Radio+Television Business Report

DAYTON, OHIO — Cox Media Group has moved forward with the naming of Rob Rohr’s successor as VP/GM of its “CMG Ohio” unit, comprised of the radio and television properties serving the Gem City and its surrounding communities.

Taking the role is 26-year company veteran Darren Moore.

Effective today, he’ll oversee all CMG Ohio operations including news, programming, sales, digital, engineering, production and community affairs for dominant CBS affiliate WHIO-7, and for three radio brands: Classic Hits “95.3 and 101.1 The Eagle,” News/Talk WHIO-AM & FM, and market-leading WHKO-FM, branded as “K99.1 New Country.”

Moore has spent many years in Pittsburgh, where he began his career at CMG as a WPXI-11 intern in 1996. After that experience, he took an Account Executive role at WAXN-64 in Charlotte, which had just gone on the air. He later returned to the ‘Burgh, serving as NSM of WPXI and two other stations, WJAC-6 in Johnstown, Pa., and WTOV-9 in Wheeling, W. Va. Today, WJAC and WTOV are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Moore would then rise to LSM and, ultimately, Director of Sales at WPXI.

“Darren’s passion for people, the broadcasting industry and CMG is infectious and inspiring,’ said Paul Curran, EVP of Television at CMG. “His strong track record of forging internal and external relationships will make a positive impact on our Dayton operations and in the Dayton community. I look forward to watching him excel in this new role as our approach to broadcasting in Dayton continues to evolve.”

Moore added, “I am honored to join the outstanding broadcasters at CMG Ohio, home to some of the most iconic TV and radio brands in the entire industry. I can’t wait to start working with the Dayton team, further enhancing our award-winning brands, serving our customers and viewers, and partnering with the local Miami Valley community.”

In May 2018, the Media Bureau Policy Division’s Senior Deputy Chief denied a petition filed by Gray Television concerning a CBS-affiliated UHF station and its absence on both DISH Network or DirecTV in several towns within a half-hour drive of the property’s city of license.

Steven Broeckaert, the division leader, made the decision on the grounds that the resulting carriage obligation “is not technically and economically feasible for each of the satellite carriers, and would effectively circumvent Section 338(c)(1).”

One month later, Gray filed an Application for Review of the Memorandum Opinion and Order. Now, nearly four years after the FCC’s inaction on the matter, Gray has asked that the petition be dismissed.

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At-home production and REMI — an acronym that non-tech leaders may not know — have grown in importance over the last several years. It was only accelerated by the pandemic. Thus, having Jim Jachetta, EVP/Chief Technology Officer of VidOvation, as Adam R Jacobson’s guest on the latest InFOCUS Podcast couldn’t be timelier.

Jachetta shares some of the “5 Essential Elements of At-Home Live Remote Production Workflows and discusses how local news organizations can best take advantage of this.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Jim Jachetta, VidOvation” on Spreaker.

As of today, the Local Radio Freedom Act has the support of 208 House representatives and 24 Senators. While that’s a sign that the resolution has strong support on Capitol Hill, there’s no guarantee that it will get passed by the House or Senate.

Here’s how you can led your support to the LRFA.

If your Congressional representatives are not on this list, we strongly encourage that you take a few minutes and ask them to join in supporting the act. And, if they have already signed on, it wouldn’t hurt to remember what your mother taught you: Say thank you.

Here is a form provided by the NAB that makes it easy to do both. It encourages those in Congress who have yet to add their name to the act to do so and it says thank you to those who have already done that. How easy can that be?

As a reminder, here is a list of the current congressional supporters of the Local Radio Freedom Act.

Click here and do your part for the Local Radio Freedom Act. Your e-mail could be the one that helps enact the Local Radio Freedom Act.

Nexstar Media Inc. has upped a pair of experienced broadcast leaders and current Nexstar executives to the respective roles of VP/GM to the company’s broadcast and digital operations in Peoria, Ill., and in Columbus, Ga.

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It’s a company offering radio stations products and services products and services designed to increase sales, improve ratings and lower expenses for barter that’s sister to a radio programming syndicator.

As of today, both entities have a new COO. And, it is a 30-year veteran of network radio sales and operations.

Taking the Chief Operating Officer role at Sun & Fun Media and Key Networks is Dennis Green.

He rises from the role of Chief Revenue Officer.

Green will continue to report to Rob Koblasz, Founder and Chief Executive
Officer of Sun & Fun Media and Key Networks and will continue to be based in New
York.

Green joined Sun & Fun Media as Chief Revenue Officer in May 2018 and added Chief
Revenue Officer responsibilities for Key Networks upon the network’s launch in March
2019.

