Radio+Television Business Report

For nearly four and a half years, he has been linked to a group of Cumulus Media stations comprised today of WSBN-AM “ESPN 630” and highly regarded Talker WMAL-FM in Washington, D.C.

Before that, he led sales for iHeartMedia’s D.C. and Baltimore stations as a Sr. VP of Sales, a job he took in September 2009.

Sadly, his current post at Cumulus will be his last, as Ken Roberts has passed away. According to one media report, he was 65 years old.

Cumulus Media EVP/Operations Dave Milner confirmed Roberts passing, with a statement distributed to radio trade publications early Monday. “This is such tragic news and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,” Milner said of Roberts. “Ken was a passionate and smart professional, who cared greatly for the team in D.C. He had been a friend and coach to so many in radio and we’re all better because of our time with Ken. We send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to Ken’s family, and are grateful for the time we had with him.”

Roberts in November 2020 had been promoted to VP/Market Manager from VP/Sales of the Cumulus/D.C. duo. He succeeded Jake McCann, who “returned home” to Philadelphia in
late December to lead The HOW Group, a real estate investment group.

With that promotion, Roberts said, “I am proud to continue our mission of super serving our listeners, employees and client partners. I am humbled to be part of our great history and excited to be part of our future.”

Among those already mourning the loss of Roberts is Jay Rosenberg, President/CEO of Rosenberg Media. “We lost a friend, a great husband and father, and great leader in the radio community.”

According to Rosenberg, Roberts died on Saturday. The cause of death has not been formally released. However, RBR+TVBR has learned that Roberts suffered from a suspected heart attack.

Roberts arrived in the Baltimore-Washington corridor in fall 2009, after spending 19 months in Phoenix as Director of Sales for Bonneville’s stations. From March 2001-February 2008, he was GSM of Susquehanna Radio’s former Dallas station group. It was his entry into radio, having served before that as VP of Videoaxs, which created “unique revenue programs that incorporated advertising and content distribution platforms.”

Roberts is a graduate of Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey.

Funeral arrangements were not disclosed by Cumulus Media.

He is not to be confused with original KROQ station owner Ken Roberts, who passed away in May 2014 at the age of 73.

The latest quarterly broadcast station totals have been released from the FCC.

And, when one compares the numbers to the end of the third quarter of 2020, there’s one clear takeaway: noncommercial FM radio continues to be a growing opportunity for licensees, as the total number of commercially licensed FMs, and AMs, declined.

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Based in tiny Lynden, Wash., an hour from Vancouver, B.C., Cedar Creek Partners has carved itself a niche in the investment management space under the direction of Managing Member Tim Eriksen of Eriksen Capital Management.

For those who have entrusted their dollars with Cedar Creek, there’s good news — a 13.7% Q4 2020 return was recorded by the fund, outperforming the S&P 500. Among the companies Cedar Creek invested in is HC2 Holdings. 

And, Eriksen had something to say about that investment.

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On July 27, the FCC will conduct an auction of AM and FM broadcast construction permits.

What do individuals or groups seeking to participate need to know? Filing requirements, along with minimum opening bids, upfront payment information and other procedures are now known.

Oh, and the auction is comprised of more than 100 new FM CPs, and four AM stations serving the St. Louis market that replace a now-defunct quartet.

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With the FCC’s announcement that it will conduct an auction of some 136 vacant non-reserved band allotments in the FM broadcast service, the Media Bureau is putting a freeze on FM minor change applications.

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April 1 began in a rather ordinary way, even as mild April Fools’ pranks were seen at such radio stations as WBEN-FM in Philadelphia, which sped up its music so it could offer the most songs on the radio.

Then, with little warning, the 11am Eastern hour saw the arrival of a 20-page document that was far from a joke: The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Third Circuit appeals court’s remand of the FCC’s 2017 cross-ownership rule rewrite.

On Twitter, former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai reacted, after posting a video of birthday boy Jimmy Cliff singing “The Harder They Come.” How prophetic. Weeks after stepping aside with the transition in power at the White House, Pai was victorious.

The acting Chairwoman of the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, also had something to say about the Supreme Court ruling. She struck a somber tone, illustrating just how divided the Commission is on media “modernization.”

