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The regional Great Lakes Media Show is planning to welcome back attendees in person at its annual event in March.

The two-day show — sponsored by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters (MAB) on March 2 and 3 at the Lansing Center in Lansing, Mich. — gathers Michigan broadcast and media industry leaders for an event that includes a series of technical and educational sessions, a career fair and a roster of speakers.

Events for smaller, specific groups are being held on March 2, including an engineering seminar, a session for public media news directors and several exhibitor events. On March 3, the exhibit hall will open followed by a economics management panel; a session on ransomware for engineers and managers, a media career fair; and a series of sales, management and marketing sessions.

As a regional event, the Great Lakes Show will give attendees time to delve into issues such as recruitment, enhancing employee engagement through inclusive leadership, sales strategy tips and how best to cover breaking news when you have limited staff on hand.

[Check Out More Events on Radio World’s Calendar]

“Our goal is to not only provide our members — more than 320 TV and radio stations — with continuing education opportunities and recognition through our awards program, but also the chance to engage with one another and share ideas,” said Sam Klemet, president elect of the MAB.

“We host sessions for our engineers, managers, on-air staff, programmers and sales staff and these sessions help these individuals stay ahead of what’s coming in broadcasting and to learn some of the technical skills needed to keep their stations strong.”

Klemet said the MAB also devotes time at the conference to recognize outstanding achievements by students starting their careers in broadcasting, as well as to honor annual scholarship recipients. Each year, the MAB Foundation awards more than $25,000 to students to support their broadcast education.

The event wraps up on Monday night with a Broadcast Excellence Awards reception and ceremony. In addition to broadcasters and media groups, registration for the event is open students, parents and educators.

MAB says it will follow CDC guidelines for COVID-19 prevention and health safety at the time of the show. Details will be posted on its website closer to the event.

Submit news about your event to radioworld@futurenet.com.

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Public speaking is a vital skill to have if you want to make a difference in the world, says “Zoom” expert and veteran public relations executive Rosemary Ravinal. “It is known as the foundation of leadership,” she writes in a new column. “We do it to establish authority, persuade people to our point of view, educate, inspire, and advance our careers and businesses.” But what about private speaking—the kind we do with family, friends, and neighbors? “This is the kind of speaking you need to be a better parent, to have great relationships, to be a real friend or simply be someone who makes people stop and listen,” she says. It could very much help you in professional situations, too.

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Radio World is taking an in-depth look at “The Infinite Dial UK 2021” report this week.

Podcasting was the final topic raised during Edison Research’s “The Infinite Dial UK 2021” webinar.]

Hosted by Edison Research President Larry Rosen, the Dec. 2, 2021, webinar shared the findings of the Infinite Dial UK report, which was based on 1,000 telephone interviews with U.K. residents 16 and older during the fourth quarter of 2021.

“Podcasting has been the hottest topic in the world of audio now for several years,” said Rosen. “I think all of you will find this part really interesting.”

Podcasting Awareness in Australia, Canada, U.S. and U.K. (Courtesy Edison Research)

Seventy-one percent of U.K. listeners 16+ are familiar with podcasts, he said. Breaking this down by age group, it was 73 percent for people aged 16–34, 72 percent for 35–54, and 67 percent for 55+.

This compares to 92 percent (16+) awareness with podcasts in Australia, and 78 percent in Canada and the U.S. (18+ and 16+ respectively).

[Read more of our coverage of the “Infinite Dial” report]

“Fifty-nine percent of everyone in the U.K. say they’ve ever listened to a podcast,” said Rosen. This breaks down to “63 percent of 16- to 34-year-olds, 61 percent of 35- to 54-year-olds and 54 percent of those aged 55 and older.”

Interestingly, “even though awareness of podcasting is lower in the U.K. compared to the U.S., the percentage of people who say they’ve ever listened to a podcast is a couple points higher,” he said. “Fifty-nine percent in the U.K. (16+) is a couple points higher than our 2021 estimate here in the USA (16+) of 57 percent.” Podcast listenership in Australia was 60 percent (16+), and 57 percent in Canada (18+).

Meanwhile, “41 percent of everyone in the U.K. saying, ‘Yes, I’ve listened to a podcast in the last month,’ is pretty equal across the age groups,” Rosen said. The value ranged from 38 percent among those 55+ to 44 percent for 35–54.