In his new role, Green will oversee operations for Sun & Fun Media’s products
and services for barter to radio and for Key Networks’ portfolio of nationally syndicated
programming and services including Bloomberg Radio, The O’Reilly Update With Bill
O’Reilly, The O’Reilly Update – Morning Edition, Shawn Parr’s Across the Country,
Virtual Jock and other programs.  “Dennis is one of the hardest working people in radio, and we are very pleased to reward his efforts with this much-deserved promotion,” Koblasz said.

Green added, “I’ve been fortunate in my career to work with amazing talent and provide
programming and services for stations. Rob Koblasz gave me an opportunity to build
upon the success at Sun & Fun and to start Key Networks … Thank you to the best-in-class staff we have assembled to help lead the charge to provide best-in-class products and services to affiliates around the country. The best is yet to come.”

Prior to joining Sun & Fun Media and Key Networks, Dennis spent 22 years at Westwood One, where he departed as SVP of Affiliate Sales and Broadcast Operations rising from other affiliate sales roles.

Earlier in his career, Green served as Head of Multimedia Syndication for Bloomberg.

Audience engagement and sales intelligence tech firm Futuri has expanded its leadership team by welcoming a Chief Strategy Officer and, concurrently, a Chief Revenue Officer.

The two individuals are taking roles Futuri says are designed to support its growth and expansion initiatives.

Taking the Chief Strategy Officer role is Tracy Gilliam. In this role, Gilliam will focus on M&A and strategic growth, as well as further developing Futuri’s products and customer experience specialists.

Gilliam is one of Futuri’s founding members, thanks to the company’s acquisition of a sales intelligence system she launched in 2015, TopLine Matters.

The product is now known as TopLine.

Gilliam’s resume includes role as General Sales Manager for CBS Radio in Los Angeles, and as a VP/Market Manager for Clear Channel Communications, today known as iHeartMedia.

Meanwhile, Todd Storch has been named Chief Revenue Officer. Storch will be responsible for driving Futuri’s continued revenue growth through aligned sales and marketing go-to-market strategies and operational plans for profitable growth. He brings more than 25 years of executive business management experience to Futuri, having held CEO roles at Kindrid and Five Star Global, and serving as SVP/Strategic Initiatives at Ministry Brands. He is also a former VP/senior consultant at The Center for Sales Strategy.

Storch also co-founded Taylor’s Gift Foundation, a non-profit organization providing grief support to organ donor families. It was created after the loss of his oldest daughter, Taylor.

Storch and Gilliam report to Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig.

On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin gave a big win — or so it seemed — to one of the world’s biggest Quick Service Restaurant brands, McDonald’s.

In a six-page order, Olguin moved forward with McDonald’s Corporation’s Motion to Dismiss a racial discrimination case filed against the company by the Byron Allen-led Entertainment Studios Networks Inc. But, the judge left the door open for ES to file a Second Amended Complaint.

Allen’s team moved forward with doing so. A second Motion to Dismiss was filed by McDonald’s attorneys. Olguin has now denied that second motion.

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It’s known across the radio industry for its compliance and content distribution software that provides stations products designed to reach total ad accountability.

Now, it is joining a portfolio of media companies including vCreative and Counterpoint Software.

In an announcement released Tuesday (1/25), Banyan Software Inc. revealed that it has purchased Mr. Master Inc.

Terms of the deal, including the price, were not disclosed.

However, Banyan notes that it “employs a decentralized management philosophy, allowing Mr. Master to operate independently and continue the successful practices that led to Banyan’s acquisition interest.”

Mr. Master products include Automation Import Manager (AIM) software, which processes more than 1 million spots each week in addition to short and long-form programming for the radio industry.

“The Mr. Master team has deep, network radio software expertise and has spent over two
decades developing market leading products that serve the unique needs of its long-standing customers,” said David Berkal, CEO of Banyan Software. “We are excited to welcome Mr. Master into the Banyan family of companies and look forward to supporting the company’s future growth in the coming years.”

Mr. Master was founded by President Stu Jacobs. He commented, “We have a great team and product that radio has embraced as its go-to traffic and production workflow solution and partnering with Banyan marks an exciting new chapter in our journey.”

Jacobs is remaining in his role as CEO and will work alongside Banyan.

Mr. Master’s client roster includes iHeartMedia, Cumulus Media, Townsquare Media, Audacy Inc. and Cox Media Group.

As of today, the U.S. television industry has “one-stop access” to patents that are essential to the next generation broadcast standard developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).