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The Terre Haute, Ind., market, which largely includes nearby Paris, Ill., is the home of a non-commercial group of religious stations presently operated by Word Power Inc.

On March 16, this group signed off on an agreement that would assign its two AMs, two FMs, two FM translators and one FM translator construction permit to a new licensee.

American Hope Communications is agreeing to acquire the following properties from Word Power Inc.:

• WPFR-FM 93.7 in Clinton, Ind., a Class A
• WPFR-AM 1480 in Terre Haute, a Class B with 5kw daytime from 3 towers and 1kw nighttime from 4 towers
• WKZI-AM 800 in Clinton, Ind., a 250-watt Class B from 1 tower
• WLHW-FM 91.5 in Clinton, Ind., a 6kw Class A
• W234CK at 94.7 MHz in Casey, Ill., W300DD at 107.9 MHz in Greenup, Ill., and CP W292FT in Terre Haute

The deal is valued at $179,000. A $35,800 escrow deposit has been made.

The buyer is led by Richard Wheeler, who is represented by Jeffrey Southmayd of Palm Coast, Fla. He’s the President of Countryside Broadcasting, which owns and operates WJLY-FM 88.3 in Ramsey, Ill. The deal suggests WJLY’s mission of serving South Central Illinois with the word of God could be widening to Terre Haute.

American Hope will assume Word Power’s lease agreement with Paul Ford for real estate used for a radio transmission tower, satellite dish receiver, and “appurtenant equipment.”

By Joshua Dudley
Podcast Business Journal

CNN Audio has announced the upcoming podcast launch of Behind The Desk: The Story of Late Night.

The podcast will explore the history of late-night television from its beginnings to its present.

Hosted by CNN contributor and former New York Times media reporter Bill Carter, the podcast, produced by CNN Audio and Cream Productions, will release its first two episodes on April 22 on all podcast platforms, with subsequent episodes released every Thursday.

The trailer is available here.

“I’ve covered late-night TV for a long time, long enough to know it’s filled with fascinating personalities, big moments, big laughs, all kinds of conflicts, characters, craziness and compelling stories,” said Carter, author of the New York Times bestseller The Late Shift. “In our docuseries and our accompanying podcast, we’re going to take a deep dive into all of that–and have a lot of fun doing it.”

The series is a companion to the just-announced CNN Original Series, The Story of Late Night that will air on Sunday nights.

The FCC this summer will conduct an auction of some 136 vacant non-reserved band allotments in the FM broadcast service, adding a small group of stations to the cancelled Auction 106 that had been set for March 2020.

Where are these FMs?

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In 2010, radio industry veteran Lee Abrams, co-founder and CEO of V-Satcast (described as “a hybrid broadcast/broadband OTT multicast streaming platform with original highly differentiated branded programming channel”) penned the following RBR + TVBR Intelligence Brief.

In this Classic RBR+TVBR Media Information Bureau column, Abrams discusses how selling a new idea internally is often harder than the execution itself.

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FOX News Media has extended Bret Baier’s current multi-year deal and remain an anchor and executive editor of Special Report, the 6pm ET weekday program on FOX News Channel. Baier, who signed a new multi-year deal in 2019, will also continue as the network’s chief political anchor.

“I am thrilled to continue working with FOX News Channel for the next five years,” he said. “It has been my home away from home for almost a quarter century. Suzanne Scott, Jay Wallace, and the Murdoch’s have been terrific leaders and bosses. I look forward to working closely with my incredibly talented team to cover the Important stories of our time in the fair and honest way our viewers expect.”

Baier first joined the network in 1998 as its inaugural reporter in the Atlanta bureau.  Throughout the 2020 cycle, Baier co-anchored the network’s special coverage of the presidential debates as well as the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. He also co-moderated a series of presidential election town halls with then-candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Amy Klobuchar as well as former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former President Donald Trump.

Prior to his anchor role, Baier served as FNC’s chief White House correspondent in 2006 and as national security correspondent covering military and national security affairs from the Pentagon. Before joining the network, Baier worked for WRAL-5 in Raleigh.

The first day of the second quarter of 2021 started out on a highly positive note for radio and TV stocks. Only one of the companies RBR+TVBR regularly tracks was down.

