Industry News

It’s official. And, a formal announcement was released at 10:15am Eastern on Wednesday (9/15).

The National Association of Broadcasters won’t be moving forward with the NAB Show, a move that also cancels the co-located Sales and Management Television Exchange and the Radio Show, co-produced by the NAB and the Radio Advertising Bureau.

The NAB made the news public via Twitter shortly after 10am Eastern. State Broadcasters Associations’ received an email from the association sharing the news earlier in the day.

Making the announcement to the “NAB Show community” was Chris Brown, the NAB’s EVP/Managing Director of Global Connections and Events.

“For more than a year we have worked tirelessly to bring our industry together safely in Las Vegas at NAB Show,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, the pandemic and surge of the Delta variant has presented unexpected and insurmountable challenges for our global community. As we have always kept the best interest and safety of the industry as our priority, it has become apparent in the face of these challenges that we can no longer effectively host NAB Show or our co-located events in person.”

Brown continued, “We will not move forward with a show that delivers anything less than the excellence our community has come to expect and deserves from us.”

And, while there is disappointment in having to cancel the NAB Show — which was to begin in just 24 days — Brown says the organization “looks forward to converging at the 2022 NAB Show, April 23-27, 2022, to reignite our passion for our business and focus on a bright future ahead.”

LAST-MINUTE UNWIND

With just 24 days to go before the Sales and Management Television Exchange was to begin ahead of the NAB Show in Las Vegas, the organization has called off the conference. The decision comes following participation pullouts from such major exhibitors as Brainstorm, Ross Video, Panasonic and Canon.

Yet, as of Monday, companies actively working with broadcast radio and TV stations such as Marketron, Dielectric, GatesAir and ENCO, were eagerly preparing their booths and setting up meetings both on-site and off-site. The latest RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast featuring Marketron SVP of Product Jimshade Chaudhari, distributed Tuesday, offered much discussion on what the company had in the works for NAB Show attendees.

Now, Marketron — and many others — are now scrambling to unwind hotel reservations and airline tickets.

Will there be a virtual offering of any kind in lieu of the Las Vegas affair?

“Stay tuned for details regarding virtual options for accessing select 2021 NAB Show content through NAB Amplify,” Brown said.

The NAB Show is off. The National Association of Broadcasters will not hold its in-person event in Las Vegas next month after all.

Succumbing in the end to effects of the pandemic on the nation’s business, the NAB announced today that the 2021 NAB Show won’t happen.

This comes in the wake of several major exhibitor pullouts at the end of last week.

Until now, the convention organizers had pushed determinedly ahead, hoping to avoid having to go another calendar year without their signature convention. They’d put health precautions in place that included a planned requirement for proof of vaccination.

The announcement also was made on Twitter and in an email to the show community from NAB executive Chris Brown.

“As we have always kept the best interest and safety of the industry as our priority, it has become apparent in the face of these challenges that we can no longer effectively host NAB Show or our co-located events, the Radio Show and Sales and Management Television Exchange, in person,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic and surge of the Delta variant has presented unexpected and insurmountable challenges for our global community.”

The announcement indicated that details were pending regarding virtual versions of some of the show content.

The co-located Audio Engineering Society show also is cancelled, an NAB spokesperson told Radio World.

COVID-19 cases had surged again in recent weeks in parts of the country. Though some smaller industry meetings have taken place in person in the past month or two, the Delta variant has thrown some major event plans into disarray.

Just yesterday, registration opened for CES 2022 in Las Vegas in January. The 2022 NAB Show is scheduled for April.

The post NAB Show Is Cancelled After All appeared first on Radio World.

“Person-level measurement” is a desire not only for those charged with media buying and planning, executing creative and overseeing the marketing efforts for goods and services across a multitude of categories, but it’s also an increasingly wanted data point for broadcast media.

That’s part of the reason why the VAB, among other organizations, is less than satisfied with the existing measurement tools available to TV.

Comscore has been working hard to satisfy this dissatisfied group of media and marketing professionals. On Wednesday (9/15), it revealed that it has “invented” what it calls “the next generation of personification methodology created to bring person-level measurement to its video products.”

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Broadcast business software developer Marketron has a new tool available for radio and TV ad sales personnel, REV.

The company describes REV as a “sales growth platform.”

It adds, “Unifying the entire sales process on a single platform, Marketron REV streamlines customer, proposal, and order management processes so that sellers can focus more time and energy on selling.”

REV offers an integrated customer relations management section, . “An optimizer feature automatically places spots based on customizable cost efficiency or even placement settings” and “advanced algorithms drive dynamic pricing directly from existing traffic systems, allowing Marketron REV to set spot prices automatically that maximize revenue based on current fill rates, timelines, and other key factors.”