Now available: the ATSC 3.0 Patent Portfolio License, courtesy of MPEG LA.

“As a convenience to ATSC 3.0 implementers and the potential that ATSC 3.0 brings to market, our ATSC 3.0 License will continue MPEG LA’s rich and reliable tradition of addressing the market’s need for transactional efficiency and predictability in accessing necessary intellectual property rights owned by many different organizations under a single license,” says MPEG LA President/CEO Larry Horn. “We are especially proud to be joined in this effort by leading ATSC 3.0 developers from all over the world.”

The initial patent owners to MPEG LA’s ATSC 3.0 License are CableTelevision Laboratories, Inc.; Cerinet USA Inc.; Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC), part of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation; Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.; Koninklijke KPN N.V.; Koninklijke Philips N.V.; NEC Corporation; Nippon Hoso Kyokai; ONE Media, LLC; Panasonic Corporation; Shanghai National Engineering Research Center of Digital Television Co., Ltd (NERC-DTV); and Sun Patent Trust.

ONE Media, the joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group  and Coherent Logix and one of the primary architects of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, applauded the formation of the ATSC 3.0 Patent Pool by MPEG LA. As ONE Media sees it, “formation of the pool will dramatically simplify the efficient licensing of the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology in multiple-receive devices, easing the distribution and deployment process.”

Patent pools provide for a consortium of companies agreeing to combine related intellectual property and offer “one-stop licensing” to vendors that want to include the technology in their equipment for sale to the public. MPEG LA is a pioneer in the formation and management of these types of pools, ONE Media notes. It adds that ATSC 3.0 is an ideal candidate for such pooling. Multiple companies have “standard essential patents” necessary for vendors to offer the advanced services in their equipment, ONE Media notes.

The ATSC 3.0 Patent Portfolio License and a summary of the License terms may be obtained here.

Comcast and Team Gleason have partnered to drive inclusive innovation to improve the independence and quality of life for people with physical and speech disabilities, including those living with ALS.

Together, Comcast and Team Gleason are actively engaging with people with ALS (pALS) and caregivers, as well as preeminent clinicians, technologists and assistive technology partners to define and develop accessible, empowering experiences — from TV control to smart home solutions, among other needs.

Specifically, the companies are working together on the latest evolution of Comcast’s Xfinity Adaptive Remote.

The Adaptive Remote, first launched in 2019, is a web-based remote control for Xfinity X1 and Xfinity Flex. It works on any computer, smartphone or tablet by connecting with the assistive devices that people with disabilities use, including eye tracking technology, sip and puff technology, switch control technology, and voice control software.

When asked to rank the technologies and experiences that are most important to them, people with ALS and other physical disabilities consistently list controlling their TV and entertainment experience independently.

— Kate Panarese and Suzanne Alford

Video accessibility provider 3Play Media has brought to market Live Professional Captioning, a product release that offers users what it says is the first captioning platform to offer professional captioning by a human with auto captioning failover.

The new platform is the first major technology innovation in the live captioning market in years and revitalizes the industry, which 3Play believes “has historically been reliant on expensive and manual, outdated processes.”

Live video has been increasing in popularity over the last five years, but usage exploded during the pandemic. According to 3Play Media’s most recent State of Captioning survey, 60% of respondents are captioning live video and nearly half are producing up to 1,000 hours of live streaming video annually.

“The need for live captioning has exploded since the Covid-19 pandemic, and we’re not seeing it slow down,” said Josh Miller, co-CEO and co-founder of 3Play Media. “However, companies have had to choose between live automatic captions, which don’t provide the accuracy necessary for accessibility or a quality user experience, and traditional human-produced live captioning, which is historically manual and expensive but provides better accuracy. Our solution is the first to provide the best of both worlds for viewers and publishers – modern, platform-based technology with high accuracy and reliability.”

Chris Antunes, co-CEO and co-founder of 3Play Media, added, “Our new live captioning platform creates captions powered by a trained voice writer and a proprietary web-based tool developed by 3Play Media to accurately recognize a trained voice writer’s speech and produce consistently accurate and reliable captions at scale. When we consider 3Play Media’s proven approach to unsupervised captioner training that requires just a laptop and a microphone, paired with self-service customer event management, we see a solution that redefines live captioning.”

How does the Live Professional Captioning failover functionality work? If a captioner loses connectivity, internet, or power, the 3Play Media auto caption failover will take over within seconds and fail back immediately when the captioner reconnects.

