A resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives last night by Rep. Cheri Bustos and 42 House Members thanking journalists for their reporting during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.
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It’s been a radio station in the capital of the Old Dominion, pitching itself as a home of “Timeless Rock N’ Roll, Pop & Soul,” for the last few years.
Now, “Boomtown Richmond” is officially getting a little more oomph.
It is officially purchasing two AMs and an FM translator that were once part of Davidson Media Group’s Spanish-language holdings across the East Coast, operated via an LMA for nearly three years.
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As 2021 began, the FCC formally objected to a Petition for Reconsideration of a Commission Report and Order that effectively eliminates the radio duplication rule for AM stations … and FM stations.
The petition was filed by three groups, who have come together to challenge the sudden re-inclusion of FM stations in the R&O, approved in August 2020.
Last week, the trio of groups submitted a joint “final consolidated reply” — as did a fourth group that’s been a NAB antagonist.
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In November 2020, RBR+TVBR first reported on the October 16 signing of an Asset Purchase Agreement that would see the transfer of ownership of a pair of UHF properties to Soohyung Kim-led Standard Media Group from Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The FCC last week gave its blessing to the sale.
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In one of the final acts of the Pai Commission, the FCC on Tuesday adopted a Report and Order modifying technical rules to promote the expanded use of distributed transmission systems, or single frequency networks (SFNs), by broadcast television stations.
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As of today, Northern California Public Media has used a 120-watt signal to reach such Mendocino County towns as Healdsburg, Cloverdale and Windsor. To bring its programming to listeners in Santa Rosa, a 16-watt translator at 90.9 MHz was brought into the mix.
Soon, everyone north of San Francisco will be able to hear NoCal’s programming. It’s buying a Class B1 commercially licensed FM and converting it to noncommercial status.
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On Twitter and via pen and paper, Ajit Pai offered words of thanks to FCC staff and the agency’s Commissioners, as his final act as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Pai’s goodbyes came just hours after the Commission released a parting shot aimed at departing President Donald Trump: It denied a request to stay its unanimous decision to authorize Ligado Networks to deploy a low-power terrestrial national network using portions of its licensed spectrum.
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A low-power FM station has agreed to enter into a consent decree and settle an ongoing investigation into whether or it violated the FCC’s underwriting laws. The resulting consent decree calls for the Athenian Multicultural Study Club to implement a compliance plan and pay a civil penalty of $10,000.
The Enforcement Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission received a complaint alleging that on May 13, 2019, Athenian — licensee of LPFM station WPLP(LP) in Athens, Ga. — broadcast an advertisement for a for-profit entity, a direct violation of the FCC’s underwriting laws.
[Read: LPFM Handed $15,000 Penalty After Allegedly Promoting 14 Businesses On Air]
In April 2020, the Enforcement Bureau issued a letter of inquiry to Athenian, complete with audio samples of the advertisements that were allegedly broadcast that day. An attorney for the licensee responded soon after and acknowledged that the station had broadcast underwriting announcements on behalf of for-profit entities between May 2019 and April 2020.
In addition, Athenian revealed that in the 12 months before receiving the letter of inquiry from the FCC, Athenian had aired nine announcements with similar promotional references.
The FCC gives special regulatory consideration to noncommercial educational stations — including LPFMs — by imposing fewer regulatory requirements and exempting them from annual regulatory fees. This is because noncommercial educational broadcast stations provide a unique service to the public and, via LPFM stations specifically, give the public a radio service that is both commercial-free and specifically focused on local communities.
“That flexibility, however, is not unlimited,” the Enforcement Bureau said in its investigation of the Athenian case, noting that FCC has long prohibited NCE stations from airing commercial advertisements.
In this case, the Enforcement Bureau agreed to enter into a consent decree with Athenian to end the bureau’s investigation into Athenian’s violation of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s underwriting laws. To settle this matter, Athenian admitted that it broadcast prohibited commercial advertisements in exchange for consideration. In addition to the civil penalty, the compliance plan calls on Athenian to designate an official compliance officer who can help the station develop, implement and administer the compliance plan and ensure that Athenian complies with the terms and conditions. That involves notifying employees about the consent decree, establishing a set of operating procedures and reporting any future noncompliance with the underwriting laws, among other rules.
The post Georgia LPFM Agrees to Consent Decree and to Pay $10,000 Penalty appeared first on Radio World.
On January 4, 2021, the newest entrant in the ever-expanding OTT universe bowed.
It’s Discovery+, from Discovery, and the promotional thrust of its rollout has been focused on, ironically, drawing consumers from MVPDs.
A marketing blitz is underway for Discovery+, and it is nearly exclusive to cable TV.
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While online language learning platform Babbel remains the biggest user of spot radio, according to the latest data from Media Monitors, commercials tied to the continued prevention of the spread of the COVID-19 virus are now being joined by spots promoting vaccination.
For the week ending January 17, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention was the No. 2 paid advertiser using broadcast radio, behind Babbel. It accounts for some 56,300 spot plays detected by Media Monitors.
New at No. 7? An effort from Bristol Myers Squibb-Pfizer, as COVID-19 vaccines roll out from Pfizer and Moderna across the U.S.
What does the remainder of the Spot Ten look like? More of the same, with Progressive, The Home Depot, Bank of America and GEICO continuing their long string of activity at broadcast radio.
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