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For those seeking legislative action that can help resuscitate an anemic business climate for those in the local journalism business, perhaps an eye on the Empire State should be given. Gov. Kathy Hochul has given her thumbs up to a first-of-its kind tax credit for jobs in the journalism field, which was incorporated into the New York State budget for 2025.

The FY 2025 Enacted Budget, passed by the New York State Legislature this weekend, is a $237 billion endeavour that Hochul says “makes record investments in the people of New York without raising income taxes.”

And, as part of the “historic investments to drive innovation” in the state of New York, Hochul signed off on $30 million in tax relief to support newspaper and broadcast journalism jobs.

The NewsGuild-CWA has been pushing for the legislation since 2022, along with other local and national groups active in New York.

And, the inclusion of the tax credits in omnibus legislation comes following the introduction of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act in Albany; it is similar to the unsuccessful Journalism Competition and Preservation Act still awaiting a Congressional vote on the federal level.

Specifically, $30 million in tax credits each year over three years would be offered by New York State, covering half of a journalist’s salary up to $50,000 each year. Publishers would only be able to use these employment tax credits to rebuild their newsrooms by hiring new reporters and retaining current staff, NewsGuild-CWA reports.

The bill allocates $4 million to incentivize print and broadcast media outlets to hire new journalists, while the remaining $26 million will be divided equally between media outlets with fewer than 100 employees and those with more than 100 employees, La Voce di New York, an Italian-language news organization that stands to benefit from the legislation, says.

It describes itself as a “$500 million movement to reimagine local news.” Coming April 30, it will begin accepting applications for its first open call for funding focused on addressing what it believes are “the long-standing inequalities in journalistic coverage of underserved communities.”

Local news outlets that fill coverage gaps with original reporting — and have a budget under $1 million — will be eligible to apply for Press Forward funding.

The “Press Forward Open Call on Closing Local Coverage Gaps” is designed to provide 100-plus news outlets with an expected $100,000 each in funding, regardless of whether they are non-profit or for-profit entities. The funding will be unrestricted, general operating support, allowing the news organizations to spend it as needed to sustain and grow their operations.

The application will be available through June 12 at pressforward.news.

Dale R. Anglin, Director of Press Forward, commented, “Strong local journalism means that more people have the power to hold their leaders accountable, to make the important choices about their daily lives, and to keep our communities strong. However, for too long, underserved communities have not been included in those narratives, the truth of their lived experiences not reflected, to the detriment of our democracy. We’re looking for outlets that are filling these important gaps, in rural and urban communities across the country.”

Press Forward is prioritizing organizations that are producing and delivering news and information to underserved audiences such as communities of color, linguistically diverse communities, low-wealth rural communities, and others not adequately served, reached or represented.

The Open Call is one of two that will take place this year, with additional calls for  proposals in subsequent years. The second, this fall, will focus on local news transformation, with funding guidelines being released in the coming months. Local news initiatives that don’t qualify will be able to fill out an organizational profile on the Press Forward grantmaking platform JustFund, which coalition funders will have access to.

Press Forward launched a decade ago, and is housed at The Miami Foundation, a philanthropic organization led by President/CEO Rebecca Fishman Lipsey. It operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the foundation.

ABN Old Time Radio takes amateur OTR playout to a standard worthy of NBC back in radio’s Golden Days. 

The show, produced by Antioch Broadcasting Network, runs on a fully automated 24/7 schedule, with daily blocks dedicated to family comedy, frontier stories, detective stories, science fiction/spy stories, and game shows. There are also dedicated hourly slots for popular programs such as “Suspense” and “The Whistler,” which deliver chills even in this jaded Internet Age.

Every show has been processed to reduce hiss and clicks and maximize audio fidelity. In a bid to make the experience as realistic as possible, shows are selected to coincide with their original date, so if you are listening on April 15, shows being played will be from April 15 in previous years. 

ABN adds license-free music to fill gaps, period commercials and a three-note interval identification reminiscent of the famous NBC Radio signal. It is an immersive blast from radio’s golden past.

“Station of the Imagination”

It isn’t hard to imagine the station broadcasting from an Art Deco low-rise of the 1930s, with spacious, elegant studios and control rooms, and with legendary stars wandering its halls.

ABN actually is housed in the basement of Jay Lichtenauer, its owner, creator and curator, who lives in Antioch, Ill., a mile from the Wisconsin border.

