Radio+Television Business Report

On November 24, three men were convicted of murder Wednesday in the February 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man on a leisurely run through a residential community near Brunswick, Ga. The trio of strangers, all of whom are Caucasian, trapped Arbery on a quiet street and, subsequently, used a shotgun to kill him.

The case drew national attention and condemnation for its racial overtones. Locally, a radio element surfaced that Media Services Group Managing Director Eddie Esserman — himself a licensee in the Brunswick area — believes is overlooked.

It involves a Talk radio station owned by iHeartMedia.

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The future of a 630-watt FM radio station atop Mt. Hunsack, serving Somerset County, Pa., is now a bit clearer, thanks to a two-page Termination Order released Wednesday (12/1) by the FCC‘s Administrative Law Judge.

The station’s owner, convicted of a felony and multiple misdemeanors under the Pennsylvania Crimes Code and charged with voyeurism and soliciting men to establish rape of a female, can no longer control the facility.

In fact, the owner’s inaction made the decision easy for Jane Halprin.

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Radio Guest Quest, a celebrity guest booking service for radio stations, is moving its affiliate and advertising sales operations to Gen Media Partners’ G Accelerate Networks.

The announcement was made by Jim Higgins, President and Chief Executive Officer of G Accelerate Networks; and Art Sears, Founder and Host of Radio Guest Quest, and a former morning show executive producer.

“Art and Radio Guest Quest are well known across the industry for securing and delivering interviews with marquee-status celebrities and delivering personalized services, including one-on-one communications with radio show producers,” Higgins said. “We’re excited that Radio Guest Quest is joining G Accelerate Networks, as we build out our portfolio of top-quality programs and services for radio stations.”

Sears added, “I have worked with Jim in the past and signing with him and G Accelerate Networks was an easy decision. Jim is a consummate network radio executive who knows how to build an exceptional team that understands what stations need and what advertisers want.

Sears also notes that, as he produced radio morning shows “for years and saw the need for someone to help book guests,” the business need was clear. “With meetings and early hours, it’s difficult for a producer to find the time to book guests,” he said. “I also find that publicists respond more readily to one email that can satisfy all their radio needs, rather than individual requests from stations across the country.”

Celebrity guests previously booked by Radio Guest Quest for radio station interviews include Ron Howard, Kevin Costner, Spike Lee, Chance the Rapper, Steve Martin, LeAnn Rimes, and Anderson Cooper.

NEW YORK — Univision Communications has teamed with IPG’s media agency Mediahub in forging a partnership with EDO Inc. and datafuelX — an arrangement Univision says will allow it “to leverage proprietary consumer behavior data to predict engagement performance for advertiser campaigns across Univision’s linear networks.”

It’s a first-of-its-kind partnership, says Univision — one that allows the multimedia company serving Spanish-speaking audiences across the U.S. “to demonstrate the potential for true data-driven media planning and value for marketers.”

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National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE), the global business association for content producers, distributors, streamers and buyers across all platforms, has unveiled the recipients for its 2022 Iris Awards. 

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NEW YORK — With the transition in power from Vince Sadusky to Wade Davis at Univision Communications in January 2021, a veteran sales executive exited the multimedia company devoted to serving U.S. Hispanic consumers.

Now, he’s resurfaced at one of the fastest growing competitors to Univision.

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Say goodbye to the logo accompanying this story, and to the “MDP” stock symbol from our daily Wall Street Report.

Meredith Corporation as you knew it is now another faded company of broadcast media’s past, as Gray Television on Wednesday completed its $2.8 billion merger and subsequent spin-off of its non-local broadcast television assets to the Barry Diller-led IAC.

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The last remaining properties tied to Red River Broadcast Co. have been spun, in a transaction that saw Kalil & Co. serve as the exclusive broker in the transaction signed off by Kathy Lau and John Exline.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the first time since 1992, reauthorization of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) could be at hand.

A bill introduced Wednesday by the Senate Commerce Committee’s Ranking Member and the top Republican on the House Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband would do so. And, the legislation would also reform NTIA’s role in a way.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Russell Senate Office Building is just a one-mile walk from the FCC’s new headquarters. Yet, the path for Gigi Sohn in earning the role of a Democratic Commissioner at the agency may be as wide as the Anacostia River.

With vocal support from some and vehement opposition from others, Sohn’s selection by President Biden to fill out the FCC has become one of the most controversial in modern times. On Wednesday, Senate Commerce Committee Members scrutinized Sohn, along with three other nominees for governmental agencies.

While there were some fireworks, the midday session was as emblematic of a Capitol Hill nomination hearing.

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NEW YORK — The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM), in conjunction with Project X Institute’s Jon Watts and Alan Wolk of TVREV, have announced the development of a “Guide to Converged TV Measurement Providers.”

