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Holly Saurer

Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced several bureau staff changes on January 31, including new Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer.

Saurer has held several positions in the bureau including deputy bureau chief, associate bureau chief, senior legal advisor and attorney-advisor with the Media Bureau’s Policy Division. Saurer also has experience working in the offices of commissioners themselves.

For the past year, she has served as legal advisor of media for Chairwoman Rosenworcel. Before that, Saurer served as an acting media advisor for Rosenworcel as well as for former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. She also served as an International and Consumer Affairs legal advisor for former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

Prior to joining the commission, Saurer worked at the Washington, D.C., offices of Drinker Biddle & Reath and Miller & Van Eaton. She received her JD from American University and graduated from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Saurer replaces Michelle Carey, who had served as chief of the Media Bureau since May 2017.

Rosenworcel also appointed several other new bureau chiefs, including new heads of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, the Public Safety Bureau, the Enforcement Bureau and the Office of the General Counsel.

“Ensuring modern communications reach every corner of the country isn’t possible without the leadership of incredible, capable experts throughout the commission,” Rosenworcel said in a news release. “I am confident in the talent at the FCC and honored this team will help lead the commission.”

The post FCC Taps New Media Bureau Chief appeared first on Radio World.

Adriana Rizzo will work on building audience growth for Audacy. She joins the company effective Jan. 31.

As senior vice president of consumer marketing, Rizzo will work across Audacy’s brand strategy, creative, messaging, media planning and attribution, to grow the company’s audience. She will report to Paul Suchman, Audacy’s chief marketing officer.

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“We’re thrilled to have Adriana join our growing team,” said Suchman. “Adriana will be a key partner to our business lines and to our marketing leads across broadcast, digital, sports betting and podcasting.”

Before joining Audacy, Rizzo launched the Discovery+ streaming service. Before that she worked at ESPN, launching WatchESPN, rebranding ESPN3 and repositioning ESPNInsider. Her early career includes marketing roles at Verizon, early-stage start-ups, and agency-side experience.

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The post Rizzo Joins Audacy as Sr. VP Consumer Marketing appeared first on Radio World.

SXM Media, part of SiriusXM, has rolled out a “listener identity solution” called AudioID that it says will help marketers reach consumers “at scale.”

“AudioID puts content and audiences first, providing an improved consumer experience across multiple platforms and a better way for brands to buy audio advertising,” the company stated. It calls this an example of its investment in audio ad technology “to make advertising across satellite radio, streaming music and podcasts as simple as pressing play or turning the dial.”

The announcement was made by Chief Revenue Officer John Trimble. AudioID uses technology from AdsWizz, which is owned by SiriusXM.

The company, which owns streaming platform Pandora and podcast producer Stitcher in addition to its flagship satellite business, positions itself as “the largest digital audio ad ecosystem in North America,” and said AudioID will expand its impact and appeal.

AudioID uses an algorithm that accepts and matches a variety of “consented” listener signals and weighs them, responding to ad requests by finding or creating “unique, anonymized AudioIDs.” IDs can be tapped for functions such as forecasting, frequency decisions and first-party targeting.

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The company will use its datasets of the populations of Pandora, SiriusXM and Stitcher listeners, matching them to create AudioIDs. “This will allow for a better ad experience for consumers, marketers and publishers, tapping into listener behavior and preferences in a way that supports the future of identity safety while helping marketers achieve their goals.”

Later this year, AudioID will be extended to off-platform parties through AdsWizz. Right now the effort is focused on the United States; in the longer term the company hopes to expand AudioID globally.

It said privacy protection is embedded into AudioID through anonymity. “AudioID always remaining an optional (versus required) solution for external parties.” Chris Record, senior vice president and head of ad product, technology & operations at SXM Media and AdsWizz, was quoted describing AudioID as “a consumer-first, privacy-conscious infrastructure.”

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The post SiriusXM Introduces AudioID, an “Identity Solution” appeared first on Radio World.

The first Chairman for NBCUniversal Local, the division of Comcast-owned NBCU that houses its NBC and Telemundo owned-station operations, has been selected.

It’s a familiar figure who has been associated with NBC’s O&Os for more than a decade.

Earning the role is Valari Staab, who Mark Lazarus, Chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, praised as “an outstanding, innovative leader with a proven track record of success” who “transformed” NBCU’s local business and is a valuable part of the NBCU management team.

A broadcast veteran with more than 35 years of experience, Staab joined NBCUniversal in 2011 as President of the NBC Owned Television Stations group.

Two years later, she acquired oversight of the Telemundo owned stations and used NBCUniversal’s investment in its stations to transform all NBC/Telemundo owned stations to the multiplatform local news providers they are today.

Earlier this month, NBC stations announced the launch of their streaming news channels on Peacock while Telemundo stations in key markets prepare to launch their very own streaming news channels later this year. NBCU’s Regional Sports Networks also plan to debut their own direct-to-consumer products later this year.

In 2021, NBC’s Regional Sports Networks were integrated with the NBC/Telemundo owned stations.

Staab’s most recent accomplishments include assisting with the launch of NBCLX, a digital multicast and streaming network “designed to reach the next generation of local news audiences.”

It was also under Staab’s leadership that “NBC Spot On” entered the marketplace, in early 2020. NBC Spot On is an advanced video advertising business for local/regional CTV and OTT advertisers designed to help boost advertisers’ reach with their intended audiences.

Before joining NBCUniversal, Staab primarily worked at the ABC Owned Television Stations, where she served in a variety of roles in general management, research and creative services across several markets including KGO-7 in San Francisco. Before her time with the ABC Owned Television Stations, Staab worked in marketing and research for KPRC-2 in Houston and KLTV-7 in Tyler, Texas, today owned by Gray Television. Staab began her career at KLTV while attending college.