When he is not acquiring tapes of OTR shows and cleaning them up prior to digitizing for playback, Lichtenauer is running MacinMind.com, a software business serving Mac users. His custom-built programs include radio automation software Radiologik, which is used to play the content and to run low-power FM station WFEL in Antioch, licensed to a local Lutheran church.

Jay Lichtenauer Birth of ABN

How did Lichtenauer develop this interest? 

“I became a ham radio operator,” he said. “And some 20 years ago, I went to a hamfest and bought a 1930s-era Stromberg Carlson console radio that worked for an astonishing $20. When I got it home, I was listening to it and thinking, ‘Modern radio content on the AM band does not fit this radio.’ So I started to collect OTR shows to broadcast.”

That was in 2003. Because he worked in software, it only made sense for him to make the content available online. First he did so on his home computer, then he moved ABN streaming to a dedicated distribution service to keep up with demand. Online listenership around the globe can go as high as 2,000, depending on time of day.

You can hear it online via its stream and through aggregation services such as iTunes and TuneIn. If you want to listen on AM radio, you can hear ABN at 1610 kHz — but only if you park outside Lichtenaeur’s house. He broadcasts AM using a micro-power Rangemaster 1000 Part 15-compliant transmitter that provides enough power to deliver OTR to the antique and crystal radios in his home.

Production

At the J-shaped desk that is ABN’s studio, he has an M1 Mac mini running ABN on Radiologik software. Three other computers help him edit and store content, while a venerable Teac X-300R reel-to-reel tape recorder/player is used to access programs from his tape library. ABN has thousands of tapes in its collection, kept in a separate room.

ABN’s tape library.

Beyond the professionalism of its presentation, one of the most striking things is the audio quality of its OTR shows. Unlike vintage shows on many websites, these tend to sound clean, clear and noise-free.

The fidelity is no accident. “I record whole sides of tape from the Teac to Apple Lossless files. I then cut the episodes into new files. Along with other acquired audio, I normalize, speed correct, EQ and reduce noise as needed.”

Those files are saved as Apple Lossless or MP3 and copied into the station Mac’s library so they are available for the automated programming selection. 

“Radiologik DJ then plays those files, while Audio HiJack captures the audio and processes it for EQ, AGC, multiband compression and peak limiting.

“It then encodes the audio into MP3 to send to the offsite Icecast streaming server for listeners to be able to tune in.”

The content — about 16,000 shows — comes from a variety of sources.  “I’ve spent many thousands of hours collecting and working on restoring old-time radio shows I have purchased from different collectors in digital form,” Lichtenauer said. 

“A lot of the audio quality that was circulating years ago was very poor due to mistakes made at analog stages or poor digital encoding choices. Back in the years 2000 and 2001, there were some really bad encoders being used to digitize OTR shows that left hiccups in the audio.”

Lichtenauer also relies on thousands of reel-to-reel tapes he has acquired from other collectors for content. “These guys are getting into their 80s, and many are getting rid of their collections,” he said. Amazingly, most audio tapes that are 50 years or older still work on his Teac, even some had been stored in less-than-ideal conditions.

Listener-supported

Lichtenauer does the day-to-day production work that keeps ABN online, along with providing the software and hardware. He asks for donations on ABN’s home page. His target is $6,500 a year from loyal listeners. Year after year, they make online donations to cover bills for streaming and internet access. 

“It has been fully funded by listeners 100% and more ever since 2005,” Lichtenauer said. As of late March, donations for 2024 were almost halfway to the annual goal.

Twenty years on, Jay Lichtenauer sees no reason why ABN can’t keep streaming OTR shows for decades — even after his own demise.

“All the work I put into this is cumulative, so there’s no real daily activity for me to have to do to keep it up,” Lichtenauer said. “If I totally ignored it, it would be fine, except that new content would not be added to the system.” 

Of course, with 16,000 OTR shows cleaned up, stored and ready for automated playout on the Art Deco Station of the Imagination, this isn’t much of a problem.

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Doug Fearn, K3KW, tells a story about a toolbox. 

But first he wanted us to see this throwback photo that he took at WPEN(AM). It shows the old Master Control room, built by RCA in 1947.

