Radio+Television Business Report

American Public Media (APM) and BBC World Service have renewed their distribution partnership for BBC World Service’s English-language radio programming.

This ensures that the U.S. noncommercial radio stations presently airing the content will continue to receive it via APM for the next five years.

This is APM’s second distribution renewal with BBC World Service, and it will remain in place until June 2027.

As the only distributor of BBC World Service content in the U.S., APM services some 600 public radio station across the U.S.

APM took over the partnership in 2012.

BBC broadcasts include news and current affairs programming, including its flagship global daily program Newshour. In 2014, BBC and APM also introduced BBC Topline, a daily 90-second program recapping the world’s most important stories, curated for U.S. audiences.

In early 2020, the Deeply Human podcast was launched as a BBC World Service and APM co-production with iHeartMedia, exploring the psychology, biology and anthropological explanations of human traits.

In a stunning turn of events, a Nevada Federal Bankruptcy Judge has — in an oral ruling — paved the way for Ed Stolz, who lost ownership of his three FM radio stations in a protracted California federal court battle over unpaid music royalty fees, to regain ownership of the properties.

What does this mean? The telenovela-like saga of the stations will more than likely end up with the stations in someone else’s control. In an exclusive interview, the court-appointed receiver, Larry Patrick, tells RBR+TVBR it is simply a last-minute act of desperation for an individual financially unable to keep them.

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She’s the Chief Research Officer of the not-for-profit trade association representing America’s local broadcast television industry, TVB. And, she’s the latest RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast guest.

In this fresh episode, Hadassa Gerber joins RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson to talk about some very intriguing new info from the just-released GfK 2022 Media Comparisons Study. In short, it’s great intelligence for broadcast and cable TV.

LISTEN NOW!

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Hadassa Gerber” on Spreaker.

SANTA CLARITA, CALIF. — A veteran local news executive has been named VP and News Director for CBS News and Stations’ Los Angeles operations, comprised of KCBS-2, news-intensive unaffiliated KCAL-9, and the CBSLA.com streaming channel.

He reports to CBS Los Angeles President/GM Joel Vilmenay.

Earning the role is Mike Dello Stritto.

He was formerly the News Director for CBS News and Stations’ CBS-affiliated KOVR-13 and The CW Network-affiliated KMAX-31 in Sacramento. He’d been there since 2018.

Dello Stritto has spent nearly 13 years of his local news career with CBS Stations, beginning in 2006 when he worked for three-and-a-half years as reporter at KOVR-13.

His resume includes a two-year stint as the managing editor at the company’s KPIX-5 in San Francisco. Dello Stritto began his career as a weather forecaster at WCJB-20 in Gainesville, Fla. in the early 2000s, following his graduation from the University of Florida. He gained his first experience as a news director with KTNV-13, the ABC affiliate in Las Vegas.

Dello Stritto succeeds Andrea Parquet-Taylor, who last month was named VP and News Director for the CW Network and independent stations managed by CBS News and Stations.

“I am excited to join the team at CBS 2, KCAL 9 and CBS News Los Angeles,” Dello Stritto said. “Harnessing the power of two TV stations and our CBS News Los Angeles stream allows us to deliver an unparalleled local product. I am grateful for the support I have received from Joel, Jennifer and the other members of the CBS News and Stations leadership team, and I feel very fortunate to be succeeding my friend and esteemed colleague, Andrea.”

— With reports from RBR+TVBR West Coast Bureau

On February 1, KPCQ-AM celebrated its fourth birthday under the ownership of its current licensee.

But, it may not have future birthdays, thanks to the FCC and its new Media Bureau Chief, Holly Saurer. That’s because a Hearing Designation Order and Notice of Opportunity for Hearing has been dispatched to the station’s owner.

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In May 2020, Michael Stapleford was engaged in several transactions, each of which involved radio station sales.

Now, Stapleford-run Magnum Broadcasting has agreed to buy a low-power television station serving Key West, Fla. — a sign that he wishes to operate a multimedia business serving the Florida Keys.

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The 2022 Radio Mercury Awards nomination window is officially open.

Eighteen trophies will be awarded in 14 categories, and the final round judges have the option to award a Best of Show winner. All categories are eligible to compete for Best of Show. The Radio Mercury Awards will also bring back prize monies for all award winners.

