Industry News

The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled an auction in July of 136 FM and four AM construction permits.

Auction 109 will open on July 27, 2021. It will include all of the FM permits that has been included in Auction 106 plus six more.

Auction 106 was postponed last year due to the pandemic and has now been canceled; applications to participate in that auction have been dismissed; so hopefuls will have to file a new application to take part in Auction 109. That window hasn’t opened yet.

Also up for auction in July will be four AM licenses — three in Illinois and one in St. Louis, Mo.

The commission has published proposed bidding procedures for the auction and has asked for comments, due March 15. Read the FCC notice here. And here is list of permits to be offered.

The Media Bureau also has frozen applications to modify any of the vacant non-reserved band FM allotments involved in the auction, as well as proposals to change channel, class, community or reference coordinates for them, and applications that fail to protect Auction 109 FM allotments.

A temporary freeze on AM minor changes that would conflict with the expired licenses of the four AM facilities remains in effect.

The post FCC Schedules Auction of 136 FM CPs appeared first on Radio World.

The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten TV report is out, and for the week ending February 7 — inclusive of Super Bowl LV, the biggest advertiser using broadcast TV remains GEICO.

Not far behind it is category competitor Progressive. But, there are two new entrants — and that’s a good sign for a big spring for spot television.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report has been released, and it shows a huge jump in commercial airings by one of the nation’s largest department store brands.

For the week ending February 7, Macy’s finished at No. 7, powered by more than 36,000 radio spots.

That’s the big news of the week, as language learning app Babbel dips behind Progressive.

Here’s the full report:

The AWARN Alliance has elected its 2021 Steering Committee, the organization’s governing body that provides guidance to the AWARN Alliance and its executive director.

The Alliance also clarified its core education, promotion and collaboration mission, while embracing its vision to “save lives and protect communities by leveraging advanced emergency alerting, news and information powered by ATSC 3.0 NEXTGEN TV.”

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With Deloitte LLP Vice Chairman Kevin Westcott’s ascension to industry leader of its U.S. technology, media and telecommunications practice, a position opened up at Deloitte.

It needed a leader to specifically focus on telecom, media and entertainment.

Deloitte has found that person.

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It’s known around Plattsburgh, N.Y. for offering “everything that rocks.” With a Class A signal, this FM also scrapes the Burlington, Vt., area across Lake Champlain.

Now, this property — with a broadcast tower just down the road from the infamous Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y. — is being spun.

The seller? It’s none other than Randy Michaels.

The deal is hardly a surprise: The buyer has been operating the station for months.

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Streamline Publishing’s Radio + Television Business Report is pleased to once again acknowledge the individuals in command of local television with the opening of our 2021 nomination window for Broadcast Television’s Best Leaders.

As was seen in 2019 and in 2020, these television industry executives have demonstrated in various ways how to motivate their local and regional teams to success. They are all winners, and will appear in a ranked list based on RBR+TVBR reader voting and the RBR+TVBR editorial board.

These power players represent an industry that’s sprung to action in a time of crisis,
and they deserve full commendation for their leadership today.

You may cast your vote through Friday, February 26, 2021, at 5pm Eastern Time.

Simply CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

With the biggest media merger in recent months poised to potentially propel its stock price in the coming months, Gray Television has selected the day it will release its fourth quarter and full-year 2020 financial results.

BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!

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BONITA SPRINGS, FLA. — In June 2019, the CBS affiliate serving Southwest Florida was the subject of a RBR+TVBR feature story for one unfortunate achievement: it had been prevented from being received by Dish Network subscribers in a DMA that includes such fast-growing cities as Fort Myers, Naples, Estero, and Marco Island.

And, this retrans impasse had stretched into its sixth month.

Eventually, the locally based TV station owner and Dish struck a new agreement. Alas, that agreement expired — right before Super Bowl LV.

This, once again, put CBS viewers who are Dish subscribers in Lee, Charlotte and Collier Counties in the dark once again.

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With much of the company’s executive leadership team still mourning the January 27 death of legendary radio programming pro Bill Tanner, SummitMedia has entered into a fresh — and bigger — agreement for ratings and audience measurement services from the nation’s dominant provider of consumption data.

The Birmingham, Ala.-based radio broadcasting company led by Carl Parmer has inked a new long-term agreement for Nielsen Audio services across SummitMedia’s nine markets.

The new accord incorporates “an expansion and enhancement” of the service level to include Continuous Diary Measurement (CDM).

As such, SummitMedia now has what Nielsen Audio describes as “full, unqualified subscriber access to the monthly CDM currency ratings, TAPSCAN software and Nielsen Scarborough in all markets where available.”

In addition to its home market of Birmingham, SummitMedia’s stations are located in Greenville-Spartanburg; Honolulu; Knoxville; Louisville; Richmond; Wichita; Omaha; and in Iowa. The company was formed in 2013, when Cox Media Group sold to Parmer 24 stations comprised of the Alabama; South Carolina; Hawaii; Kentucky; and Virginia properties.

“We are looking forward to utilizing Nielsen’s measurement and data analytic capabilities to showcase SummitMedia’s value to the advertiser and agency communities,” said Parmer, who serves as Chairman/CEO of SummitMedia. “Consumers’ media habits are evolving at an incredibly rapid pace and having a faster read on audience trends is imperative. Continuous Diary Measurement will enable our teams to react more strategically and quickly.”

Nielsen Managing Director Brad Kelly added, “SummitMedia has placed their trust in us to deliver an accurate and timely read on radio audiences.  Equipped with CDM, SummitMedia’s talented sales pros will be well positioned to optimize revenue and attract new advertisers by delivering better, faster, keener insights to the local radio ad marketplace.”

— RBR+TVBR West Coast Bureau