Judge.

The station’s owner, convicted of a felony and multiple misdemeanors under the Pennsylvania Crimes Code and charged with voyeurism and soliciting men to establish rape of a female, can no longer control the facility.

In fact, the owner’s inaction made the decision easy for Jane Halprin.

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Radio Guest Quest, a celebrity guest booking service for radio stations, is moving its affiliate and advertising sales operations to Gen Media Partners’ G Accelerate Networks.

The announcement was made by Jim Higgins, President and Chief Executive Officer of G Accelerate Networks; and Art Sears, Founder and Host of Radio Guest Quest, and a former morning show executive producer.

“Art and Radio Guest Quest are well known across the industry for securing and delivering interviews with marquee-status celebrities and delivering personalized services, including one-on-one communications with radio show producers,” Higgins said. “We’re excited that Radio Guest Quest is joining G Accelerate Networks, as we build out our portfolio of top-quality programs and services for radio stations.”

Sears added, “I have worked with Jim in the past and signing with him and G Accelerate Networks was an easy decision. Jim is a consummate network radio executive who knows how to build an exceptional team that understands what stations need and what advertisers want.

Sears also notes that, as he produced radio morning shows “for years and saw the need for someone to help book guests,” the business need was clear. “With meetings and early hours, it’s difficult for a producer to find the time to book guests,” he said. “I also find that publicists respond more readily to one email that can satisfy all their radio needs, rather than individual requests from stations across the country.”

Celebrity guests previously booked by Radio Guest Quest for radio station interviews include Ron Howard, Kevin Costner, Spike Lee, Chance the Rapper, Steve Martin, LeAnn Rimes, and Anderson Cooper.

NEW YORK — Univision Communications has teamed with IPG’s media agency Mediahub in forging a partnership with EDO Inc. and datafuelX — an arrangement Univision says will allow it “to leverage proprietary consumer behavior data to predict engagement performance for advertiser campaigns across Univision’s linear networks.”

It’s a first-of-its-kind partnership, says Univision — one that allows the multimedia company serving Spanish-speaking audiences across the U.S. “to demonstrate the potential for true data-driven media planning and value for marketers.”

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