Doug started working at the station as a senior in high school. He says that when he got there, the studio had changed little since the 1940s except for the addition of a rack with three cart machines, newer turntables and three Ampex tape machines (note the bank of remote start controls to the left).

Doug notes that this was before the days of “combo” operation; the station’s announcers had a cough switch and talkback button, but an engineer ran everything else. 

Master Control at WPEN in Philadelphia.

Later Doug would supervise construction of new studios up the road in Bala Cynwyd for WPEN and sister station WMGK(FM), both owned at the time by Greater Media.

But Doug wrote to us to share a memory prompted by our discussion of toolboxes. In 1978 he was driving home from his recording studio with a console power supply in his trunk. The supply was defective, and Doug was taking it home to fix it ahead of an important recording session.

But he never got home that day because his car was struck by a vehicle driven by a drunk driver. Doug woke up in a hospital suffering from multiple injuries. 

Yet that console had to be operational for the upcoming session. So once he had his wits back, Doug — from his hospital bed — asked one of his employees to go find his car and bring that power supply to his room, along with a metal toolbox Doug kept in the car. 

Doug Fearn’s trusty metal toolbox.

His employee found the mangled Volvo and brought back the supply and the toolbox, and yes, Doug then proceeded to repair the supply on his hospital bed!

And the recording session went on as scheduled, even though Doug himself wouldn’t be discharged for another two weeks. 

Crazy, maybe! Yet I’m sure every engineer reading this will take pride in how Doug handled this experience. Because we always get the job done!

As for the toolbox, Doug did his best to pound it back into shape, though some of its welds and seams were broken in the car crash. The toolbox, along with its dings, now lives under his workbench, holding tools that he doesn’t use often. It serves as a reminder both of that awful accident but also how the box and its tools helped him save a recording session. 

Warts and all, the toolbox is still in use. Bill’s “Go Bag”

Bill Moede recently retired from Cumulus, where he took care of a cluster of 11 stations and two translators spread around most of northeastern Wisconsin. 

He says that in addition to a toolbox, he kept a “Go Bag” in his truck containing a change of clothes, a backpacker’s compact sleeping bag, protein snack bars, a first aid kit and an envelope with emergency cash. He also kept a case of bottled water in the truck.

While we tend to focus on tools we need, Bill’s list is a reminder that we should also be prepared for the unexpected, especially when we service stations over any considerable distance. Congratulations, Bill, on your retirement, and thanks for reminding us of these important items.

Keep a list

And San Francisco’s Bill Ruck wraps up our column with a reminder that’s helpful for everyone but especially contract and project engineers who own their tools. 

Over the years Bill has had to replace tool bags that had been stolen, so he got in the habit of creating an inventory to help himself in the event he’d have to file an insurance claim later. Bill writes a list for each box describing every tool, its SKU or part number, its manufacturer, the date purchased and the cost.

Let’s face it, tools are expensive. Protect yourself by making a list of what you own.

As to size, Bill has used larger boxes, but found that when filled, they get almost too heavy to haul around. Nowadays he limits himself to a smaller bag that limits the weight. He keeps bigger construction tools in drawers in his van. Several large transport cases hold hardware, wiring and soldering supplies.

The U.S. Navy taught Bill the importance of using the proper crimp tool, so he keeps a large selection. In fact, if he is working on something and doesn’t have the manufacturer’s recommended crimp tool, he will buy it.

As far as individual tools, Bill recommends the Klein 32500 Multi-Bit Screwdriver/Nut Driver 11-in-1 set, which includes Phillips, slot, square and Torx bits plus nut drivers. This single, high-quality screwdriver can take apart most anything. Bill also learned to leave Harbor Freight straight slot and Phillips screwdrivers at his various transmitter sites, just to minimize trips back to his van. 

Yet no matter how organized you are, Bill adds, there will be times when on the top of the mountain you will find yourself saying: “If I only had that one other tool.” 

Workbench submissions are encouraged and qualify for SBE recertification credit. Email johnpbisset@gmail.com.

[Read Another Workbench by John Bisset]

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Many people across the radio broadcasting industry are familiar with George Laughlin for his role as Chief Executive Officer of radio programming syndication company YEA Networks. However, Laughlin is also the owner of Dallas-based GAP Broadcasting, which is agreeing to part ways with an FM translator in the Bayou State.

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NewsStar is a custom news platform popular in Germany that serves more than 100 stations hourly. Radio.Cloud is bringing it to the U.S. market.