That’s more sour news for that lone decliner: ViacomCBS.

The company’s shares continued to decline on Thursday (4/1), dipping 46 cents to $44.64.

Also down, cable and OTT peer Discovery Inc., which lost $0.15 to $43.31.

Otherwise, it was a fine start to Q1 for radio and TV. Townsquare Media is now at $11.01, up $0.28, while Nexstar Media Group is now at $142.70, thanks to a $2.27-per share climb.

MESA, ARIZ. — The Arizona Diamondbacks are in San Diego to face the Padres in their first Major League Baseball regular season match-up of the season.

D-Backs fans won’t be watching the game on FOX Sports Arizona. That’s because it has been rebranded, along with every other FOX Sports RSN, as part of a long-planned reboot under new owner Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Sinclair Broadcast Group and Bally’s Corporation late Wednesday moved forward with the official renaming of its regional sports networks (RSNs) as Bally Sports.

It ushers in a new era for the former FOX RSNs, and is part of an enterprise-wide, long-term strategic partnership between Sinclair and Bally’s announced in November.

“Through our alliance with Bally’s and others, the RSNs will create innovative experiences for sports fans when rooting for their favorite local sports teams,” Sinclair Broadcast Group President/CEO Chris Ripley said. “The rebrand is the ideal first step as we further our efforts to thoroughly change the paradigm of the in-home sports experience, elevating how audiences view and interact with live sports content. We can’t wait to roll out even more game-changing options for fans everywhere in the future.”

In conjunction with the partnership, Bally’s acquired naming rights for all Sinclair RSNs, previously branded with the FOX name. An official Bally Sports app is expected to be released shortly.

The Sinclair-owned and operated RSN portfolio now includes 19 network brands:

• Bally Sports Arizona
• Bally Sports Detroit
• Bally Sports Florida
• Bally Sports Great Lakes
• Bally Sports Kansas City
• Bally Sports Indiana
• Bally Sports Midwest
• Bally Sports New Orleans
• Bally Sports North
• Bally Sports Ohio
• Bally Sports Oklahoma
• Bally Sports San Diego
• Bally Sports SoCal
• Bally Sports South
• Bally Sports Southeast
• Bally Sports Southwest
• Bally Sports Sun
• Bally Sports West
• Bally Sports Wisconsin

In the Supreme Court’s 9-0 decision to reverse a Third Circuit appeals court’s remand of the 2017 cross-ownership rules rewrite, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh offered commentary on the data the FCC had with respect to assessing the effects of such a rule change on minority and female ownership.

In short, Kavanaugh said it’s not the Commission’s fault it has a “sparse record” on the subject.

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The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to reverse the Third Circuit’s remand of the FCC’s 2017 cross-ownership rule rewrite was warmly celebrated across the Nation’s Capital on Thursday.

Among those highly pleased with the ruling: A veteran Wiley attorney (pictured) who has advocated for media rule reform, the Director of Appellate Litigation at TechFreedom and, of course, the President/CEO of the NAB.

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The surprise 9-0 ruling in favor of the FCC, and NAB, in its fight against Prometheus Radio Project, effectively reverses the Third Circuit remand of the Commission’s series of November 2017 deregulatory rule changes for broadcast media, namely the end of cross-ownership restrictions that date to an era when “The Hustle” was the top song on AM Top 40 stations.

But, just what does the Supreme Court ruling do? And, are foreign ownership rules a part of the mix?

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The November 2017 “modernization” of the FCC’s cross-ownership media rules and erasure of the “eight voices test” for TV — a move that also saw the end of the television JSA attribution role — was officially given the green light in a 9-0 Supreme Court ruling released April 1.

In the 20-page opinion is a separate note, appearing following the Opinion of the Court penned by Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, is a concurring opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas.

Thomas was compelled to note “another, independent reason why reversal” of the Third Circuit’s remand order, is warranted.

In his view, the Third Circuit improperly imposed nonstatutory procedural requirements on the Commission “by forcing it to consider ownership diversity in the first place.”

