Industry News

She has more than 20 years of experience working in public media as a journalist, educator and station leader.

As of today, she’ll put her expertise to work in shaping the future of St. Louis Public Radio as its new CEO.

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Badger State radio personalities dominated the recognition portion of last week’s Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Summer Conference in Sheboygan, Wis.

Selected for the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame were Jack Mitchell and Wayne Larrivee. Mitchell can lay claim to fame by being the first employee of National Public Radio. He became the original producer and newscaster of “All Things Considered” before moving to a lengthy career at Wisconsin Public Radio.

Wayne Larrivee has an extensive background in sports radio, mostly as a play-by-play man. He has been doing Green Bay Packers football games since 1999.

On the Local Broadcast Legends ledger, Karen Dalessandro, Peter Murphy, Bill McCollum and John Moser were cited.

Karen Dalessandro was a familiar voice in Milwaukee radio at WMIL, WKTI and WKLH along leading on a number of high-profile charitable drives. She was also a two-time winner of the Country Music Association’s Broadcasting Personality of the Year award, 2001 and 2015.

The late Peter Murphy is credited with “hosting the first live radio talk show by telephone in the nation.” He also did a live segment from a Blue Angels jet in 1976. He spent decades at WEAQ in Eau Claire in management and as host of the long-running “The Party Line” talk show.

Bill McCollum and John Moser have dominated Beaver Dam, Wis., radio for almost 100 years, most of it together as a team for “The Morning Show” on WBEV and WXRO. In addition, McCollum was usually the stations’ top-biller in sales while Moser had stints as news director, program director, sales manager and general manager at one time or another. Not surprisingly, both were well-known for their charitable involvement in local and regional causes.

The post Radio Personalities Shine at WBA Summer Conference appeared first on Radio World.

There’s new activity from a big furniture retailer, and one of the “GAFAN” members is present.

At the same time, the top three Spot Ten TV slots for the week ending August 29 are in the auto insurance category.

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The latest Media Monitors Spot Ten Radio report has been released by iHeartMedia, and it shows a lot of returning and continuing brands committing to AM and FM radio spots for the week ending August 29.

The big returnee this week? The Home Depot.

The DIY home improvement retailer is back in the Spot Ten, ranking No. 6.

At No. 7, climbing into the Spot Ten, is Mattress Firm.

Otherwise, Progressive, Indeed, Babbel and GEICO are still active users of spot radio as the month of August comes to a close.

Dear RW:

This is in response to Michelle Bradley’s earlier commentary about digital on the AM band.

Ms. Bradley’s observations were right on the money. The problem is not knowing the end game for the AM revitalization initiative. If Chairman Pai inferred that FM translators are part of a transition or “bridge” rather than permanent, as he told a Kansas Association of Broadcasters gathering in 2016, when do AM broadcasters flash cut to digital and turn their translator licenses in? What is the sunset date for analog AM?

Michi made the point that, “The automotive and radio receiver industries need to make HD Radio standard equipment, not a ‘luxury option,’ like with some manufacturers.” So when is the FCC going to step in and mandate HD Radio in all cars? It’s the only way this will happen.

She indicated that moving a translator 250 miles is only going to harm the opportunity for more, new LPFM stations, and I agree.

Repurposing Lo-VHF for other uses is an idea whose time has come. The majority of TV broadcasters don’t want the band. Existing Channel 6 TV stations can keep their channel or change it, but the FCC should not license any more TV stations on Channel 6, particularly to LDTV, nor give it away free as white space to parasites like Microsoft.

Let AM broadcasters migrate to an expanded FM band, formerly Channel 6, if they don’t want to stay on AM, and forgo their translators and open the channels up to LPFM.

The truth is that the AM revitalization initiative was an Ajit Pai pet project. I don’t think the Democrats are on board with giving more translators to AM broadcasters or in letting these broadcasters keep their translators indefinitely. In fact, the AM revitalization Initiative might look entirely different once Jessica Rosenworcel is made permanent chairwoman and another Democratic commissioner is installed.

That may be a good thing for the future of FM broadcasting.

The author is a retired TV station owner.

Send Letters to the Editor to radioworld@futurenet.com

The post Letter: Translators are a bridge to … what? appeared first on Radio World.

At 1180 kHz, an AM radio station licensed to Humble, Tex., serves the Houston market with a booming Class B signal. During daylight hours, it has 50kw from 2 towers. After dark, it has 3kw from four towers, situated off the Grand Pkwy toll road in the far northern portion of the Houston metropolitan area.

Until recently, it has been a Spanish Adult Hits station under the branding “La Suavecita” and an affiliate of ESPN Deportes Radio. That’s about to change, with a different multicultural group the new target audience.

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Among the many properties owned by Gray Television is WWBT, the NBC affiliate serving Richmond, a former Raycom Media station that was previously owned by Jefferson-Pilot Corp. Today, it uses VHF digital channel 10 for its PSIP of channel 12.

It is a sister station to WUPV-65 in Richmond, an affiliate of The CW Network. It has been in the family since 2006, and is a former Raycom property, too.

Soon, WUPV and WWBT will have an in-market sibling, thanks to Gray’s purchase of a low-power television station serving the Virginia capital city.

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DAYTON, OHIO — For the first time in two years, the Streamline Publishing Radio & TV team is congregating in-person to review what’s on the horizon for our industry brands, including RBR+TVBR, in 2022.

One of our participants brought along a most interesting accessory — a Sangean portable HD Radio that even has the ability to pick up an AM broadcasting in HD Radio. Who knew?

The better question may be “Who cares?”

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Until Friday, the possibility of fighting a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in Florida’s highest court was a very big one for Berkshire Hathaway’s television station offering ABC programming and a heavy dose of local news to South Florida.

Today, not only is the management at WPLG-10 in Miami breathing a sigh of relief, but its hefty legal fees are now poised to be paid for by the Miami Gardens, Fla., pastor that sued the station for $50 million.

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Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) has submitted its second quarter 2021 financial results to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

What does the company majority-controlled by Raúl Alarcón Jr. have to report for the three-month period ending June 30?

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