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On March 30, with COVID-19 pandemic concerns cratering media industry stocks and questions galore arising over the company’s acquisition of Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) from FOX, Sinclair Broadcast Group took its lumps on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market.

The company’s stock dipped to $12.25, a price last seen roughly eight years ago.

Nine months later, SBGI has rebounded so strongly that it is just pennies away from its year-to-date high, and is priced stronger than in the days before the virus’s arrival in the U.S.

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In November 2009, Chuck Francis, in his former role as the owner of Remerge Media, penned a Media Information Bureau column on how radio can capitalize as “an effective and affordable marketing vehicle.” It was written at the height of a severe economic recession that resulted in lost jobs, and extreme share depreciation for publicly traded radio broadcasting companies. 

Eleven years later, Francis is nearly six years in to his role as the founder and owner of Take & Bake Marketing — and his words still matter to an industry seeking to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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On Dec. 21, a collection of full-power and FM translator stations serving communities in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are being transferred into an irrevocable trust.

The FCC has just given its blessings to the move.

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An agreement has been reached for one of the biggest digital retailers — and parent to a major OTT video service — to acquire Wondery, a podcast creator and producer.

The deal will see Wondery join Amazon Music, bringing the entity such content as “Dirty John,” “Dr. Death,” “Business Wars,” and “The Shrink Next Door.”

“When the deal closes, nothing will change for listeners, and they’ll continue to be able to access Wondery podcasts through a variety of providers,” Amazon said.

With Amazon Music, “Wondery will be able to provide even more high-quality, innovative content and continue their mission of bringing a world of entertainment and knowledge to their audiences, wherever they listen,” it added.

Amazon Music launched podcasts in September 2020.

“Together with Wondery, we hope to accelerate the growth and evolution of podcasts by bringing creators, hosts, and immersive experiences to even more listeners across the globe, just as we do with music,” Amazon said. “This is a pivotal moment to expand the Amazon Music offering beyond music as listener habits evolve. Our commitment to podcasts, our focus on high quality audio with the Amazon Music HD tier, and our recent partnership with Twitch to bring live streaming into the app, make Amazon Music a premiere destination for creators.”

Completion of this transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.

Terms of the deal have not been announced.

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He was a close friend to many at Skyview Networks. There, he worked with his son, Kade, a board operator.

Now, Skyview staff and many across the Arizona sports sphere are paying tribute to Andy Luberda, who died Tuesday of complications directly tied to the COVID-19 virus.

Luberda had been associated with Skyview since May 2012, and served as a play-by-play board operator responsible for operating F.A.S.T. Web Automation and tracking live reads during sporting events, including MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA broadcasts.

Concurrently, Luberda was a sports writer for Copper Basin News Publishers, covering high school sports.

This work came after a career pivot a decade ago.

“I am passionate about sports and motivated to work in sports media,” Luberda wrote on his LinkedIn profile. “After almost 16 years in the Medical Financial Management industry, I returned to school in 2010 to finish my college education. I expect to work as a writer/reporter, sports media relations, or in a sports information department.”

That goal came to fruition at Skyview and at Copper Basin.

According to AZPreps365, a high school sports blog in Arizona, Luberda was a fixture on the sidelines of Friday night high school football games in the Grand Canyon State.

“Andy’s love of sports and media attracted him to work full-time at Skyview Networks, and he quickly became a valued member of the operations department, running many professional play-by-play radio broadcasts, including his beloved Chicago Cubs,” Luberda’s longtime manager at Scottsdale-based Skyview Networks, Aaron Mellis, told the publication. “Andy’s warm heart and genuine care for his colleagues will continue to be a part of the Skyview Networks culture.”

The AZPreps365 blog also reports that Luberda was about to move to Kentucky to be with his wife, Kelli, who is need of a kidney transplant.

Skyview Networks had granted Luberda the go-ahead to work from Kentucky while the Luberdas waited for a kidney donor.