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Marketron Senior Vice President of Product Jimshade Chaudhari said, “Because the platform eliminates redundancies, automates administrative tasks, and empowers broadcasters to price inventory more accurately, sellers no longer have that swivel chair experience.”

According to a release REV should also be compatible with other sales platforms.

Send your new equipment news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

Info: www.marketron.com

The post Marketron Introduces REV appeared first on Radio World.

SiriusXM is considering shutting down one of the two satellite radio infrastructures that created the combined company, according to the website TheDesk.net.

It quotes remarks by SiriusXM Pandora Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Witz at an investor conference this week.

She said the company is rolling out its new satellite technology and considering plans to shut off one of its older satellite radio platforms.

The website notes that the company is focused on rolling out its 360L system in cars and that once it reaches a certain critical mass, the company will be better positioned to streamline.

It said Witz didn’t specify which of the two platforms SiriusXM was considering for shutdown, but it lays out reasons that the Sirius platform is the one that eventually would be more likely to be shut down.

Read the article.

The post SiriusXM Weighs Possible System Streamlining appeared first on Radio World.

Most of us have heard the occasional announcement on a non-commercial educational radio station that may have blurred the lines between an underwriting acknowledgement and a commercial advertisement. While most NCE broadcasters no doubt embrace the FCC’s rules on underwriting announcements, some seemingly believe the boundaries are open to interpretation.

Now a LPFM is paying a price for apparently going over the line.

WAWL(LP), licensed to Tri-Cities Broadcasting Foundation in Grand Haven, Mich., has agreed to pay a fine for airing commercial advertising intended to be for underwriting purposes. WAWL operates under a noncommercial educational license. The FCC in a consent decree says the LPFM will pay a $17,500 penalty and that its license would be renewed for a shorter term than usual to ensure ongoing compliance.

A petition to deny WAWL’s license renewal application was filed by WGHN(FM), a competitor in Grand Haven. The commercial station submitted 24 examples of what it called commercials running on the noncom educational LPFM. WGHN Inc. officials wrote: “The content of those announcements appear to advertise rather than simply identify the named sponsor.”

Wendy Hart, vice president of WGHN, wrote that the LPFM “airs spots, ostensibly acknowledging donors, but the content of which sounds virtually identical to commercial advertisements.” The announcements it recorded were for a range of businesses including funeral homes, restaurants and convenience stores.

WGHN also claimed WAWL failed to broadcast educational programming, but the FCC rejected WGHN’s claims on that count and declined to deny license renewal.

“We have negotiated the consent decree adopted herein, in which the licensee acknowledges that it has violated the Underwriting Laws, agrees to make a civil penalty payment to the United States Treasury in the amount of $17,500, and agrees to adopt a compliance plan to prevent further violations of the Underwriting Laws,” the commission staff wrote, adding that after reviewing the record, they thought it best to grant only a short-term renewal to October of 2024.

It appears the broadcasters involved are well acquainted. Eric Kaelin, a former general manager of WGHN, launched WAWL in 2014, according to a report in the Grand Haven Tribune. Kaelin currently serves as president of Tri-Cities Broadcasting Foundation.

For LPFMs wondering where the line is on this issue, consulting group REC Networks has the following advise on its website: “Non-commercial educational stations are not to operate as a profit-making business. This means that NCE stations are unable to carry commercials which promote a business that may have donated (or underwritten) the station. While NCE stations are unable to air commercials, they are permitted to identify for-profit businesses that support the station by announcing their name, contact information and even a non-promotional description of the business.”

The post LPFM Is Fined $17,500 for Airing Commercials appeared first on Radio World.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has just announced $1.3 million in grants to expand the “Urban Alternative” public radio format to three noncommercial broadcast radio operations.

This will bring the number of markets with the unique format, which combines Hip-Hop and R&B music with public radio’s emphasis on local engagement, to seven.

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He’s held he role of Director of Political Advertising for Hearst Television since 2019 and for some four years has been Director of Sales for politically influential WMUR-9 in Manchester, N.H.

Now, he’s been promoted to the newly created position of Corporate Director of Sales.

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The acting chairwoman of the FCC has said she wants to “revitalize” a key advisory panel, and now she has named its members.

Jessica Rosenworcel appointed members to the Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council. CSRIC is a federal advisory committee that provides recommendations to the FCC to improve the security, reliability and interoperability of the nation’s communications systems.

[“Rosenworcel Wants to ‘Revitalize’ CSRIC]

Rosenworcel described the council as “one of the nation’s most impactful cybersecurity partnerships” but said that in recent years “this public-private collaboration has faced criticism that its membership gave private companies an outsized voice. Today, we take steps to right that ship.”

She said the restructured group adds federal expertise, public interest participation and diversity, and that it would focus on 5G network security and reliability.

The group is called CSRIC VIII because this is the eighth iteration of the council. The first meeting will be Sept. 22 in a virtual format.