In 2022, a classic Radio Mercury Awards category, “Creative Use of Sound Design,” is back on the slate and will recognize radio/audio work that utilizes sound design to creatively communicate its message. The Radio Mercury Awards is also expanding the campaign category with “Creative Radio Campaign by a Radio Station or Group,” which will award two winners to radio station-produced campaigns.

In addition, the Student-Produced Radio Commercial category has been brought back this year. Entries into this category are free for students.

The Call for Entry deadline is Wednesday, April 6. Finalists for the show will be announced in mid-May, and winners will be announced at the live Radio Mercury Awards, June 9 at Sony Hall in New York.

For more information regarding entry categories, guidelines, entry fees and deadlines, click here.

The NAB’s Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to “a broadcaster who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the American broadcasting industry.”

The 2022 recipient of the DSA: the man who led the NAB until his retirement at the end of 2021.

Former President/CEO and retired Senator Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) will join the ranks of Jim Henson, Alan Alda, Robin Roberts, Bob Schieffer, Michael J. Fox, Mary Tyler Moore, Ronald Reagan, Edward R. Murrow, Bob Hope, Walter Cronkite and Oprah Winfrey by receiving the honor from the organization he successfully ran for 12 years.

It is the NAB’s highest honor, and he’ll receive it during the 2022 NAB Show welcome session scheduled for April 25, in Las Vegas.

During his tenure, NAB played a pivotal role on a number of significant issues affecting broadcasters. This explains the decision to award Smith with the DSA. Under his tenure, the FCC’s broadcast television spectrum incentive auction transpired, along with the preservation and modernization of the music licensing and copyright system, the ongoing transition to the NEXTGEN TV transmission standard, reviews of media ownership rules and the increased dominance of tech platforms in the advertising marketplace.

“As the head of NAB for more than a decade, Gordon was instrumental in advancing our agenda to help radio and television stations thrive,” NAB President/CEO Curtis LeGeyt said. “Gordon’s leadership, dedication and political acumen have enabled broadcasters to continue serving their local communities in ways no other medium can. It is an honor to present him with the Distinguished Service Award in recognition of the immense impact he has left on broadcasting in our country and around the world.”

With the release of its fourth-quarter 2021 financial results, Beasley Media Group is on a strong path toward returning to its 2019 growth initiatives. Growth across its Top Four advertising categories was strong, with significant year-over-year growth.

But, how was Automotive? Despite car and truck supply chain concerns, the dollars are up — with trends pointing to a robust third quarter.

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The first of the broadcast media industry quarterly earnings reports has arrived. And, for those in the radio business, C-Suite leaders may not be so pleased to see the Q4 2021 fiscal health report for Beasley Media Group.

While net revenue increased by 3.2%, a 66.8% decline in operating income was registered by the owner of radio stations and an Overwatch League eSports franchise. As such, Beasley’s net income declined by two cents per share from Q4 2020.

Why? Unfair comps that require a look to two years ago are in order.

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He’s the creator of the world’s first stereophone. Now, audiophiles and broadcasting industry professionals are paying tribute to the musician, inventor and entrepreneur who in 1953 launched an electronics company originally designed as a TV rental business for hospitals.

John C. Koss, the founder and Chairman of Koss Corporation, died on December 21, 2021. He was 91 years old. News of death first became widely known last week.

Five years after launching his business, Koss, at the age of 28, teamed with business partner Martin Lange Jr., by introducing personal listening to the world.

How so? They developed the world’s first high fidelity “Stereophone.” This product, the SP/3 Stereophone, sparked the creation of the global stereo headphone industry. 

Today, Koss remains a family-run operation, with Michael J. Koss serving as Chairman/CEO. “Dad loved music and the experience of a live performance,” he said. “Like many legendary entrepreneurs, our founder channeled his passion to create a revolutionary product. Today, it’s clear that his innovation changed the way the world listens to music.” 

After introducing the SP/3 Stereophone, Koss developed the Pro/4 Series, which became a recording industry standard — and the official headphones of Air Force One. He went on to help standardize the plug and headphone jack we take for granted today.