To help the family, Skyview Networks has organized a GoFundMe fundraiser “to help cover medical and memorial costs and to provide financial support for Kade during this difficult time.”

With a $5,000 goal, some $4,450 had been raised by 12:30pm Arizona Time on Wednesday (12/30).

Ed Stolz is widely known in the radio industry as the man who continues to seek to negate the sale of a radio station in Sacramento to Entercom Communications consummated nearly 25 years ago.

In July 2018, a new legal struggle surfaced, as Stolz was ordered by a federal court to pay ASCAP license fees neglected for several years at three of his four radio stations. That never happened, with the trio of FMs heading into receivership, Stolz ordered to jail for failing to pay a cent to ASCAP, and Stolz in late September attempting a “Hail Mary” to stave off the stations’ sale.

It didn’t work. A Form 314 filing transferring the stations to a non-secular broadcast ministry has been made with the Commission.

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On July 13,  paperwork was submitted to the FCC seeking its approval of the sale of a former Tribune Media property serving the Big Apple.

The buyer? A favored shared services partner of Nexstar Media Group.

The Commission gave its blessing to the deal, and on Wednesday (12/30) it formally closed.

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The individual hand-selected by President Trump to succeed Mike O’Rielly as a Republican FCC Commissioner has named an acting media advisor, acting wireless advisor and acting wireline advisor.

The moves come ahead of his first appearance as an FCC decision-maker, set for January 13.

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There is no denying that 2020 has been a tough year. At the intersection of compounded crises, our communities looked to broadcast TV and radio stations to provide critical updates, reports and resources.

“While 2020 challenged us, you and your team demonstrated the importance of local broadcasting and what it means to give back,” the NAB says.

As this year concludes, the NAB Leadership Foundation is asking you to telling your station’s story during the 2021 Celebration of Service to America Awards.

“We encourage you to take this time to reflect on your station’s community service efforts and how you kept your communities safe, heard and informed,” the NAB says.

The 2021 Celebration of Service to America Awards call for entries will open in early January.

What you’ll need for your application:

• Description explaining how your campaign or project impacted your local community
• A five-minute video (for television stations) or audio (for radio stations) file showcasing the impact you made
• Entry fee of $150 for each entry you submit (stations can submit more than one entry)

The 2021 Celebration of Service to America Awards will be a televised program airing in early summer.

It’s certainly been a bumpy year for Dish when it comes to preventing its customers, by law, from receiving broadcast TV stations in the absence of a fresh retransmission consent agreement.

Just hours before Santa Claus’ COVID-19 clearance to arrive in homes across the globe, it reached a new carriage agreement with Nexstar Media Group, ending three weeks and one day of a “blackout” of every Nexstar-owned free-to-air station — and the WGN America cable network — on Dish.

This followed the Sunday, Dec. 14, announcement that after nearly five months without a carriage deal, Cox Media Group finally signed a new agreement with Dish.

And, it came in a year that saw Dish — over Labor Day weekend — end a five-week retrans impasse with The E.W. Scripps Co. that led to a “blackout” on Dish.

Add to the mix a $210 million settlement of a telemarketing lawsuit brought against the direct broadcast satellite services provider by a host of states, reached in early December.

With 2021 just two days away, what more could Dish deal with as its stock struggles to overcome a five-year low?

Just ask the owners of a trio of TV stations that have taken the lead in the rollout of NEXTGEN TV and ATSC 3.0.

In a carefully worded press release distributed Tuesday evening, Dish accused Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting of taking its stations away from Dish customers, “ignoring DISH’s calls for a contract extension this holiday season.”

Now, WRAL-5 and WRAZ-50, the NBC and FOX affiliates in Raleigh-Durham, respectively, are effectively blocked from Dish subscribers across the Triangle region of North Carolina. Unaffiliated WILM-10 in Wilmington, N.C., has also been blocked from Dish subscribers.

With typical bravado, Dish put the blame on a TV station owner.

