Industry News

There’s a new VP/GM for the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned FOX affiliate serving the Omaha-Council Bluffs market.

He will also oversee the market’s The CW Network affiliate, which Sinclair operates via a provision of services agreement.

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From big brick and mortar retailers to auto insurance specialist and a big Procter & Gamble Co. brand, there’s lots of strong activity at spot television for the week ending August 22.

The variety in advertiser categories is a welcome sign, even as Auto was absent ahead of the next end-of-month sales push.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report shows that there’s little movement from last week, with respect to fully paying advertisers and the amount of commercials aired for each of them for the week ending August 22.

As shown below, Progressive, Indeed, Babbel, GEICO and Bank of America — along with Grainger — are committing to their radio budgets.

For Progressive, that translates to nearly 54,000 spot plays for the week ending August 22.

For No. 10 Grainger, roughly 30,700 spots were detected for the week.

NBCUniversal is urging all measurement companies to offer alternative means of tracking viewing across multiple platforms.

The request is in an open letter signed by Kelly Abcarian, the former Nielsen veteran who recently became EVP of Measurement and Impact for NBCUniversal.

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Add Beasley Media Group to the list of major radio companies to require employees to get vaccinated. Employees have until November first to get fully vaccinated.

“As a company, we have a responsibility to ensure a safe working environment on behalf of our employees and their families,” said Caroline Beasley, Beasley’s CEO. “Accordingly, we will be requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated by November 1 — excepting those with religious or medical accommodations. This policy will apply to new and existing employees alike.”

Beasley follows Cumulus Media, Gray Television and Urban One as publicly traded broadcast media companies requiring “the jab” for employees.

BIN: The Black Information Network, launched by iHeartMedia in 2020, is planning to expand local new coverage in January 2022.

Right now the iHeartMedia national audio news network, presenting news with a Black voice and perspective is heard in 32 affiliate markets.

The expansion plans have resulted in the promotion of three staff members.

Tanita Myers, previously Director of News Operations, is now Vice President of News Operations; Chris Thompson, previously Director of Network Operations, is now Vice President of Network Operations; and Lauren Crawford, previously Associate Editor, is now Senior Director of Digital and Social Strategy.

“We are incredibly proud of the growth and success of BIN during our first year,” said Tony Coles, President of BIN. “We are thrilled to continue our leadership in providing the most trusted news source for the Black community, offering even more local news coverage to the communities we serve. BIN’s success has been, in no small part, due to our dedicated and talented team. I look forward to seeing how Tanita, Chris and Lauren continue to grow within BIN, and I am excited to add even more experienced talent to our team.”

iHeartMedia indicates that the expansion of local news coverage will create new employment opportunities including multiple news anchor and reporter positions, a Managing Editor, and a Podcast Managing Editor.

— Rob Dumke

There is a new Senior Vice President and General Manager of Bally Sports West, Bally Sports SoCal and Bally Sports San Diego.

She returns to Southern California after more than a decade in Washington D.C., where she served as President/GM NBC Sports Washington.

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For nearly three-decades the best sellers and managers in the business have been honored with Radio Wayne Awards.

Here are the Radio Ink 2021 Radio Wayne Award finalists:

DIGITAL OR INTERACTIVE SELLER
Tiffany Cobb
Tidewater Communications
Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA

Michael Walden
Audacy
Chattanooga, TN

Cathleen Mingarino
Longport Media
Atlantic City- Cape May, NJ

Deana Poole
Beasley Media Group
Philadelphia, PA

Yoni Schwartz
Audacy
Philadelphia, PA

Ryan Dietrich
Beasley Media Group
Philadelphia, PA

STREETFIGHTER OF THE YEAR
Tich McWilliams
Tuned In Broadcasting
Nashville, TN

Rita Munoz-Dalati
Cumulus Media
Houston-Galveston, TX

Mandy Jo Choat
Williams Media Group
Enid, OK

Roger Nelson
Morgan Murphy Media
Spokane, WA

Kelly Greeley
Capitol Radio Group
Springfield, IL

Melanie Martin
Cox Media Group
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

Paula J. Ingram
Forever Media
Altoona, PA

Steve Simons
Beasley Media Group
Philadelphia, PA

SALES MANAGER 1-2 STATIONS
Tom Hansen
Tuned In Broadcasting
Nashville, TN

Marta DeLisi
Beasley Media Group
Wilmington, DE

Shawneen Thompson
Howard University Radio
Washington, DC

Tim Gratzer
Cumulus Media
Houston-Galveston, TX

Stephen Tarpley
Nexstar
Chicago, IL

Jaime Frankel
Beasley Media Group
Philadelphia, PA

STU OLDS NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
Susan Isreal
Hubbard Radio
West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL

Phillip Whisnant
Univision
San Diego, San Francisco & Fresno, CA

Pam Foley Crouch
Press Communications
Monmouth-Ocean, NJ

Amanda Health
Lotus Communications

April Brinks-Bailey
Beasley Media Group
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

DOS OR GENERAL SALES MANAGER
Emily Ward
Audacy
Atlanta, GA

Vince Gambino
Longport Media, LLC
Atlantic City- Cape May, NJ

Paul Blake
Beasley Media Group
Philadelphia, PA

Dawn Girocco
Cumulus Media
Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX

Jason (JC) Campese
Cox Media Group
Orlando, FL

Nicki DellaPosta
Audacy
Chicago, IL

MARKET OR GENERAL MANAGER
Mac Edwards
Beasley Media Group
Detroit, MI

Trey Stafford
Saga Communications
Jonesboro, AR

Sabina Widmann
Univision
San Diego, CA, Las Vegas, NV & McAllen-Brownsville-Harlingen, TX

Jason Meder
Cox Media Group
Orlando, FL

Keith Lawless
Cox Media Group
Houston-Galveston, TX & Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

Mary Menna
Beasley Media Group
Boston, MA

To address misinformation about COVID-19 in local areas, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is awarding a total of $275,000 in emergency grants to 14 public media stations across the country.

The grants — up to $20,000 each — will go to public television and radio stations in areas with low vaccination and high infection rates or in hotspots with a growing number of coronavirus infections.

Funding will be used to produce or extend programming about the pandemic, to organize community outreach efforts about vaccines and to develop multiplatform public service announcement campaigns.

“Public media stations, locally operated, work with their communities through partnerships of trust,” said Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO. “General managers of stations serving America’s communities that are hard hit by the pandemic are committed to breaking through the cycle of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and are providing information that is saving lives.”

Some of the 14 grants include Mississippi Public Broadcasting in Jackson, Miss. The station will produce a series of radio and television broadcast specials focused on COVID-19. The station will also host a virtual town hall with medical experts and produce a social media campaign designed to combat information. Others, like Wyoming Public Media is Laramie, Wyo., will spotlight personal testimonials about COVID infections and increase newsroom reporting on the pandemic’s impact on the state economy. In the east, West Virginia Public Broadcasting in Charleston, W.Va., will orchestrate a multiplatform outreach effort to younger audiences in communities that have been vaccine hesitant.  The station will also work with kids programs like PBS KIDS to reach families with young children.

Other station’s include Arkansas PBS in Conway, Ark., Boise State Public Radio in Boise, KERA in Dallas, Nine PBS in St. Louis, KRSU in Tulsa, Okla., KOSU in Stillwater, Okla., Louisiana Public Broadcasting and WRKF in Baton Rouge, WBHM in Birmingham, Ala., WCTE in Cookeville, Tenn., and WJCT Public Media in Jacksonville, Fla.

The post Grants to Help Public Stations Address COVID Misinformation appeared first on Radio World.