After noting that the Court “correctly holds” that the FCC’s orders weren’t “arbitrary and capricious,” and that the Commission “reasonably concluded that modifying its broadcast ownership rules would not harm minority and female broadcast media ownership, Thomas made it clear that “the FCC had no obligation to consider minority and female ownership” when engaging in its rule rewrite some 3 1/2 years ago.

Why? “Nothing in §202(h) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 directs the FCC to consider rates of minority and female ownership,” Thomas said. “Nor could any court force the FCC to consider ownership diversity … Courts have no authority to impose ‘judge-made procedures’ on agencies.”

The Third Circuit, as Thomas sees it, disregarded these limits. And, Thomas took issue with the Third Circuit’s consistency in doing so — likely eliciting cheers from now-former Chairman Ajit Pai, former Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, NAB senior leadership and industry leaders including Gray Television head Hilton Howell Jr.

Thomas noted how the court first disregarded its limits some 17 years ago, when it vacated the FCC’s modification of its Local Television Ownership Rule and faulted  the FCC for “failing to mention anything about the effect this change would have on potential minority station owners.”

He then noted that the Third Circuit repeated this “error” in 2016.

While the respondents — Prometheus and other public interest groups — attempted to defend the Third Circuit’s ruling by noting that the FCC has previously discussed ownership diversity when considering its ownership rules, “[t]hat argument fails because the FCC’s ownership rules—unlike some of its non-ownership rules—were never designed to
foster ownership diversity.”

Meanwhile, Thomas noted in his concurring opinion that “from its infancy, the FCC has generally focused on consumers, not producers … The FCC kept true to that design when promulgating ownership rules.”

For example, when it created the Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule at issue here, Thomas continued, “the agency explained that its ‘ownership rules rest on two foundations: the twin goals of diversity of viewpoints and economic competition,’ and that viewpoint diversity is the ‘higher’ policy. To these two consumer-focused goals, the FCC has also added a third: localism. None of these objectives advances demographic diversity of
owners for the sake of owners.”

Yes, Thomas acknowledged that the FCC “has sometimes considered minority and female ownership of broadcast media when discussing ownership rules.”

Yet, “Time after time … it has viewed those forms of diversity not ‘as policy goals in and of themselves, but as proxies for viewpoint diversity.’”

In conclusion, Thomas — and the eight other Supreme Court justices — accomplished what the FCC has struggled to do since George W. Bush was president but couldn’t, because of a Philadelphia court the highest judicial body in the land has just overruled.

“The Third Circuit had no authority to require the FCC to consider minority and female ownership,” Thomas said. “So in future reviews, the FCC is under no obligation to do so.”

It’s not an April Fools’ Day joke. ​Still, it arrived months earlier than many had expected.

The U.S. ​Supreme Court, in a 9-0 unanimous decision, has overturned the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ remand of the FCC’s cross-ownership rule revisions.

A 20-page decision was released Thursday morning.​

More details soon from RBR+TVBR

It began life centered on sports.

Now, a growing virtual MVPD has scored a carriage agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group that secures a home for the company’s newly created regional sports network — the home of the beloved Chicago Cubs baseball club — but not in time for Opening Day.

Sinclair’s Marquee Sports Network and fuboTV Inc., publicly traded on the NYSE, reached a deal that will bring Chicago Cubs game coverage to the live TV streaming platform “in the coming weeks.”

The regional sports network (RSN) will be available in fuboTV’s basic English-language channel package in the Chicago area and surrounding regions, including Indianapolis, Des Moines and South Bend, Ind.

Marquee Sports Network General Manager Mike McCarthy says the network is “thrilled” to have added fuboTV.

Ben Grad, fuboTV’s SVP of Content Strategy and Acquisition, added, “The addition of Marquee Sports Network to our leading sports, news and entertainment portfolio makes fuboTV a great streaming choice for Cubs fans, as well as other Chicagoans looking to cut the cord.”

It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball. And, no joke, every team except the Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox will be in action, as the game was postponed due to rain in the forecast.

That’s good news for O’s fans, sort of, who subscribe to Dish and its Sling vMVPD wanted to watch the game. Had the game been played, they would have been “blacked out.”

Cough it up to another carriage agreement whiff between the direct broadcast satellite services provider and an owner of a cable or TV station.

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