“And how does that compare to the United States? Well, that’s actually bang on exactly the same: 41 percent is our USA estimate (16+) for 2021.” Australia comes in at 36 percent (16+) and Canada at 38 percent (18+).

“My understanding is that monetization of podcasts or the podcasting business has not developed to quite the same level in the U.K. as seen been seen in the United States,” said Rosen. “Maybe this graph can be part of the impetus for more money coming into the space. As people can see, our estimate for monthly usage of podcasting in the U.K. is exactly the same as what we get in the United States. You also see that the estimates in the U.K. is higher than our estimates for Canada or, Australia tied with USA, for the highest of these four countries. So, any theories that people have that podcasts lag in the U.K. is just not supported by our Infinite Dial report.”

The British podcast audience is 51 percent female and 49 percent male, he said, while the U.K. population is split 50/50 along these lines. As well, “the people who are in that 41 percent listen to podcasts have exactly the same age profile as the total population.”

Composition of Monthly Podcast Listening by Age in U.S. and U.K. (Courtesy Edison Research)

Larry Rosen then outlined weekly podcast listening in the UK. “25 percent of everyone in the U.K. age 16 and older said, they’ve listened to a podcast in the last week” he said. “In this case, the numbers a little bit behind our USA estimate for this year (16+) which was 29 percent, but higher than our 2020 estimate.” Australia’s rate was 26 percent (16+), while Canada was 23 percent (18+).

Rosen closed the Infinite Dial UK 2021 webinar by asking how many podcast episodes respondents listened to the week before being surveyed. This came out to a weekly average of five per person, with about a third of people saying four or five episodes and another third saying six to ten episodes. Only 1 percent of respondents said they downloaded 11 or more episodes during in the prior week.

“We get a very similar estimate in the U.K. as what we see in the United States,” said Rosen (no numbers were provided). He continued by emphasizing that, “on average people who listened to any (podcasts) are listening to five podcasts episodes in the last week. And that shows that this is a robust medium that deserves the attention.”

Rosen closed the webinar by reiterating his earlier point: “I hope that we’ll see the same kind of investment in the U.K. podcasting market that we’ve seen in the United States, and that maybe the Infinite Dial UK can help bring that across.”

Part 1: “First-Ever ‘Infinite Dial UK’ Survey Provides Insights for U.K. Radio”
Part 2: “‘Infinite Dial UK’ Details U.K. Radio Listening, Ownership”
Part 3: “‘Infinite Dial UK’ Digs into U.K. Online Audio”
Part 4: “‘Infinite Dial UK’ Looks at In-Car Media”
Part 5: “U.K. Likes Podcasts Finds ‘Infinite Dial UK’”

The post U.K. Likes Podcasts Finds ‘Infinite Dial UK’ appeared first on Radio World.

To help the Federal Communications Commission deal with the influx of applications received during the November 2021 filing window for new noncommercial education FM stations, the commission took the step of weeding out those applications with flaws and dismissing a section of those with technical defects.

The application window was a popular one — the bureau received 1,282 applications for new NCE FM stations. As the bureau began to review the applications, Media Bureau staff identified mutually exclusive (MX) groups and singletons (those applications that are not mutually exclusive with other applications filed in the window).

[See Our Business and Law Page]

The bureau also announced, in a Public Notice on Dec. 8, it was taking the step of dismissing singletons that were defective. According to the bureau, 75 of singleton applications submitted have technical issues.

Applications were dismissed for various reasons including a second-adjacent channel violation, antenna power output that exceeds the FCC’s 15 dB limit and insufficient broadcast coverage of a city.

But even though those 75 applications have been dismissed, each of the applicants has an opportunity to file a curative amendment and petition for reconsideration. Those petitions must be filed within 30 days of the dismissals. For an application to be reinstated, the amendment must correct the defects, propose only minor changes, comply with the commission rules and not create new application conflicts.

Amendments should be filed electronically through the FCC’s Licensing and Management System using Schedule 340.

The post FCC Winnows Applications in NCE FM Filing Window appeared first on Radio World.