“Fifteen years ago, the concept behind NewsStar was similar to the goal that we have with Radio.Cloud today: provide hyper-localized news content to stations,” said Founder/CEO Christian Brenner. Its flexible operation replaced traditional satellite-delivered news. 

Affiliate stations build a news profile and select from a library of national, state and local news stories along with other content like weather and sports. At present there are some 90 unique news profiles created hourly, and the resulting news reports are distributed to user stations. 

“Each hour, reporters populate the NewsStar portal with stories and actualities,” Radio.Cloud stated.

“Based on what each affiliate station wants — for example, two national stories + two local stories + weather, or one national story + two state stories + two local stories — NewsStar compiles the stories into one newscast and distributes the audio to each station.”

Radio.Cloud is using the capabilities of Amazon Web Services, which it says enables NewsStar to be a fast, flexible and stable application for daily use. Ninety versions of news are produced and distributed in less than 10 seconds. “This enables the news content itself to be as up to date as possible each hour and reduce stress for the staff to a minimum.”

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

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Lawo has named Adil Syed as business development manager for Media Infrastructures in North America, a newly created position.

“Drawing from a distinguished career marked by exceptional sales management acumen and a profound comprehension of the evolving challenges confronting broadcasters transitioning to IP technologies, Adil Syed brings a wealth of expertise to his new position,” the company said.

Syed holds a bachelor of arts degree in broadcasting and film from Boston University. He is former director of sales US at TAG Video Systems. He is based in Boston.

The announcement was made by Senior Vice President Sales North America Forrest Sussman, who cited Syed’s “expertise in broadcast, coupled with his customer-oriented strategies and unwavering commitment to finding the best solutions.”

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

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Audio technology company Syndicate of Sounds has released a Déjà Vu Upmixer Software Development Kit.

The tool “is designed to empower manufacturers and integrators to transform stereo music into immersive audio experiences without the need to reversion or remix,” according to the company.

Déjà Vu promises immersive 5.1 surround sound audio from any stereo or two-channel audio track. It is intended for use in broadcast audio, commercial AV and consumer AV applications.

“For example, broadcast content is still mostly in stereo,” the company states. “Déjà Vu offers broadcasters a convenient and cost-effective way to always to deliver surround sound over the air. Museums can dynamically upmix stereo content to 5.1 for interactive art exhibits for a more all-encompassing audio experience. Live venues can stream performances for playback on a surround-sound audio system or via surround-sound headphones.”

Déjà Vu upmixing is available for OEM licensing for third-party products and can be integrated with existing play-out servers, while file-based workflows offer flexibility for music and video content.

Syndicate of Sounds was launched by Frank Foti. 

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

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The husband-and-wife team of Mark and Paula Persons have given a lifetime of service to the radio industry in Minnesota. For their efforts, both will be inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame in October.

Their contract-based engineering, based out of Brainerd, Minn., served the central and northern part of the state for more than 44 years, building and repairing radio stations. 

Mark received the SBE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020, one of just 10 engineers to earn that illustrious honor. A contributor to Radio World, Mark also was SBE’s 2018 Engineer of the Year.

“Paula is half of our success story,” Mark told us, citing her financial acumen and business sense. Paula managed office operations 40 to 50 hours a week while Mark worked in the field.

Mark and Paula Persons at their ham station.

But she also spent many hours at transmitter sites over the years. And both Mark (WØMH) and Paula (WØHA) are Extra Class amateur radio operators, knowledge that allowed Paula to speak productively with other engineers about problems such as why a solid-state transmitter was running on reduced power.

The pair met while Mark was purchasing a home and Paula was a closing secretary; they married in 1978. Life-long Minnesotans, they’ve never had any interest in leaving their native state. “Even winter cold has its pluses when snowshoeing,” Mark said.

Mark spent three years in the U.S. Army, during which time he taught radar and electronic repair at Fort Monmouth, N.J. and worked on radios in aircraft in Vietnam. He was impressed by the craftmanship of Collins Radio equipment he used in wartime, including the Collins 618 HF Transceiver. He said he knew at the time that when he returned to the U.S., he’d go back to being a broadcast engineer, never having a plan B.

Mark’s father Charles B. Persons started in broadcast engineering in the 1920s and published a fascinating autobiography in 1996 detailing his 68-year radio career. The Persons family built 1450 WELY(AM) in Ely, Minn. when Mark was seven, running 250 watts at the time. 