“We don’t understand why Capitol Broadcasting has chosen to put our customers in the middle of these negotiations,” said Melisa Boddie, Dish’s Programming Vice President. “We offered an extension to keep these stations up for customers while negotiations continued, but Capitol never responded. Instead, they ignored our offer and forced a blackout of three North Carolina TV stations.”

Dish says it remains open to working with Capitol Broadcasting “to reach a fair, long-term deal and hopes to restore these channels to customers soon.”

But the definition of “fair” greatly varies between the MVPD and the free-to-air TV station owner.

As WRAL News Director Rick Gall sees it, “After weeks of negotiations, Dish and Capitol have not come to terms on a new contract.”

As such, Capitol’s trio of stations faded to black on Dish as of 5pm, December 29.

And, Capitol President/COO Jimmy Goodmon says, “WRAL and FOX50 are not pushing for things that are unreasonable. We are asking to be paid market rate for our programming so we can pay the affiliation fees required by NBC and FOX. This isn’t about greed; it’s about survival for our small, locally owned media company. Now, more than ever, local television news and original programming is a critical service to our community.”

Goodmon and his WRAL & WRAZ have been essential wheels in the voluntary rollout of the next-generation broadcast TV standard, powered by ATSC 3.0 technology. WRAL is one of the first stations to broadcast in ATSC 3.0, launching an experimental station in June 2016. In 2014, it became the first local broadcast station to produce programming in the 4K Ultra High Definition format. Six years earlier, at the 2008 NAB Show in Las Vegas, WRAL-5 deployed Harmonic Inc.‘s digital video solutions were deployed for the first time, used to provide real-time broadcast delivery of four simultaneous basketball games in 1080i HD format to a regional cable operator during the recent NCAA National Collegiate Basketball Tournament

And, in 2009, Capitol Broadcasting worked with the City of Raleigh on the nation’s first public deployment of broadcast DTV to mobile devices. The venture delivered real-time digital television and interactive data to Capital Area Transit (CAT) buses serving passengers throughout the capital city.

WRAL also took center stage in February 2018 by gathering hundreds to watch live action of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games from PyeongChang, South Korea, as delivered in the “next gen” ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard that TV stations can now voluntarily roll out, with 4K UHD video and other heralded advances put to the test in partnership with NBC Universal and the NAB. The event also included the inaugural over-the-air broadcast of the new Dolby AC4 format, using LDM (Layer Division Multiplexing) technology, along with other new interactive applications designed to enhance the broadcast TV experience for viewers.

In addition to its TV holdings, Capitol owns and operates WRAL-FM “Mix 101.5,” WCMC-FM “WRAL SportsFan 99.9,” WDNC-AM “ESPN Triangle 620,” WCLY-AM 1550 “The Ticket,” and Wolfpack Sports Properties (a joint venture with Learfield) in Raleigh; WILM-LD 10 and Sunrise Broadcasting in Wilmington, N.C.; the Durham Bulls Baseball Club, Bull City Hospitality and Bull Durham Beer Co., and the American Underground startup hub in Durham; and real estate interests including the American Tobacco Historic District in Durham, Rocky Mount Mills in Rocky Mount and Professional Builders Supply (an equity partnership) in Morrisville, N.C.

News of another retrans battle with a broadcast TV company likely won’t please Dish investors. It finished Tuesday’s trading at $31.70, down 23 cents from Monday, and has been struggling to a five-year low of $24.81 seen on October 28. A rebound to $37.87 was seen on December 3, giving Dish a six-month high for its shares. By December 22, erosion to $28.88 was seen.

Dish’s year-to-date high is $41.29, seen in mid-February.

But, that’s a far cry from where Dish regularly was prior to February 2018, as a growth spurt for DISH suddenly stopped in July 2017. Then, DISH was priced at just over $64 per share. In Q1 2015, prices topped $70 per share.

Today, Dish investors hope the stock price can reach at least half of that value as the company enters its fourth battle with a broadcast TV station owner over a retrans deal.