By the 1980s, an era when the SONY Walkman dominated personal listening, John Koss pushed his company to develop “portable” headphones for on-the-go listening. The result was the Koss Porta Pro, a collapsible headphone that remains available today.

Outside of Koss Corporation, John Koss was important to Radio. In the 1970s, he purchased the original Classical WFMR-FM 96.5 in Milwaukee, saving the format in the market.  He owned the facility until 1983; today it is WKLH. The sale prompted WFMR’s call sign and format relocation to 98.3 MHz.

Citing increased advertiser demand and its desire to achieve more growth as “a streaming-first, data-driven media company,” VIZIO has added two individuals charged with key roles tied to the expansion of its direct-to-device advertising business.

Now serving as VP of Product Management is Oscar “Oz” Lang. He formerly served as the head of product for Adobe’s Advertising Cloud TV business.

Also new to VIZIO is VP of Product Engineering Ben Sullins, most recently SVP of Engineering with SpotX.

Concurrent with their arrival, VIZIO has opened a “Tech Innovation center” in Denver. It is home to 140 of VIZIO’s engineering and tech specialists focused on the innovation of VIZIO’s software, ad products, and entertainment ecosystem.

“Since our IPO last year, we have been heavily investing in engineering and software to scale our Platform+ operations and build out our in-house ad tech team,” said David Rudnick, Senior Vice President of Product Engineering at VIZIO. “This investment will not only provide unique opportunities and measurable outcomes for advertisers, but it also helps us drive better consumer experiences.”

He continued, “Consumers are rapidly shifting to the Smart TV experience, and because we own the hardware, software, and data, we are able to innovate in ways that others can’t. With continued momentum on the Platform+ side of our business, which is a function of better personalization and engagement on SmartCast, we are driving interest with brands, advertisers and content partners to work with VIZIO.”

VIZIO Ads’ direct-to-device offering has doubled the number of participating unique brands and tripled its average revenue per advertiser in the last year. Additionally, VIZIO Ads’ 2022 upfront commitments exceeded $100 million, a fourfold increase over 2021, including enterprise-level buys from six major agency holding companies and encompassing a number of top advertising categories in traditional TV such as automotive, insurance and retail.

LED video processing products manufacturer Brompton Technology has moved forward with the beta release of its Tessera v3.3 software features, a move designed to optimize the performance of LED panels to further streamline professional workflows.

New features include Operating Modes, and Per-Batch PureTone.

Additionally, the Tessera SX40 and S8 now have a preset to support the ACES AP1 color space, as used by ACEScg.

Lastly, in collaboration with Mo-Sys, Brompton has added support for the company’s StarTracker camera tracking system when using panels fitted with the Tessera R2 or Brompton’s new Tessera R2+ and an SX40 or S8 processor with Frame Remapping.

The new Tessera R2+ receiver card has the same SO-DIMM form-factor as the R2. R2+ is backwards-compatible with all existing R2-based panel designs, but brings additional data pins and capability to support new LED drivers.

Operating Modes enables a single panel type to have multiple Operating Modes, each with a slightly different configuration for the panel. Different Operating Modes can therefore prioritize different aspects of visual performance, such as maximum frame rate, low brightness performance, bit depth or effective refresh rate, among others.

Additional Operating Modes can be created by Brompton engineers working closely with the panel manufacturers. Once activated, users can switch panels between Operating Modes via the processor, depending on the requirement of each event or project.

In the new Tessera v3.3 software PureTone has been extended to allow each individual batch of panels to be measured separately to generate a PureTone profile specific to that batch. To create a profile, a PureTone profiling kit is required, which incorporates a sensitive colorimeter. A single LED panel is measured within a dark room to generate the profile, which can then be used with all the panels in that particular batch.

Meanwhile, the Tessera SX40 and S8 now have a preset to support the ACES AP1 primaries, used by the ACEScg color space that is increasingly the choice of CG artists. This avoids the need for a color space conversion in the source device.

ACES AP1 will be automatically recognized by the processor when received over HDMI 2.0, or alternatively, may be manually selected on the processor. The user can also reference the ACES AP1 color gamut within Brompton’s dynamic calibration tools.

WorldCast Systems, the supplier of advanced broadcast products, is pleased to announce “the further evolution” of its APTmpX product, a “non-destructive” MPX/composite compression algorithm.

