Industry News

The announcement was made by Wayne Pecena, president of the Society of Broadcast Engineers.

To give you an idea of how deep Imlay’s roots are with the SBE: His first case was to try to appeal the FCC decision to eliminate the First Class Radiotelephone License. He said his SBE role has “allowed me to do what I do best: defending spectrum allocations of clients and participating in technical regulatory proceedings.”

[Read Chris Imlay’s Contributions to Radio World]

“Chris has worked with the SBE since 1980, and has been the SBE’s general counsel since 1991,” the society stated. Pecena called him “a valuable resource for and asset to the SBE over the past 41 years. He has also been a staunch advocate for the SBE’s goals and objectives. He is a tough act to follow.”

The society said it will split Imlay’s duties; it plans a process to find a replacement communications counsel, and also will hire an attorney for business matters based near its headquarters in Indianapolis.

Meanwhile Imlay will continue to work part-time for other long-term clients.

In the announcement, he was quoted describing himself as “a down-in-the-trenches communications lawyer” who loved working with broadcast engineers. And for 37 years until 2018, Imlay also was general counsel for ARRL, the national association for amateur radio; he is former president of the Foundation for Amateur Radio and recently was inducted into the CQ magazine Hall of Fame.

Several commentaries by Chris Imlay have appeared in Radio World in recent years, on topics such as engineer ethics and the idea of broadcasters as “first responders.” Read those here.

SBE said Imlay has worked for 22 SBE presidents and was elected a Fellow of the SBE in 1997.

According to SBE’s summary of his career, Imlay began working in law in 1975 and in communications in 1979 when he joined Booth and Freret.

When SBE sought to administratively appeal the decision to eliminate the First Phone, SBE President Bob Jones retained Bob Booth for the work, and Booth assigned the task to Imlay. The society regained him as communications counsel in 1984 and named him general counsel in 1991.

He was a partner with Booth, Freret and Imlay from 1981 to 1995; president of Booth, Freret, Imlay & Tepper, P.C., from 1995 to 2014; and managing member, Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC, 2014 to present.

Other clients in federal communications law have included big names like JVCKenwood USA, the National Football League, NASCAR and Goodyear, as well as many TV and radio stations, common carrier and private wireless licensees, as well as video production companies, auto racing sponsors and speedways; and equipment manufacturers.

The post Imlay Will Retire as SBE General Counsel appeared first on Radio World.

Soohyung Kim and his Standard General L.P. have gained considerable notice over the past several years. This is mainly due to his sizable equity interest in TEGNA, the owner of broadcast TV stations he’s unsuccessfully campaigned to gain greater influence and control of.

Kim is also known as Jeff Smulyan‘s partner in Mediaco, the current parent of the former Emmis Communications radio stations in New York, including WBLS-FM and WQHT “Hot 97.’

Now, it’s become known that Kim has attributable interest in the radio broadcasting company led by Mary Berner.

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Streaming and on-demand audio service provider TuneIn, which enjoys a global platform (as opposed to Audacy and iHeartRadio), has ramped up its leadership team by naming a SVP of Business Development and a SVP of Marketing, respectively.

The former position goes to Jennifer Collins, while the latter role is being given to Suzanne Park.

Collins previously served as Vice President of Digital Operations for FOX Entertainment, and has also been the Video and International Business Development Principal for IMDb. She has also served as Vice President of Digital Revenue Development at Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, and as the digital General Manager at Variety.

Collins is based in Los Angeles.

Park was most recently SVP/Marketing for First Look Media, where she led marketing, creative and analytics with a focus on growing Topic, the company’s direct-to-consumer subscription video offering.

Park is based in New York City.

The Vermont Association of Broadcasters announced it will hold its annual convention in August.

VAB had to cancel last year because of the pandemic.

The 65th Annual VAB Convention and Production of the Year Award Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 18, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the association’s newsletter.

“Our new venue, Lareau Farm Inn, is home to the original American Flatbread in Waitsfield, Vt., and features two outdoor covered pavilions where we’ll spend the day learning, laughing and socializing again,” VAB wrote.

Details and schedule are to follow at the VAB website.

Send your event news and updates to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post VAB Will Hold Annual Convention in August appeared first on Radio World.

Advocates of low-power FM in the United States are hoping that the Federal Communications Commission will adopt a proposal to raise the maximum power level for many stations from 100 to 250 watts.

It’s not a new idea, but supporters are excited because the commission recently opened a 30-day window for public comments on a fresh petition from REC Networks. This has led some to speculate that under a Democratic presidential administration, the FCC may be more willing to entertain the idea.

The proposal to amend Parts 73 and 74 of the rules was submitted by Michelle Bradley, founder of REC Networks. Bradley says the dial can accommodate the change, noting that nearly two-thirds of LPFM stations are outside of the top 100 Nielsen Audio markets and that only 15% are in “deep-urban areas.”

