Radio+Television Business Report

NEW YORK — The nation’s top audio content creation and distribution company has taken what it is calling “an important next step” in extending its presence into “web3” and the metaverse.

It starts with the commencement of plans for the creation of iHeartMedia events and experiences for listeners and music fans on Roblox.

That’s the shared experiences platform launching “tokenized communities” for its users and creators — key to the world of “NFTs.”

The iHeart team plans to use its consumer reach to create the awareness and demand necessary to bring new metaverse and web3 platforms to the mass market.

“Although there are a number of great new products for the metaverse and web3 from a wide array of creators, with our unparalleled audience reach, multiple platforms, and our trusted broadcast and podcast hosts, iHeartMedia is uniquely positioned to build the consumer awareness, understanding and demand necessary for those new products and platforms from both us and others to succeed,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman/CEO at iHeartMedia. “We see this as a unique opportunity to serve our listeners’ needs, provide an important new layer of growth for the company, and help develop the advertising and consumer potential for the metaverse and web3.”

As part of this overall strategy, in 2022 iHeartMedia plans to bring “immersive musical moments” to the more than 47 million daily active users on the Roblox platform and launch its first tokenized community, “building a new token that will incentivize and reward the iHeart creator community in new ways and give iHeart’s fans unique access to offerings across its multiple platforms, and a series of collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs).”

It builds on “the success” of the previously launched iHeartRadio Music Festival NFTs in partnership with Green NFT platform OneOf in September 2021.

“In the same way in which we believed in and committed to digital radio and podcasting – and became the strong number one in both — we are big believers in the incredible potential of web3,” said Conal Byrne, President of the iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group. “We have already stepped into the metaverse with NFTs and have much more to come. iHeart’s place in this ecosystem — giving fans extraordinary access to the special events and influencers we provide every day of the year — is what we’re focused on building out as we work with key partners and develop an easy-to-use ramp to the metaverse and web3 for the mass market.

The nation’s No. 1 owner of broadcast TV stations in early November saw its share price surpass the $168 mark, a remarkable $60 per share increase from January 18, 2021.

By December 20, 2021, however, some may have wondered if Nexstar Media Group shares had peaked, as values dipped under $143.50 per share. With today’s trading on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market, those worries can be soundly erased.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — On January 1, Curtis LeGeyt took over as the President/CEO of the broadcast media industry’s biggest advocacy and political lobbying organization.

Now in charge of the NAB, LeGeyt is inviting the association’s members to learn more about his vision at a January 20 Town Hall meeting, to be held virtually.

“It is both an exciting and a challenging time for the broadcasting business, and it is the opportunity of a lifetime to advocate on behalf of America’s broadcasters and help fulfill your mission of serving your communities,” LeGeyt said in a letter to NAB members. “This association will continue to work tirelessly for you every day to educate Congress and the FCC on your businesses, and to ensure you have the tools you need to thrive in this rapidly changing marketplace.”

The January 20 event will see LeGeyt offer his thoughts and an outlook for the association, as well as the broadcasting industry, during a Noon ET session. He will be joined by NAB’s policy team. who will give an update on the legislative and regulatory issues impacting the future of local stations and what NAB is doing to support diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the industry.

Want to pose a question to the NAB Policy Team? They’re accepting questions from NAB Members ahead of the January 20 event. Simply click here or send an e-mail to nab@nab.org.

As the new year unfolds, veteran public relations executive and “Zoom expert” Rosemary Ravinal has received “intriguing questions” from people who spend most of their workdays on Zoom, Teams or similar video conferencing platforms. Two questions she received could resonate with you. Here are her answers.

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It’s a Class A FM covering a small swath of the Edmond, Wash., area to the north of Seattle, and it uses a 9-watt FM translator to help with coverage of such communities as Bellevue and Issaquah.

Now, these homes of Christian Rock noncommercial network RadioU are being spun. The buyer is known for stations “Where God’s Word Is Heard.”

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Consumer media usage growth slowed to a pre-pandemic norm of 1.6% in 2021, following the fastest growth since 1995 in 2020.

But, media consumption is poised to grow faster in 2022. That’s the key finding from the ninth annual Global Consumer Media Usage Forecast for 2021-2025 released Wednesday (1/12) by PQ Media.

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Since 1996 it has offered radio stations products and services it believes can lead to better sales, improved ratings and reduced expenses for 100% barter.