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Entravision Holdings, LLC Consent Decree

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Univision Radio Stations Group, Inc. enters into consent decree to resolve political file investigation

It’s always great to chat with a media broker about the deal-making environment for radio and TV. From our vantage point it’s … um … pretty terrible. A Class A in New York just got sold for $51 million less than it was purchased for. There’s a squabble in Orlando between a $6 million valuation for a FM that covers the metro and a $10 million asking price for it.

What is Bob Heymann’s assessment of where FM station valuations are, and is that seriously harming the marketplace for a longer period than some may have anticipated? That’s just one question he responds to in the latest RBR+TVBR InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Bob Heymann” on Spreaker.

The buyer may be tied to Tennessee, but it is seeking FCC approval to own an unbuilt construction permit for a low-power television facility in the city that is home to the University of Florida.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pair of House Democrats have teamed together to reintroduce legislation that they say is designed to ensure that community television operations continue to receive the resources they need to educate and inform viewers in the cities and towns where they operate.

Companion legislation was also introduced by a pair of Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

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The FCC’s Media Bureau continues to work fast and furious on adopting orders and, in many cases, handing licensees a forfeiture notice — a move that could bring the Commission hundreds of thousands of dollars, put toward its annual operating budget.

Now, the Commission has signed off on two Consent Decrees — with no financial penalty, or contribution to the U.S. Treasury, to worry about — handed to a pair of broadcasting companies devoted to super-serving Spanish-language listeners.

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NEW YORK — Advanced television advertising company OpenAP has brought to market a new cross-platform measurement framework backed by national TV publishers that is designed to provide advertisers with more choice in measurement tools.

How so? XPm can help facilitate “an open and independent measurement ecosystem,” OpenAP says.

For TV publishers, the benefit is a “common solution to proactively deliver on marketplace demands,” OpenAP notes. Importantly, it shifts TV from siloed measurement of
linear and streaming viewership to ID-based targeting and measurement.

XPm is being described by OpenAP as the collective TV publisher response to the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) call to evolve to a cross-screen media measurement framework for marketers.

As OpenAP explains, XPm is built on the central TV identity spine, OpenID, and powers the sharing of campaign exposure data with third-party measurement companies in privacy safe environments. The framework enables the resolution of data to OpenIDs so that unified ID-based audiences can be used for both targeting and measurement, and it facilitates cross-platform reporting on campaigns that span multiple publishers across both linear and premium digital video viewing environments. As a result, advertisers whose campaign was run using OpenIDs will benefit from post-campaign XPm reporting insights that include baseline metrics such as deduplicated unique cross-platform reach, total cross-platform impressions and average frequency per OpenID reached.

OpenAP CEO David Levy notes, “Holistic cross-screen advertising has been an elusive challenge that publishers, measurement providers and advertisers alike have been grappling with for too long. New innovations have made it possible to use the same IDs for campaign targeting and as for measurement, giving marketers the ability to understand not only how many people were reached but who specifically was reached across all screens. We believe cross-platform measurement at the ID level is the future for TV advertising, and we’re thrilled to link arms with our partners to bring optionality and more choice of solutions to market.”

The VAB, as part of its new Measurement Innovation Task Force, will operate as the governing body of XPm in order to create common standards and establish controls on how data is used on behalf of TV publishers. Measurement company requirements will be defined by the Task Force, with all solutions subject to validation and verification by the VAB to ensure transparency of methodology and technical integration with OpenID.

Participating XPm measurement companies include Comscore, iSpot, Nielsen, VideoAmp and 605, with Innovid offering enhancements to digital measurement for use in XPm reporting. GroupM, dentsu and Horizon Media have also joined as the first agencies to pilot the framework for XPm reporting insights.

VAB President/CEO Sean Cunningham notes, “This is a seminal moment for the TV ecosystem, which is only just at the beginning of an era of tremendous innovation, collaboration and transparency. The future of video advertising will be built on and shaped by modern measurement solutions that allow for competition in the marketplace and more choice for advertisers — which is delivered by this initiative on an open stage. The coming months and year ahead will be defined as a period of game-changing advancement for our industry.”