“Even then I had my hands on the transmitter controls,” he said. At age 16, Mark did most of the wiring to put his family’s 1340 KVBR(AM) Brainerd on the air in 1964.

Among Mark’s most highly regarded skills is his construction of AM directional systems. The five-tower array for 650 WKKQ(AM), now WNMT, broadcasting from Nashwauk, Minn. stands out, needing to protect co-channel WSM(AM).

“It took a chunk of land 3/4 mile long by 1/4 mile wide to accommodate it. All the RF from phasor to antenna coupling networks were hand-built with coils and capacitors using just a schematic diagram as a guide,” Mark said.

Mark and Paula built two homes from which their business operated. One floor was dedicated to an electronics shop, office and some 40 feet of workbench space. That elbow room made it possible to design, build and repair electronic equipment, sometimes coming even from other countries. Specifications of their current lakeside Brainerd home of which they named Gilbert Lodge is available online in trademark detail.

Mark has shared his accumulation of knowledge as a valued Radio World contributor, with 212 articles and counting. While retired from engineering, his lifetime in broadcasting has not ended. His personal website is also chalk full of useful tech tips. He continues to mentor four broadcast engineers.

In her retirement, “Deep Diver Paula” enjoys scuba diving with more than 1,000 dives to her credit including some of the state’s 10,000 lakes and Bonaire in the Caribbean. Ever the Minnesotan, she’s even dived twice below lake ice in wintertime.

The Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Dinner will take place Oct. 1 in Rochester, Minn. Ticketing information is available here.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten TV reports are out for broadcast and cable activity by spot play count for the week ending April 21, and it shows that the auto insurance category remains a hot one — even as GEICO works behind the scenes on new campaigns that have yet to hit the marketplace.

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As first reported Monday morning by Streamline Publishing’s Radio Ink, Beasley Media Group on Thursday, April 18, shifted its trading from the Nasdaq Global Market to the Nasdaq Select Market.

For shareholders, the move was designed to be largely transparent. And, it gives the company led by CEO Caroline Beasley more time to meet Nasdaq’s $1 minimum valuation and regain rule compliance.

The shift to the secondary Nasdaq market, thus far, has been met with shareholder malaise.

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Waymark is introducing a self-serve plug-in solution as well as Spanish-language capabilities to its AI-based video advertising platform.

The automated plug-in is designed as a turnkey tool to allow media publishers to integrate the AI video creator into their own platforms. “The plugin is the basis of a recent strategic partnership with Sweden-based DanAds, which provides global publishers and media owners with a fully automated, white-labeled self-serve advertising infrastructure,” Waymark said in its announcement.

It quoted VP Hayden Gilmer as saying, “Our mission is to democratize access to TV-quality creative. With the rise of CTV and the industry’s rapid adoption of self-serve advertising platforms, we see a tremendous opportunity. Combining a la carte ad buys with instant video creative is a winning formula.”

Waymark is also introducing Spanish-language capabilities to its video platform, enabling users to commercials with professional voice-over in five minutes or less. 

“The update allows for the creation of full video ads with on-screen Spanish copy and fluent Spanish voice-overs, featuring a wide array of localized synthetic AI accents. This update opens potential new revenue opportunities for businesses looking to connect with the growing Spanish-language segment.”

[Related: “10 AI-Based Tools for Radio”]

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MESA, ARIZ. — The parent ministry for Family Life Radio, a network of Christian non-secular broadcast stations led by President/CEO Evan Carlson from its Tucson headquarters, has changed its name.

The rebrand has been done to reflect how the ministry “goes beyond radio to offer a richer and more diverse experience through digital content, music streaming, live events, and community service.”

As such, Family Life Communications is now Intentional Life Media (ILM). 

FLR was founded in 1966 in the basement of founder Warren Bolthouse, who had a vision to share the message of Christ through radio. “For over half a century, Family Life Radio has been a trusted voice, a companion in the journey of faith with our listeners,” Carlson said. “Together, we’ve celebrated triumphs, shared in struggles, and grown in Christ’s love.”

What won’t change, says Executive Director for Marketing Taylor Anderson, is the name Family Life Radio or its core mission. “We will continue our efforts to guide, inspire, and connect the audience to the unwavering love of Jesus Christ,” Anderson said. 