Now, Sun & Fun Media is having a little fun itself, as it officially celebrates 25 years of operations.

The Orlando-based network radio was founded by CEO Rob Koblasz. Today Sun & Fun serves more than 1,400 stations across the U.S.

For those unfamiliar with Sun & Fun Media, the company has established itself as a radio industry supplier of products and services needed by radio stations for barter — including vacations, incentives, gift cards, vehicle wraps, branded station merchandise, bill pay for NTR events, television and billboard advertising for stations, research, consultants, transmitters and other equipment, and even software.

The company has even paid electric bills on barter, Koblasz says.

His company has even worked with large radio groups to cover costs for corporate managerial meetings and office holiday parties.

Among those saluting Sun & Fun on its 25 years is SummitMedia/Omaha President Rick Parrish, who calls it “a terrific company to work with to find incentives for your sales team or vacations and trips for on-air giveaways.”

In March 1980, Viacom purchased its second broadcast TV station, a CBS affiliate serving the Capital District of New York. By October 1981, it swapped network affiliations with one of the world’s first color TV stations, with WAST-13 becoming WNYT. 

The NBC affiliate serving Albany-Schenectady-Troy has been the market’s NBC affiliate ever since, and a Hubbard Broadcasting property since a June 1996 asset swap that gave WTOG-44 in Tampa-St. Petersburg to Viacom in exchange of WNYT and WHEC-10 in Rochester, N.Y.

Today, WNYT serves New York’s capital region with a digital VHF signal. Hubbard wants it to move to a more powerful digital UHF signal, while keeping its PSIP. Before such a decision is made at the FCC, it is seeking public comment on the request.

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The goal is to make it an annual event, hosted by Veritonic, a company focused on technology offering brands, publishers, and agencies with the data they need “to optimize their omni-channel audio investments across podcasts, streaming audio, broadcast radio, audiobooks, and video.”

And, it is scheduled for Tuesday, March 1 in New York.

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A Saas platform that was created in 2015 in Portland, Ore., with the intent of helping marketers understand the value of each customer touchpoint across radio, TV, podcasts, streaming services, digital and other advertising channels has been acquired by a Canadian “convergence intelligence platform” for small and mid-size businesses founded in Vancouver, B.C.

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Sinclair Broadcast Group has entered into multi-year renewals of the NBC affiliations and Fox affiliations in a total of 20 Sinclair markets.

Agreements with NBC include affiliates in San Antonio, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Providence-New Bedford, RI; Toledo, OH; Syracuse, NY; Tri-Cities, TN-VA; Johnstown-Altoona-State College, PA; Tallahassee, FL-Thomasville, GA; Traverse City-Cadillac, MI; Missoula, MT; Wheeling-Steubenville, OH; and Butte-Bozeman, MT.

Agreements with Fox include affiliates in Bakersfield, CA; Chattanooga, TN; Corpus Christi, TX; Fresno/Visalia, CA; Lincoln, NE; Macon, GA; Omaha, NE; Sioux City, IA; Tallahassee, FL; and Wheeling, WV/ Steubenville, OH.

The NBC affiliations were also renewed by Sinclair partners in four markets that Sinclair provides sales and other services to under a joint sales agreement or master service agreement: Cunningham Broadcasting Group, the licensee of KRNV, a station in Reno, NV; Deerfield Media, the licensee of WPMI in Mobile-Pensacola; Howard Stirk Holdings, the licensee of WEYI in Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, MI; and Roberts Media, the licensee of KMTR, KMCB and KTCW in Eugene, OR.

The Fox affiliations were also renewed by Sinclair partners in seven markets that Sinclair provides sales and other services to under a joint sales agreement or master service agreement: Cunningham Broadcasting Group, the licensee of KCVU, a station in Chico-Redding, CA, KBVU in Eureka, CA, WYDO in Greenville-New Bern-Washington, NC, WPFO in Portland, ME and WEMT in Tri-Cities, TN-VA; New Age Media, the licensee of WOLF in Wilkes-Barre-Scranton, PA; and GoCom Media of Illinois, the licensee of WRSP in Champaign & Springfield-Decatur, IL.

The 30 renewed markets serve approximately 11 million households.