Automation plays a key role in scheduling, too. 3Play Media’s web-based scheduling interface integrates with video and conferencing platforms, including Brightcove, YouTube, and Zoom, and offers RTMP captioning for over 30 different platforms. An overview dashboard helps users manage all live captioning events in one location and see the status of upcoming and in progress events. The scheduler also provides the user with key information pre-event, such as when the event has been matched to a captioner, when the captioner has checked in for an event and, during the event, general transparency around stream and caption status. API event scheduling enables customers to integrate and manage event scheduling in their business systems. Most caption vendors are still scheduling over email and using spreadsheets, which provides little to no visibility into the process or flexibility for content owners.

For more information on Live Professional Captioning, visit https://www.3playmedia.com/services/livecaptioning/

NAB Show will present the fourth annual Product of the Year Awards at the 2022 NAB Show.

The awards, which recognize the most significant and promising new products and technologies exhibited at NAB Show, is scheduled to be announced on Tuesday, April 26 at an awards ceremony and cocktail party held at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The nomination window will open on February 1 and remain open through April 1.

“The return to in-person events, including NAB Show, promises to drive innovation in technology that is transforming the media business,” said NAB SVP and Chief Customer Success Officer Eric Trabb. “We are proud to showcase the prominent companies that are advancing technologies and leading our industry’s future.”

The Product of the Year Award recipients are selected by a panel of industry experts in 15 categories and announced during an awards ceremony. Companies scheduled to exhibit at the 2022 NAB Show are eligible to enter. Nominated products and technologies must be available for delivery in calendar year 2022.

Award categories for the 2022 NAB Show Product of the Year Awards are:

• AI/Machine Learning
• Asset Management, Automation, Playout
• Audio Production, Processing and Networking
• Camera Support, Control and Accessories
• Cameras
• Cloud Computing and Storage
• Digital Signage & Display Systems
• Graphics, Editing, VXF, Switchers
• Hardware Infrastructure
• IT Networking/Infrastructure & Security
• Location/Studio Lighting
• Monitoring and Measuring Tools
• Radio
• Remote Production
• Streaming

More information about the Product of the Year Awards is available at nabshow.com.

CP Communications, known for its products and services for live event productions, has brought to market two new products for those focused on live production needs.

Now available are the Virtual Media Center and FastReturn secure video management platform.

Both products are built around WebRTC – the cloud-based technology used by Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other popular videoconferencing platforms – and have been used at such events as the 2021 editions of the TCS New York City Marathon and Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

“People have been struggling with the latency of live video in remote production workflows,” says Kurt Heitmann, CEO of CP Communications. “Announcers can’t be way behind the action with play-by-play or analysis. With FastReturn, we use the power of the cloud to deliver streaming return video with ultra-low latency, so you can view your live production from anywhere on any device in real time.”

FastReturn’s base package includes five streams and supports up to 100 users, but can be scaled to accommodate additional sources and larger crews. Users access FastReturn content via a web browser on smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops, as well as through Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire Stick digital media players. Content is accessed through a secure client portal (optional custom user pages and templates are also available).

The platform can ingest any H.264 baseline profile RTMP stream, supporting HD resolution and 128kbit stereo audio with bitrates up to 10 MBps with less than 400ms of latency. FastReturn can also spin up edge servers around the world that are geographically closer to the production to provide even lower latency and better reliability.

Available as an ad hoc service, the Virtual Media Center is a browser-based multi-viewer designed for monitoring, not retransmission, of live video signals. Designed for use by remote journalists, it features a variety of multi-viewer templates, from simple 2-box and 4-box displays to more extensive layouts based on the number of signals being shared. Through a browser-based interface, media personnel can select which video feeds to monitor. All templates deliver video feeds with secure, two-step authentication and less than 400ms of latency.

Beyond event coverage, the Virtual Media Center can also help with multi-camera remote production. For example, a two-day commercial shoot was recently produced across three sound stages in Atlanta. The on-site crew used multiple Red House Streaming (RHS) CamSTREAM systems along with the Virtual Media Center to provide the California-based producers and director with real-time, behind-the-scenes views of the production. Developed by CP Communications, RHS CamSTREAM systems are all-in-one, cost-efficient video production and streaming solutions that are quick to configure and deploy for any live production.

“For members of the media who are not able to travel to an event, or for video production crew members who can’t be on site, the Virtual Media Center provides an effective and efficient way to monitor the live action from multiple cameras,” Heitmann explained.

FastReturn is available as a monthly service or can be licensed for specific events. CP can also provide RHS CamSTREAM units and RTMP encoders for rental.

— Brian Galante

The future of a forthcoming FM radio station at 88.1 MHz, serving the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, is now a bit clearer.