Despite the advent of the internet and digital broadcasting standards, FM remains the world’s most popular transmission format and a central technology in radio broadcasters’ efforts to maximize their reach and audience. As a result, new technologies have had to be created to enable an FM-centric workflow to also work for internet delivery.

The initial version of APTmpX, launched in October 2020, offered FM broadcasters access to high quality signal compression for the resulting centralized FM MPX/Composite transmission, solving the difficulty of maintaining both a high quality and a cost-effective transmission.

This provided a solution in the <900kbps region. The latest release of APTmpX takes this even further. Following optimization by Worldcast engineers, three new versions are available that offer new levels of compression at 600, 400 or 300kbps network bandwidth. This means the composite signal can now directly be transported with non-destructive compression from 600kbps down to 300kbps.

The use of APTmpX confers several advantages. Since the majority of composite equipment at transmitter sites is eliminated with a centrally generated MPX/composite signal, besides the obvious network savings, several broadcasters have already managed to save hardware costs with APTmpX. Furthermore, the company says, APTmpX combines signal fidelity with the best latency performance and makes it easier than ever to guarantee a consistent sonic signature across the transmitter network.

“Thanks to its low complexity and easy integration, APTmpX has already proven itself as the ultimate solution to enable a 100% digital transmission chain, bridging the transition from digital studios to digital transmitters,” said Gregory Mercier, Director of Product Marketing at WorldCast Systems. “With these new versions, we bring its power to a whole new section of the market, allowing broadcasters in areas of poor bandwidth penetration to deliver stunning audio quality to their audiences no matter what they are listening on.”

It’s known worldwide as a cloud-based multi-tenant platform provider.

At the end of this month, it will demonstrate how, in its view, “easy it is” to implement feature-rich OTT content delivery using the MwareTV platform to mobile operators, telcos and ISPs.

MwareTV will be getting a spotlight at Mobile World Congress, which begins February 28 in Barcelona and concludes March 3.

Mware TV can be found in Hall 5, stand 5J66. “Showcasing the platforms versatility, each visitor will be able to leave with a fully branded proof of concept service,” the company says.

“As an established, cloud-based content platform, MwareTV is able to add services very quickly, anywhere in the world. Users are presented with powerful functionality from content acquisition through delivery to white label Android and Apple apps, all simply customised and branded. Highly tailored and fully branded services can typically be online within four weeks.”

New at MWC2022 will be the latest version of the mobile apps, designed to provide a more enriched user-experience. “MwareTV handles all aspects of delivery, meaning ISPs and telcos do not need to delve into the technology of streaming: simply set quality of service expectations. In many markets, MwareTV can also supply licensed content for multiple channels and services, speeding still further the time to revenue.”

The cloud hosted MwareTV service is based on a “pay as you grow” concept, which means there are no high up-front costs. “As part of the proof of concept, MwareTV will supply a full costing calculator that provides a comprehensive forecast of the launch and running costs of any new service, leading to full investment transparency and profitability predictions. For telcos and ISPs, the ease of operation, ready to launch apps and financial transparency removes the significant barriers to entry and makes new services instantly competitive.”

The fourth-quarter earnings calendar for broadcast media companies is coalescing, and the latest company to confirm when it is sharing its results is The E.W. Scripps Co.

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Some 20 miles to the northwest of downtown Atlanta is town of Powder Springs, Ga. It is home to an AM radio station that spent much of January off the air, and has been owned by a Vietnamese-American media and entertainment figure for nearly 8 years.

He’s now opting to sell the facility, and at a fraction of the price he paid for it.

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Connected TV advertising and measurement platform Innovid has struck a deal to acquire television measurement company TVSquared.

The acquisition creates what Innovid calls “an end-to-end, independent TV measurement alternative that brings together streaming and linear television.”

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Until its merger with Meredith Corporation, Atlanta-headquartered Gray Television didn’t own a broadcast TV station in its home market.

With the FCC‘s blessing, it will be adding a third over-the-air station to its collection in The A.

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It is designed “to elevate the visibility of diverse-owned media companies with advertisers and agencies.”

Introducing the Diverse Media Equity program, courtesy of the nation’s dominant audience measurement and consumer psychographics data provider.

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