Some recent letters to the editor of Radio World:

 

Talk of AM Digital Is Futile

Re “AM Advocates Watch and Worry”: 

The topic of all-digital on the AM band has been rehashed and disposed of over so many years now, I’m surprised Radio World gives it space anymore. So once again:  

Akin to the flurry of interest in AM stereo and quadraphonic now long gone, there is no consumer demand for digital AM, and virtually no digital AM radio receivers commonly available to receive it, save for new car dashboards. 

New car penetration alone will not substantiate the argument for wholesale conversion from analog to digital AM transmission and transmitter plant conversions. The discussion is futile and moot. 

— from James B. Potter, Cutting Edge Engineering, Kimberling City, Mo.

 

How About an FM Translator Window?

Re “FM NCE Fiing Window Coming in 2021”:

It’s been more than a decade since the last NCE FM filing window, but I can’t even recall when was the last time the FCC allowed applications for translators in the reserved band. 

Once this round of NCE FM and LPFM apps are filed, shouldn’t the FCC consider a translator window as well? Isn’t the notion of decades between filing windows for any service absurd?

— from Harry Kozlowski

 

About Static Dissipaters

Mr. Persons, I’m writing regarding your article of regarding the lightning strike to KJRM’s broadcast facility (“What Happens When Lightning Hits”:

Nott Static Dissipator as shown in the earlier article

While I’m always fascinated by the effects of lightning strikes and enjoyed the article, I was concerned by your comments on static dissipaters. While these devices are sold in the North American market by several firms, they have no code support in either the U.S. or Canada, and have not been shown in the field to reduce the incidence of lightning strike.

There is no known method of consistently preventing lightning from striking, and static dissipaters of the kind you mention act no differently than a conventional lightning rod. As such, these devices are not approved for use on government or military facilities, and do not enjoy wider industry support in North America.

I’d be happy to pass along links to scientific studies, or put you in touch with expert scientists in the lightning protection field. Thanks for your consideration. 

— from Simon Larter, Dobbyn Lightning Protection, Calgary, Alberta

Mark Persons replies:

Dobbyn lightning terminals/lightning rods are Benjamin Franklin technology from 250 years ago. Don’t get me wrong, they are a good way to conduct lightning strikes to the ground. I prefer static dissipaters, which are multiple sharp points to “bleed off” static charges so the voltage between the sky and ground is less. That results in no lightning strike or a strike with less intensity. Static dissipaters are the same as having one hundred or more air terminals, not just the one that a tower traditionally has next to a top beacon. 

A station I did contract engineering work for years ago would be hit by lightning every summer with frequent damage to transmitters and other equipment at the base of their 380-foot tower. I was able to convince a new owner to spend a few thousand dollars to install static dissipaters the next time tower lights were changed. Fifteen years later, there hasn’t been one instance of lightning damage. Likely they’ve had a few strikes of lower intensity.

The post Letters: AM Digital, FM Translators, Lightning Dissipation appeared first on Radio World.

The Commission has before it a petition for rulemaking filed by The Curators of the University of Missouri (the University), licensee of KOMU-TV, channel 8, Columbia, Missouri, requesting the substitution of channel 27 for channel 8 at Columbia in the DTV Table of Allotments. The University states that the Commission has recognized that VHF channels have certain propagation characteristics which may cause reception issues for some viewers. The University states that since the end of the DTV transition in 2009, the station regularly receives complaints from viewers who report being able to receive all other signals in the market, including a low power television station operating on a UHF channel, but not KOMU-TV. While KOMU-TV's proposed channel 27 facility would result in a slight reduction of service to existing viewers, the University demonstrates that only 401 people are predicted to live in portions of the loss area, and that all but seven of those persons will continue to be served by at least five full power television stations. The Commission has found that population loss of less than 500 persons is de minimus and the predicted population loss as presented by the University is only 401 persons and virtually all of them will continue to be well-served by five other full power television stations.

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