Industry News

The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) has selected who will deliver the opening keynote at its newly created NATPE Virtual: News Television event scheduled for April 20.

It’s Council of Foreign Relations President Richard Haass.

NATPE Virtual: News Television sees ABC News Transportation Correspondent Gio Benitez 

Attendees can expect keynotes, fireside chats, and panel discussions covering news franchises, streaming, sponsorship sales, and different concentrations including “sensationalized breaking news,” politics, crime, health, financial, entertainment, sports, weather, special interests, and much more.

Notable companies participating in a variety of ways include AccuWeather, Axios, CNN, Newsmax, PBS and Tubi, with more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Also planned for the event will be the inaugural NATPE News Awards, honoring excellence in TV news reporting. Being recognized for excellence as an anchor is Greg Kelly. PBS Newshour is being honored for excellence as a news program.

NATPE President/CEO JP Bommel said, “News is at the core of the television experience, and we are thrilled to bring together such great minds as we dig into how the space is changing as the industry evolves.”

NATPE Virtual News Television is the next of a string of events being produced through NATPE VIRTUAL. To register, go to https://www.natpe.com/news/attend/

Larry Blumhagen has been named vice president/market manager of Cumulus San Francisco. He comes to Cumulus from Audacy, the former Entercom.

“Beginning Monday, May 3, Blumhagen will lead Cumulus Media’s Bay Area radio stations KSAN(FM) (classic rock), KGO(AM) (news/talk), KNBR(FM)/AM (sports), and KSFO(AM) (news/talk),” the company announced.

[Read: Pollnow Moves to Cumulus Montgomery]

Blumhagen succeeds Doug Harvill, who is retiring.

At Entercom and predecessor CBS Radio, Blumhagen was vice president, director of sales for Los Angeles. He held prior GSM positions for CBS in San Francisco and Portland, Ore.

He started as an account executive for Henry Broadcasting/American Radio Systems.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Blumhagen Moves to Cumulus S.F. appeared first on Radio World.

A trio of experienced local broadcast TV station leaders have been selected to oversee Nexstar Media Group‘s respective stations in Knoxville; Roanoke-Lynchburg; and Myrtle Beach, S.C.

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He’s been a fixture at a group of stations in Los Angeles owned and operated by Audacy, the company formerly known as Entercom Communications. He stayed with the stations, which include “93.1 Jack FM,” “K-Earth 101,” KNX, “94-7 The Wave,” “97.1 Amp,” and KROQ, through Entercom’s tax-free merger with CBS Radio.

Now, this sales leader is heading north. He’s just been appointed VP/Market Manager of Cumulus Media‘s San Francisco-Oakland station group.

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Taking the post previously held by the retired Doug Harvill is Larry Blumhagen.

He’ll start his new role on May 3, putting him in command of Classic Rock KSAN-FM (107.7 The Bone), News/Talk KGO-AM, Sports Talker KNBR-AM & FM and Talker KSFO-AM.

In L.A., he was VP/Director of Sales at Audacy, prior to its corporate name change. He’d been with the stations for six years.

But, before that, he was CBS Radio’s GSM for San Francisco, and held the role from 2006-2015.

For nine years before that, he was GSM for the former CBS Radio (and Infinity) stations in Portland, Ore.

A 29-year radio broadcasting veteran, Blumhagen started his career as Account Executive for Henry Broadcasting/American Radio Systems.

“Larry brings a strategic mind focused on building successful sales organizations and positive cultures,” says Cumulus EVP/Operations Dave Milner. “Aligning his exceptional leadership abilities and deep knowledge of the San Francisco market with our talented team and strong brands is a winning combination.”

Blumhagen added, “I’m beyond thrilled to return to San Francisco and to join the
exceptional team at Cumulus Media. Leading these great brands forward while meeting the needs of both our listeners and advertisers will be an exciting journey. I’m fortunate to be stepping into Doug Harvill’s shoes, as I know first-hand that he is a man of deep integrity and immense passion for the industry.”

In Q4 2016, Viacom agreed to purchase Telefe, a major Argentine TV operation, for $345 million.

Now, the company that is today ViacomCBS is crossing the Andes to purchase a WarnerMedia asset.

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HC2 Station Group is committed to owning and operating television stations. It simply seeks to have fewer properties in its stable, and has been paring down assets in the broadcasting sector as part of a large capital-raising campaign led by Wayne Barr Jr.