A settlement agreement has been signed by one hopeful licensee and the second-largest licensee of radio stations in the U.S. that paves away for the latter organization to build a station at that frequency.

Once complete, Educational Media Foundation will have a Garden Isle outpost.

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Here’s something noteworthy as the push to bring additional financial support to recording artists through new royalty fees for radio continues on Capitol Hill: four co-sponsors of the “American Music Fairness Act” are also co-sponsors of the “Local Radio Freedom Act,” the resolution that as of today has resounding support.

Even so, the musicFIRST Coalition is confident that the “AMFA” will win over Congress.

Or, is that a statement that’s a bit unfair to make as musicFIRST, led by the Congressman who lost his seat in a primary race to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, continues to push “AMFA” — something musicFIRST calls “actual legislation that has a real path to becoming law this year?”

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In the coming year, media and entertainment will continue to evolve quickly, not only reckoning with ongoing trends and disruptions within the industry, but also in its continued response to pandemic-led behavioral changes. That’s according to Deloitte, which has released a 2022 M&E outlook that explores “five attention-grabbing trends.”

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Combining OTT with linear television opportunities is a topic of increased importance for broadcast media companies across North America. That’s why learning how to combine broadcast television with Connected TV for optimal reach, performance and profit is knowledge you’ll certainly use in the coming and years.

The Radio + Television Business Report is pleased to offer insight and intelligence on the power of combining OTT and linear television opportunities on Thursday, February 10 in a webinar presentation in partnership with Compulse.

This live event, scheduled for 2pm Eastern, features a discussion between RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson and Compulse Regional Sales Director Paolo Romanacci.

Romanacci will share the rise of “CTV” — not the Canadian broadcast TV network, but Connected TV. He’ll also provide details on how marketers can use CTV and Over-The-Air TV in combo to reach viewers that “cut the cord” and will never see a spot cable-booked ad. Romanacci will even share a client success story with participants before participant questions will be addressed.

Registration is open now. Save your virtual seat by signing up for this complimentary webinar, presented by Compulse, today!

By law, Dish on January 12 blocked its customers from receiving The CW Network in Louisville, WDRB-41 and WBKI-TV; NBC affiliate WAND-TV in Decatur, Ill.; and all four network affiliates serving tiny Lima, Ohio.

It was the latest retransmission fee impasse to surface in recent years. Now, it has ended. But, there’s chatter that another carriage dispute has just been resolved, hours before a “blackout” by law was to take place.

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In November 2012, Bruce James and his Vermont Broadcast Associates engaged in a transaction that saw the sale of a 100-watt FM serving a small town some 100km south of Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Just over nine years later, the FM is officially defunct. Rather than try to find a buyer, the owner surrendered the station’s license.

Without comment, the FCC on January 19 moved forward with the cancellation of the license of WQJQ-FM 100.1 in Barton, Vt.

The station, which is now “DWQJQ” in the FCC database to reflect the call letters’ deletion, was owned by Capital Broadcasting Associates.

Led by Michael Percy, Capital had been using the station to simulcast WGMT-FM 97.7 in Lyndon, Vt., covering the St. Johnsbury, Vt.-Berlin, N.H. regional area.

No reason is known for Percy’s decision to surrender the property. He paid $25,000 for WQJQ nearly a decade ago.

However, WGMT has partial coverage of the Barton area, which is fairly rural. It is serviced by Vermont Public Co. stations and by Adult Contemporary WMOO-FM in Newport, Vt., while a host of out-of-region stations can be heard, including those from Canada broadcasting mainly in Quebeçois French.

The decision to turn in WQJQ’s license is a rarity, as it is an FM station. In recent months, a host of companies have turned in their AM radio station licenses to the FCC, for various reasons.

Cumulus Media did so in 2020; Beasley Media Group also opted to do so with one South Florida AM. Saga Communications did so in fall 2021. Additionally, in September 2021 KPHP Radio — an entity tied to Donald B. Crawford and Crawford Broadcasting — voluntarily surrendered the KKPZ license to the FCC. The Commission, as such, immediately cancelled the license of KKPZ.

Meanwhile, in May 2021 Fort Myers Broadcasting Company surrendered to the Commission the licenses of WAXA-AM 1200 in Fort Myers, Fla. and WNPL-AM 1460 in Naples, Fla.

Given the focus on the FM translators and not the AMs, and the ability to feed FM translators from a digital multicast signal in HD Radio led Fort Myers Broadcasting Company to simply give up the WAXA and WNPL licensees.

But, in other cases, the programming heard on the deleted station disappeared altogether.

In Vermont, what was heard on WQJQ will continue on the originating station.