In related news, Dan Lovinger has been promoted to President of NBC Advertising Sales and Partnerships.

In this new role, he will be responsible for stewarding and monetizing all of NBCUniversal’s Olympic and Paralympic interests, including leading media sales for all Games through 2032 and managing NBCU’s partnership with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Properties group (USOPP), which includes the sponsorship sales for LA2028.

The city of Pine Bluff, Ark., is home to an unused and still-unlit antenna tower originally built to provide radio service from KPBQ(FM). (credit: Creative Commons)

Even though the land has changed hands several times over the years, the Media Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission has made it clear that an unsafe and unused antenna structure on a parcel of land in Arkansas — which has since been declared a “menace to aviation” — must be pulled down by the current land owners.

There was much promise back around this structure in 1990 when land owner Lee Ann Kleider granted Colon Johnston permission to construct a 374-foot-tall structure in return for a rental fee of $12,000 per year. According to an FCC summary, the tower was built in connection with the acquisition of new FM broadcast station construction permit to serve Pine Bluff, Ark. Over the years the antenna and station changed hands several times — first to SEARK Radio in 1997 and then MRS Ventures in 2003.

When the structure was first registered, the commission ordered that the structure be lit properly, including a steady-burning obstruction light at top and flashing lights at specified heights down the structure.

By 2011 it was clear that the antenna structure was no longer being used. Today, neither SEARK nor MRS remain in existence.

The land passed from one group to another, too. In 1996, Kleider sold the land, which is now jointly owned by Lora Lynn Gaither, Edward Wilkerson and Allen Wilkerson. But ownership of the antenna structure is not as clear because Gaither has never received payments for use of the structure.

In subsequent conversations with the Enforcement Bureau, Gaither expressed an interest in having the structure dismantled as it is not maintained and is located near her home.

But when the bureau reached out to the three land owners to get an update on the state of the structure in July 2021, no one responded.

In the years since the structure’s completion, the commission has received multiple complaints that the structure is not properly illuminated. In May 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration stepped in and determined that “this abandoned, unlit structure [is] a menace to aviation” and recommended the FCC take appropriate actions to ensure it is dismantled.

Now it is the commission’s responsibility to identify which party can dismantle the long-abandoned structure.

An unlit antenna structure such as this one poses a significant safety hazard to airplanes, passengers and the general public. Because it poses an imminent threat to life, the commission said it cannot wait for the landowners to obtain title of the easement and foreclose on the structure before ordering the antenna be taken down.

The commission therefore found that the land owners have an ownership interest in the structure. As a result, the landowners — Gaither, along with Edward and Allen Wilkerson — have been ordered by the commission to dismantle the structure within 90 days.

The post FCC Orders Unlit Antenna Structure Dismantled appeared first on Radio World.

Radio engineer Tony Abfalter is about to take a break from his normal work to head out on an unusual assignment.

Leighton Broadcasting, where Abfalter is director of engineering, said he is beginning a hiatus this week to join the U.S. Antarctic Program, part of the National Science Foundation team, as senior communications technician.

[Related: “Engineer Tony Abfalter Is an MVP”]

“In this role Tony will be supporting a variety of communications systems, as well as assisting National Science Foundation staff with ongoing upgrades as needed,” Leighton said in an announcement.

This means he’s headed for the famous McMurdo Station on Ross Island, Antarctica, the southernmost point accessible by ship during local summer.

Abfalter will start with quarantines in Seattle and New Zealand. At McMurdo, he’ll work for nine months.

“While on location Tony will be responsible to troubleshoot and maintain all aspects of wired and wireless communications,” it said. “Tony will be using his deep knowledge of microwave, UHF and VHF technologies. He will be programming and maintaining radio gear, which connects researchers and technicians in the field to the main base as well as holding responsibility for station communications outward to the rest of the world.”

[Check out webcams at McMurdo Station.]

In addition to his technical experience Abfalter can draw on familiarity with work in temperature extremes. He’s a Minnesota native with cold weather survival experience and EMR/SAR training with the Holdingford Fire Department.

Temperatures during his stay are expected to go as low as –20 degrees Fahrenheit.

His employer plans to keep track of his adventures on its website. Leighton added that Abfalter is excited to work with an international community of researchers and maintenance personnel requiring him to draw on his communication skills “and possibly heretofore unused pantomime abilities.”

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The post Tony Abfalter Heads to McMurdo appeared first on Radio World.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — She’s served as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration in the Department of Commerce. She’s also served as a Senior Legal Advisor to former FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, and in May 2017 rose from Deputy Chief to Chief of the Commission’s Media Bureau.

Now, Michelle Carey is moving on from the FCC’s legislative hub for all things involving broadcast media regulatory policy.

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Things are continuing to look up for Townsquare Media.

A top Wall Street market intelligence firm has upgraded the local media and digital solutions company’s outlook.

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The newest member to the company’s leadership team is being asked to lead Audacy Corp.’s audience growth initiatives across brand strategy, creative, messaging, media planning and attribution, while also managing the company’s Alchemy function, “focused on the strategic integration of exclusive content and programming to Audacy’s listeners.”

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Some 75% of Americans who identify themselves as Black say that seeing characters and communities representative of their race, portrayed in positive ways — as well as having a Black actor in a leading role — positively impacts their decision to watch a television program or feature film.

That’s a key finding from Horowitz Research‘s recently released FOCUS Black: Consumer Engagement report.

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