Upon completion in early 2022, the guide seeks to provide a landscape of the entire Converged TV measurement ecosystem in the U.S, as well as a comparative analysis of the companies who are conducting converged TV audience measurement.

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It uses a 250-watt FM translator covering much of the Huntsville, Ala., metropolitan area, even parts of Decatur.

Soon, it will no longer be the home of an iHeartMedia “ALT”-branded modern rock presentation relaying broadcasts found on the HD3 signal of Class C2 WQRT-FM “100.3 The River.”

That’s because the FM translator’s licensee is selling the facility to Educational Media Foundation.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Outside, the weather couldn’t be more perfect for the first day of December, with bright sun and temperatures in the mid 50s.

Inside the Russell Senate Office Building on the north side of Capitol Hill, things couldn’t be sunnier for acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who is one step closer to having the “acting” title removed from her business cards.

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He was a husband, a father, and a “Poppy.” And, he was the founder and President of the Daystar Television Network, a faith-based operation seen on owned-and-operated stations across the U.S. and a channel nationally distributed on Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network. In Canada, it is available on Bell TV.

Marcus Lamb has passed away at the age of 64.

The cause of death: COVID-19.

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In May, an African American media mogul whose holdings include The Weather Channel, Entertainment Studios and a collection of broadcast television stations including Hawaii’s ABC affiliate sued one of the world’s biggest quick-service restaurant companies for racial discrimination.

It was a whopping $10 billion lawsuit, filed in response to what was perceived as an unacceptable level of advertising commitment the QSR giant has given to his broadcast and cable properties.

On Tuesday (11/30), U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin, who is based in Los Angeles, ruled on the matter. And, it’s a big win for McDonald’s.

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Kantar’s BVS solution, the ad verification business of the global data-driven analytics and brand consulting company, has been sold.

The buyer is a data platform known for connecting and powering cross-screen advertising.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

With the addition, Advocado says it now has “a completely integrated ad verification, attribution and campaign coordination platform, allowing advertisers, media organizations and publishers to more efficiently track and measure and amplify the impact of their ads.”

It’s a notable move for Advocado, which recently purchased a portfolio of 47 patents that includes the advanced watermarking technology from VEIL. Kantar licenses this for its BVS ad verification business.

Advocado and Kantar plan to work together to explore new offerings based on the data
and analytical capabilities both bring to the table.

As such, Advocado will be integrating Kantar’s BVS employees onto its team.

“We have been innovating in the ad tech space since 2017 and this consolidation gives us the scale and ability to challenge ‘big tech,’ which has been unrightfully claiming ownership over advertiser and consumer data,” said Brian Handrigan, Advocado’s co-founder and CEO. “By combining our next-gen attribution algorithm with the BVS ad detection data, first-party web tracking tag and other sources, our customers will benefit from an accurate, independent assessment of performance across broadcast TV, radio and digital platforms like Connected TV and streaming audio.”

With the arrangement, Advocado says it is now empowered to verify the quality of broadcast ad detection data directly to the source in real-time for use in cross-media attribution, instant campaign coordination, and other use cases.

The consolidation, says Advocado, allows it to expand its broadcast TV and radio monitoring network footprint and to integrate Connected TV/OTT and audio ad verification. This, it says, allows advertisers “to get unified video and audio ad verification and integrated universal attribution from a trusted source without giving their valuable customer journey data away to big tech.”

BVS VP Rich Radzik, who will be joining the Advocado team as part of the acquisition, added, “I have never been more excited about the future of BVS and the synergistic opportunities with Advocado. With Advocado’s digital and technical expertise we will be able to launch new innovations that will further drive growth for our client partners.”

If there’s one early hallmark of the FCC under acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, it is the Media Bureau’s seemingly aggressive approach to enforcing the Commission’s rules on the timely filing of a broadcast station’s TV issues/programs lists.

Over 2021, forfeiture notices in the thousands of dollars have been issued right and left by the Bureau. Now, two have been issued to a Mississippi licensee who may have to fork over a total of $38,000 in fines.

The stations involved aren’t even full-power facilities.

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David Andrews is one of four shareholders in Hometown Communications LLC, the licensee of 1,000-watt Class C WIRY-AM, or “wiry,” in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

He’s also the station’s General Manager and News Director, and on the latest InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM, Andrews shares with the world what it’s like to crank out tunes like “In the Year 2525” with a live, local host and community-focused advertising on a chilly autumn morning in late 2021.

Andrews also shares how the pandemic has proven to be a challenge as a new owner, as the Canadian dollar — until March 2020 — was a key retail driver in Clinton County, N.Y., just 20 minutes to the south of the New York/Québec border.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: David Andrews” on Spreaker.

Near the town of Oak Ridge, Tenn., is an AM radio station with a FM translator that until now has been licensed to Blount Broadcasting Corp.

That entity has just agreed to a sale of the facilities.

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