Rosenworcel said the group will be co-chaired by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security. CISA leads a coordinated effort to enhance the security and reliability of cybersecurity and communications infrastructure. She noted that CISA recently co-authored a report on potential threat vectors to 5G infrastructure.

“I am also pleased to report that the membership of CSRIC VIII will reflect more participation from the public interest community than any other CSRIC to date.  This means that the public and consumers also will have a voice on issues that ultimately affect their safety and security.”

The co-chairs will be Billy Bob Brown, Jr., executive assistant director for emergency communications at CISA, and Nasrin Rezai, senior vice president & chief information security officer of Verizon Communications.

Below is a list of members; an asterisk after a name means the member represents the entity listed after their name on CSRIC.

Members:

Brandon Abley, Director of Technology, National Emergency Number Association

Rob Alderfer, Vice President, Technology Policy, Charter Communications

Colin B. Andrews, Senior Director, Government Affairs, Telecommunications Industry Association

Mark Annas, Emergency Services Administrator, City of Riverside Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management

Mike Barnes, Product Security Officer & Quality Leader, Mavenir

Michael Bergman, Vice President, Technology and Standards, Consumer Technology Association

Donna Bethea-Murphy, Senior Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs, Inmarsat

Shirley Bloomfield, Chief Executive Officer, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association

Mary A. Boyd, Vice President, Government Regulatory Affairs, Intrado

Wade Buckner, Chief, City of Southside Fire & Rescue*, International Association of Fire Chiefs

Brian K. Daly, Assistant Vice President, AT&T, Inc.

Marla Dowell, Director, Communications Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Andrew L. Drozd, President & Chief Scientist, ANDRO Computational Solutions

Katherine Elkins, Emergency Medical Services Specialist, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation

Harold Feld, Senior Vice President, Public Knowledge

Craig Fugate, Chief Emergency Management Officer, America’s Public Television Stations

Micaela Giuhat, Director, 5G Policy and External Engagement, Microsoft Corporation

Dana Golub, Vice President, Technology Business Operations, Public Broadcasting Service

Stephen Hayes, Director, North American Standards, Ericsson

Mark Hess, Senior Vice President, Business and Industry Affairs, Comcast Corporation

Rittwik Jana, Chief Architect of Radio Access Network, VMWare, Inc.

Antwane Johnson, Deputy Assistant Administrator (Acting), National Continuity Programs & Director, Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U. S. Department of Homeland Security

Everett Kaneshige, Statewide Interoperability Coordinator, National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors

Javed Khan, Director, 5G Product Management, Altiostar Networks

Farrokh Khatibi, Director, Technical Standards, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Jason Lish, Chief Security Officer, Lumen Technologies, Inc.

Jennifer Manner, Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Hughes Communications

Maureen C. Mclaughlin, Vice President, Public Policy, Iridium*, Satellite Industry Association

Danny McPherson, Executive Vice President & Chief Security Officer, Verisign, Inc.

William Mikucki, Vice President, Technical Operations, Safety and Securities Technologies, Comtech Telecommunications Corp.

Susan Miller, President & CEO, Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions

Derek Peterson, Co-Director, Wireless Broadband Alliance

Krisztina Pusok, Director, Policy and Research, American Consumer Institute

Mark Reddish, Senior Counsel & Manager, Government Relations, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials

Travis Reutter, Director, Network Management, Metronet*, ACA Connects- America’s Communications Association

John Roese, Global Chief Technology Officer, Dell Technologies

Travis Russell, Head, Cybersecurity Office, Oracle Communications

Francisco Sánchez, Jr., Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator, Harris County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management

Tom Sawanobori, Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, CTIA

Tim Schram, Commissioner, Nebraska Public Service Commission*, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commission

Sean Scott, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Technology Officer, SecuLore Solutions

Paul Steinberg, Senior Vice President, Technology, Motorola Solutions

Peter Tomczak, Program Manager, Spectrum Coordination and Clearance, FirstNet Authority

Claire Vishik, Intel Fellow & Chief Technology Officer, Global Government Affairs, Intel

Steve Watkins, Executive Director, Strategic Technology Policy, Cox Communications

George Woodward, President & CEO of Trilogy Networks*, Rural Wireless Association

Henry Young, Director, Policy, BSA | The Software Alliance

Timothy Youngblood, Senior Vice President, Chief Security Officer, & Product Security Officer, T-Mobile

The post Rosenworcel Names Members to Revamped Advisory Group appeared first on Radio World.

A “major evolution in response to the rapid digitalization of audio consumption” is about to take place for radio ratings across some of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world.

How so? Live streaming data is to be integrated into a new multimillion-dollar hybrid measurement system.

Only, this effort doesn’t involve Nielsen. Rather, it’s an innovation coming to Australia, courtesy of industry advocacy group Commercial Radio Australia and global research firm GfK.

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