Radio+Television Business Report

Can we disagree and still love each other at Thanksgiving? For public speaking coach and veteran PR professional Rosemary Ravinal, the answer is yes. "If you decide to share the holiday table with people with whom you deeply disagree, it’s worth following some ground rules of diplomacy and civility," she shares in this column.

According to a new analysis based on latest advertising spend data from 100 markets worldwide, plus projections of advertising investment patterns based on more than 2 million data points, some 22.1% of dollars spent on ads outside of China is paid to Google.

The CEO, CFO and EVP of Investor Relations at NYSE-traded radio station owner and digital local media company Townsquare Media will be participating in two key upcoming institutional investor affairs in Boca Raton, Fla., following the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Starting December 2, the ABC and CW affiliates serving Western Tennessee will have a new News Director. And it is a news veteran who was previously Managing Director of "CNTV" in Central Florida.

John Fredericks, the Virginia-based conservative talk show host whose show can be heard on stations across the south and in the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, markets, is growing his regional radio station stable by agreeing to purchase a group of West Virginia properties.

A Class C3 FM presently home to a Classic Country format simulcast on W262AG, explaining the "JAX Country 100.3" branding, is being sold. When the deal is done, the buyer will have no less than six brands superserving Spanish-speaking and Latino audiences in the Jacksonville market.

It presents itself as a faith-based network dedicated to spreading the word of Christ in an omnichannel way across the globe. Founded by Marcus Lamb in 1993, Daystar TV is now dealing with an ugly family feud of sorts — one that involves allegations of abuse from the founder's son, who has been ousted from the organization as a result of his claims.

In a move that the Comcast unit believes will "revolutionize live sports coverage," NBCUniversal has teamed up with Walmart to launch a new shoppable experiences opportunity that brings unique measurement capabilities to the owner of the Peacock OTT platform, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, and NBC Owned Stations.

The owner of "Hot 97" and WBLS in New York has officially paid Emmis Communications for its stake in what is publicly traded MediaCo Holding Co., controlled by Standard Media — the entity that failed to acquire TEGNA that is led by Soohyung Kim.

The Program Director and afternoon host on "Eagle 98.1" in Baton Rouge has earned a promotion. Introducing the new Operations Manager for Guaranty Media's group of radio stations in the Louisiana state capital of Baton Rouge.

Accessible emergency information requirements are at the heart of a waiver extension request that has been made alongside a Petition for Rulemaking submitted by the NAB with the FCC, an action designed to clarify rules pertaining to aural representations of visual, non-textual content such as radar maps and other graphics on a secondary audio channel.

Canadian regulatory policy regarding AM/FM "radio processes" have been under fire from fiscally challenged publicly traded companies that have been selling properties or, in some cases, shutting down stations altogether. It now appears the CRTC is ready to consider a "modernization of radio processes."

From technological innovations that could impact the future of local TV to the FCC under forthcoming Chairman Brendan Carr, Deutsche Bank Director of Equity Research Ben Soff shared the Wall Street viewpoint on how linear TV could benefit during a TVB Executive Summit session held Thursday. This podcast offers coverage of that discussion.

She's presently the Chief of the FCC's Media Bureau and may not be in the role come January 21. Nevertheless, Holly Saurer today is an influencer when it comes to broadcast media regulatory policy, and that likely explains why the head of the LPTV Broadcasters Association last week met with her and key colleagues to discuss the group's priorities.

How valued is artificial intelligence to The E.W. Scripps Company? The publicly traded company has put into place a leadership team the company says will "guide the acceleration of the company’s artificial intelligence strategy" in the coming months.

Brendan Carr has issued a formal missive to the CEOs of Meta, Alphabet Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft seeking an explanation as to how their "NewsGuard" works and how it is squelching viewpoints, resulting in "censorship." It sends a clear message that the forthcoming FCC Chairman has zero tolerance for what he views as free speech impediments.

Rogers Sports & Media is selling to My Broadcasting Corp. its 26kw Class B Adult Contemporary CKOT-FM "Easy 101.3" — today modeled largely after Rogers flagship CHFI-FM in Toronto — and 7.8kw Class B CJDL-FM "Country 107.3" in Tillsonburg, Ont. Both stations reach London, Ont. Also being sold is an Ottawa rimshot FM.

The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten TV and Spot Ten Cable reports have been released by the iHeartMedia-owned ad tracking service, and for the week ending November 24, two big brick-and-mortar retailers each seeking to grow their online sales were the spot play leaders at broadcast TV.

The Media Bureau is reminding prospective applicants of an NCETV filing window, which opens a week from Wednesday. The window will be open for a week, and because of this filing opportunity a temporary application freeze will commence on December 3, the FCC says.

In a transaction RBR+TVBR first reported on November 14, WMAY-AM & FM and WNNS-FM & WQLZ-FM in the Springfield, Ill., market are being sold by Mid-West Family Broadcasting to Woodward Communications Inc. Details regarding the purchase price have now come to light, thanks to the filing of an asset purchase agreement with the FCC for regulatory approval.