If you’re not familiar with Caitlin Clark, she’s only regarded as one of the top female basketball players of all time. And, she’s been drafted by the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.

Given the fandom seen by Clark as a collegiate superstar at the University of Iowa, Fever fever will most certainly start gripping the Hoosier State. TEGNA has responded to this by signing a deal giving fans broadcast coverage of upcoming games.

 

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BIA Advisory Services has published the second edition of its Hispanic Radio Station Directory, a free comprehensive guide to the diverse cross-section of Spanish-language stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Included are nearly 2,000 commercial and non-commercial AM and FM stations in over 100 different formats that appeal to various Hispanic target segments. A companion report accompanies the directory and features proprietary analysis into the Hispanic radio market.

We’re returning to the Alamo City and the birthplace of Spanish-language radio in the U.S.!
Secure your seat now for the 2024 Hispanic Radio Conference in San Antonio. For full details, click here!

 

 

“The directory is focused on the valuable data advertisers, broadcasters, policymakers, and other marketing and industry leaders need to understand and target the Hispanic audio landscape,” said Rick Ducey, BIA Advisory Services’s Managing Director. “Hispanic radio delivers incredible value in the market, as evidenced by Nielsen data indicating that radio is the dominant platform to reach Spanish-speaking consumers.”

Among the updated takeaways from BIA:

• Some 73.7% of Spanish-language stations are owned by group operators
• Some 78.1% of these stations are in ranked markets as measured by Nielsen Audio.
• More than 40% of Spanish-speaking stations are in the top 25 markets.
• Most of the stations are FMs, FM translators, or HD subchannels. Of these 1,867 stations, 474 are AM stations.

“The presence of Hispanic radio in the major markets is profound but not as recognized in the advertising market,” said Nicole Ovadia, VP Forecasting and Analysis at BIA Advisory Services. “We’ve developed this guide to better serve the community and to encourage commerce between marketers and local stations. We are also proud to be members of the Hispanic Radio Alliance, where we offer this directory for our cooperative efforts to drive revenue for Hispanic radio.”

BIA’s Hispanic Radio Station Directory includes key details for stations in the U.S., including call signs, station format by BIA nomenclature (e.g., Tejano, Mariachi, Ranchera, Salsa, Educational), market name and rank, owners, and parent companies. The data in the Hispanic Directory is a subset of the full set of data BIA maintains in its Media Access Pro (MAPro) broadcasting and publishing industry database.

The Hispanic Radio Station Directory, along with a companion report, is available for free download here from BIA’s website.

The morning host of a Cumulus Media radio station, who joined the FM in 1974 under Capital Cities Communications ownership and has been there ever since its switch to Top 40 from Beautiful Music, has announced his retirement.

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NEW YORK — The Broadcasters Foundation of America has created a new honor to be presented annually at its Golden Mic Award gala, starting in 2025.

The honor will be bestowed upon an individual who exhibits “the spirit of dedication and relentless drive” to the Broadcasters Foundation charitable mission exemplified by its former longtime chairman, who passed away earlier this year.

The Philip J. Lombardo Spirit Award will be given to a board member, officer, supporter, contributor, and sponsor “with a long history of demonstrating Lombardo’s commitment to the Foundation.”

Broadcasters Foundation board member Ray Cole, the retired President and Chief Operating Officer of Citadel Communications — the broadcast TV group founded by Lombardo — says, “Phil believed in giving back to an industry he deeply cared about, contributing both time and treasure to support the vital mission of the Broadcasters Foundation: helping fellow broadcasters during a difficult time in their lives.”

The award is being underwritten by Kim Lombardo and her family, along with a longtime business associate and investor in broadcast media companies: Mario Gabelli.

“It’s an ideal way to recognize Phil’s unparalleled leadership and countless efforts that left a lasting impact on the Foundation’s mission,” Cole said.

BFoA Chairman Scott Herman commented, “Phil brought the sense of urgency that is often needed to give donors an understanding of why they need to donate to our charitable purpose. He led the board for many years, overseeing significant advancements that brought in more funds, and thereby allowing us to continue to distribute financial aid to broadcasters in need.”

FCC seeks comment on the current state of the video marketplace, ways to help foster diverse and independent video programming, and how current obstacles to MVPD/online carriage impact consumers.

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