In the latest divestment move from HC2, it is shedding a trio of LPTV permits under the HC2 Station Group licensee name and another three LPTV permits from HC2-held DTV America Corp.

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Broadcast radio still “owns the car.”

That’s one of the takeaways for Pierre Bouvard, chief insights officer at Cumulus Media/Westwood One, from the most recent edition of Edison Research’s “Share of Ear” study of how people consume audio.

He writes regularly about findings that he feels can help with radio’s advertising “pitch.”

Writing on the Westwood One blog Bouvard said that AM/FM radio’s in-car share of ad-supported audio, while down a bit, still has hovered around a 90% share for six years:

He also described as “stunning” a finding that for the first time, audience shares for podcasting surpassed the combined audiences of ad-supported Pandora and ad-supported Spotify.

“Podcasting achieved a 12% share compared to Pandora and Spotify’s combined 11% share of ad-supported audio among persons 18+,” he wrote.

“This is notable as ad-supported audio audiences are of great importance to brands and their media agencies. Podcasting also beat Pandora and Spotify handily among the persons 18–34 and persons 25–54 ad-supported audiences.”

Bouvard highlighted the finding that AM/FM radio remains the dominant ad-supported audio platform with a 74% share of ad-supported audio, “11 times bigger than Pandora’s and 19 times larger than Spotify’s.”

Read his post: “Podcasting Eats Spotify/Pandora and AM/FM Radio Remains the Dominant Ad-Supported Audio Platform”

The post Bouvard: Radio “Owns the Car” appeared first on Radio World.

In October 2020, Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group acquired MGM‘s over-the-air broadcast television networks This TV and Light TV, offered as digital multicast networks with national distribution, for an undisclosed price.

Now, This TV is getting a boost, bringing it to more U.S. locales.

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The number of licensed FM commercial stations in the United States hit a historical peak 15 months ago and has been declining slightly since.

That’s one of the findings of an analysis by Radio World of the latest station count data from the Federal Communications Commission.

We also found that the number of AM stations is at its lowest in decades while the number of NCE FMs has hit a record high, as has the number of FM translators/boosters.

The tally of commercial FMs had been rising steadily over several decades. In 1990 (when FCC public data reporting became more consistent) there were about 4,350 commercial FM stations in the country. Ten years later and four years after the 1996 Telecom Act, there were close to 6,000 commercial FMs; and by the end of 2019 that number stood at 6,772.

But each of the five quarterly reports from the FCC since then has shown a slight ebbing; and at the end of March the number of commercial FM stations was 6,682, or 90 fewer than 15 months ago.

Whether we can read any general decline in demand for commercial FM stations into these numbers is problematic. It’s a drop of only 1.3% since the peak, though it is notable that the trend line had been virtually all upwards over many years prior. And the FCC doesn’t provide analysis of its data. Any shift could be driven by a slowing economy and of course the year-long pandemic. It’s a number we’ll keep an eye on.

Meanwhile the trend in AM station totals is more familiar and it continues in the latest quarter, when the FCC said there were 4,546 AM stations.

According to Radio World’s analysis, the country’s AM station count is the lowest it has been since at least 1990 and very likely longer than that. In 1990 there were just under 5,000 AM stations, and the total around that period tended not to vary much year to year.

But we can say that there are now about 9% fewer AM stations than there were in 1990.

On the other hand, the number of FM educational stations today is at its historic high of 4,213, up about 3% over five years and double the number at the turn of the century.

And the number of FM translators and boosters has also hit yet another record. There are now 8,521 of those, up 30% from just five years ago and more than four-fold from 1990, when there were only about 1,850 translators and boosters.

Demand for translators has been helped by multiple factors including HD Radio multicast plays, AM revitalization and general demand for FM spectrum.

And the number of low-power FM stations is now 2,114. That number has varied within a narrow range for the past decade.

The post U.S. Commercial FM Station Count Is Down appeared first on Radio World.

MIAMI — Until now, its collection of radio stations has been represented on a national level by Gen Media Partners, through its HRN Media Network. 

That’s changing, thanks to an agreement signed this morning by this Hispanic media company’s COO, Albert Rodriguez.

What’s the new national representation firm for Spanish Broadcasting System?

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