Will Bell, Sinclair’s VP/Head of Distribution and Network Relations, commented, “We are pleased to renew our agreements with NBC and Fox on terms that are fair to all parties in this evolving media landscape. We look forward to continuing to work with both NBC and Fox in providing the popular news, sports, and other entertainment programming that viewers highly value.”

DALLAS — A “local news innovation lab” is in the works for CBS Stations. And, it is ViacomCBS’s owned-and-operated CBS station serving North Texas that is taking the responsibility of housing it and building the “home of a curated team who will be empowered to experiment with next-generation storytelling.”

How does CBS define that?

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In mid-December, the leaders of Spanish Independent Broadcast Network opted to part ways with its low-power television station serving the Valley of the Sun.

Who’s the buyer? It’s the same entity that two years ago snagged a LPTV facility serving the Verde Valley, home to towns such as Jerome and Sedona, Ariz.

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A pair of licensees tied to North Carolina-based Curtis Media Group have agreed to spin a pair of AM radio stations, and one FM translator, to another media company operating in the state.

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With hours ticking on the current Congressional legislative session and the White House sticking with its selection of Gigi Sohn to serve as a Commissioner on the FCC, it appears more and more likely that the agency will have a 2-2 deadlock on all votes for the foreseeable future. Opposition to Sohn remains strong.

In contrast, the Biden Administration’s nominee to serve in a National Telecommunications and Information Administration post, once seen as equally controversial given his “net neutrality” stance, was confirmed Tuesday by the U.S. Senate.

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Among the broadcast media tech players eager to meet and greet radio and TV engineers and C-Suite leaders at the 2022 NAB Show, scheduled for late April, is GatesAir.

In late October 2021, GatesAir added audio processing to its Intraplex IP and Cloud Transport products. For those asked to sign off on a purchase order, cost savings is certainly a big selling point when it comes to auxiliary equipment. But, how does CEO Bruce Swail explain to the C-Suite executive who may not understand what this technology advancement brings to broadcast media means in layman’s terms?

He answers this and questions tied to the topics of supply chain concerns and broadcast media cybersecurity in the upcoming Winter 2022 RBR+TVBR Special Report, our all-new magazine that offers, for the first time, Broadcast Media’s Top Tech Leaders.

This podcast interview with RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson offers a sneak peek at what Swail has to say in the all-new Special Report.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Bruce Swail” on Spreaker.

HONOLULU — SummitMedia LLC, owner of stations formerly part of the Cox Media Group family, has promoted its Local Sales Manager to the role of market President.

The elevation in duties comes amid widespread local media coverage of several high-profile layoffs across the Birmingham, Ala.-based company’s five radio stations serving O’ahu, higher elevations of Maui, and all of the Hawaiian Islands via Spectrum MVPD services.

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NEW YORK — One is a 10-year-old independent ad sales company connecting audio publishers, brands, and audiences. The other is a full-service network audio company offering sales, marketing, and affiliate products to some 4,000 affiliates that is a division of Gen Media Partners.

As of today, the two entities have forged an ad sales partnership.

With AdLarge and GMP’s G Networks combining sales networks, “a new dynamic and impressive ad sales powerhouse in network audio” has been created, the companies boast.

They also note that, in addition to continuing to represent top-tier content producers, AdLarge will oversee the management, sales, and fulfillment of the network audio ad sales inventory for both companies. G Networks will continue to offer and affiliate their programming and services through their existing affiliations team to radio stations across the U.S.

Warren Friedland, President of G Networks, comments. “AdLarge has a reputation for delivering innovative campaigns to help brands reach their media goals. AdLarge’s ad sales efforts coupled with our own extremely targeted networks will lead to a better return on investment for advertisers, brands, and agencies.”

Gary Schonfeld, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of AdLarge, adds, “This unique partnership will enhance our already robust ad sales networks, as well as generate greater critical mass and increased coverage of major markets. This is a win-win for the advertisers and the network audio community. The partnership with G Networks will greatly benefit the audio campaigns of our advertisers and agency partners.”

He was widely known in the advertising industry for his five years as Chief Marketing Officer of Sprint, now a part of T-Mobile. From today, he’ll be getting new recognition as the first CMO of Streaming at Univision Communications.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The NAB, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) and National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) late yesterday (1/10) filed a reply brief with the D.C. Federal Appeals Court in response to the FCC’s opposition to the group’s stay request of an FCC order mandating disclosures for foreign government-sponsored programming pending judicial review.

What do the groups have to say now on the matter?

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