In the summary, Bradley gave a brief history of the 250-watt debate and proposals since 2012 and why she is updating the proposal now, including changes to address concerns that had been raised about the earlier versions.

[Read the proposal.]

Among stations in support is WXOX(LP), “Art FM,” in Louisville, Ky. The station emailed its community calling this “a very exciting and unexpected opportunity that would help our low-power stations exponentially.” It asked supporters to file comments by the June 20 deadline.

“Discuss technical issues with the current 100 watts permitted by the FCC,” it suggested. “This includes inability to get FM signal beyond a few miles from the transmitter site and difficulty receiving FM signal inside certain buildings within this limited range. Discuss local populations that may be excluded by the low wattage.”

Specifically, the new proposal would would create an LP250 class of service with an effective service contour of about 4-1/2 miles, in addition to the current LP100 service.

The maximum height above average terrain would be 451 meters or 1,479 feet.

There would be a second distance separation table for the new class that includes distances up to 9 km longer than the LP100 service.

Bradley said the proposal “fully respects the 20-kilometer buffer zone” and includes a suggested policy for upgrades on stations that are already second-adjacent short-spaced. She said the proposal does not add any new processes that would involve a contour study. It would allow class upgrades and downgrades as a minor change as long as other minor change criteria are met.

It also suggests a “launch window” method to manage an expected rush of stations wanting to upgrade. And it proposes a simplified RF radiation standard similar to the one used in LP100.

“In other words, this is simply like the LP100 service that has been around for the past 20 years, but just an add-on with the LP250 ‘numbers,’” Bradley wrote. “Or, in other words, simple.”

[A separate appendix to the proposal lists upgrade implications for all existing LPFMs, read that here.]

Bradley said the new proposal addresses past concerns about 250 watts. For example she submitted the accompanying image showing three hypothetical LPFM facilities.

Their class-standard interfering contours are in red, the full-service station’s protected contour is in green and the buffer zone is in orange 20 kilometers outside of the green protected contour curve.

The LPFM curve at the top depicts an LP100 station under current rules. The middle curve (OLD250) depicts a method proposed earlier in which the buffer zone is penetrated to keep minimum distance separation. The bottom curve (NEW250) depicts what is being proposed.

By increasing the distances for the LP250 class on co- and first-adjacent channels, Bradley says the proposal satisfies the commission’s past concerns.

Comments can be submitted at the FCC comment system. Refer to Proceeding RM-11909.

The post LPFMs Are Hopeful About “Simple LP250” appeared first on Radio World.

With more than 40 years of private equity experience, Thomas O. Hicks was “an early pioneer” of the “buy and build” strategy of investing, his Hicks Equity Partners LLC says.

For radio industry veterans, his name will forever be linked to iHeartMedia predecessor Clear Channel Communications.

Now, it is set to be connected with a country music and lifestyle cable TV network in addition to a TV network dedicated to showcasing equestrian sports.

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Quu Inc. and vCreative announced an integration.

“vCreative customers can now publish messages on car dashboards for their clients that use Quu’s advertising services,” they said in an announcement.

vCreative provides media production workflow solutions. Quu adds dynamic visuals to radio broadcasts.

Quu’s system lets stations publish programming and sales messages called Visual Quus that it says helps with upsells and makes ads more effective. With this integration, radio stations now can produce and send those Visual Quus via the vCreative vPPO production workflow system.

The announcement was made by  Susie Hedrick, CEO of vCreative, and Steve Newberry, CEO of Quu.

The post vCreative Can Now Publish to Quu appeared first on Radio World.

Bill Christian, President/CEO of Vision Communications, has attracted attention in recent years for various television industry projects — including the creation of a TV group serving Lafayette, Ind., from the ground up.

Now, Christian is agreeing to purchase a pair of low-power television stations licensed to a community in the Granite State.

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By Rosemary Ravinal

How often do you use these word whiskers and phrases in your public speaking and presentations?

Um. Ah. Well. I mean. You know. Like. Absolutely.

Whether on Zoom or in person, it is easy to lean on filler words or word whiskers, as they are often known. They become verbal crutches that we use either consciously or unconsciously when we are nervous, get rattled or are not sure about what we are saying.  They take up valuable time, cloud the meaning of what we want to say, and diminish our credibility.

Here are some steps on how to eliminate these pesky word whiskers.

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For some broadcasters, the economic pressures brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic were simply too grand to continue day-to-day operations.

In Panama City Beach, Fla., the licensee of an AM with an FM translator was so negatively impacted that it pressed the Stop button on “PLAY-FM.”

Now, a new owner is ready to resurrect the facilities. Only, it has different plans for what will air on the temporarily dormant station.

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