In development since early 2020, XPm has undergone what OpenAP calls “an extensive development stage to establish the necessary connections with measurement companies, data providers and publisher systems and entered beta in late summer 2021. “OpenAP will collaborate with all involved parties in a continued XPm reporting beta period to review
data, test results and collect further inputs from both publishers and advertisers ahead of the target launch of XPm reporting in Q1 2022,” it notes.

(PODCAST BUSINESS JOURNAL) — Some 125 members working in the iHeartPodcast Network division say they “have been encouraged to embrace the dynamism of start-up culture without any of the associated benefits.”

They have signed union cards to organize with the Writers Guild of America.

Specifically, The Writers Guild of America, East has called on management to voluntarily recognize the union. iHeartMedia corporate had no comment on the matter. Podcast Business Journal asked the Writers Guild for specific names behind the letter (below); the co-owned publication to Radio + Television Business Report was told to attribute it to “the iHeartPodcast Union.”

CEO Bob Pittman has said during iHeartMedia earnings calls that the podcast division is profitable for the company. The company reported $156 million in podcast revenue through the first nine months of 2021.

The approximately 125-member iHeartPodcast Network Bargaining Committee includes producers, editors, researchers, writers, and hosts based in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York City.

The iHeartPodcast Network includes shows such as “Stuff You Should Know,” “Fake Doctors, Real Friends,” “The Ron Burgundy Podcast,” and “Disgraceland.”

Here’s the letter the iHeartPodcast Union wrote to management: We, the podcast producers, editors, researchers, writers, and hosts of iHeartMedia, are thrilled to announce that we are unionizing with the Writers Guild of America, East. Months of discussion with our colleagues have clarified some things: First, we love the community we have created at iHeart. We work shoulder to shoulder with some of the most creative minds in the business, who have come to feel more like family. We are devoted and passionate storytellers who take pride in our ability to provide our listeners with entertaining, thought-provoking audio content and, most importantly, companionship. However, during difficult times, we are reminded that while the iHeart Digital Audio Group prides itself on its relative autonomy and ability to adapt to the shifting needs of the marketplace—much like a start-up—we work under the capacity constraints of a legacy broadcast conglomerate. Essentially, we have been encouraged to embrace the dynamism of start-up culture without any of the associated benefits.  Throughout the unprecedented challenges of the last two years, we managed to seamlessly transition to remote work; our adaptability helped the company not just sustain, but thrive during a period of economic uncertainty and social unrest. During team calls, town halls, and official email communications from leadership, we are frequently reminded of the financial gains that we helped make possible. Bob Pittman, CEO and Chairman of iHeartMedia, reported during last month’s quarterly earnings call that Digital Audio revenue increased by 77 percent compared to 2020. Our division’s significant growth was “driven primarily by continuing increases in demand for digital advertising and the continued growth of podcasting,” where revenue is up 184 percent compared to 2020.  Unfortunately, those gains have not reached the creators working round-the-clock to keep our audience of more than 30 million monthly listeners actively engaged. With hundreds of shows across all categories and genres, many of us are doing the work of multiple employees, and the huge volume of content we are responsible for is not met with equitable compensation. Furthermore, we lack transparency in workplace decision making, meaningful initiatives toward diversity and inclusion, fairness in managerial relationships, and clarity in divisions of labor. While we are proud to be an essential part of iHeartMedia’s success over the past few years, we are keenly aware of significant internal pay disparities between similarly positioned individuals within the company. And across the board, iHeartMedia’s overall compensation and benefits standards are wholly insufficient when compared to the greater podcast and scripted audio market.  Due to these working conditions, the creators of iHeart’s podcasts have banded together in order to help determine the best path forward so that iHeart can remain competitive, retain existing talent, and attract new voices to the network, all while creating a more equitable, transparent, and democratic workplace. Key elements of these goals include, but are not limited to:  Appropriate compensation and benefits
Accountability mechanisms regarding diversity and inclusion efforts
Manageable workloads and appropriate staffing for shows
Clear paths for advancement and standardized job descriptions
Job security  We ask that iHeart leadership voluntarily recognize our union, and we look forward to working with our company’s leadership throughout the bargaining process to reach these objectives. In doing so, we can ensure that iHeart’s growth remains sustainable and that we retain our position as an industry leader.  

 

Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East, added, “We are pleased to welcome the storytellers at the iHeartPodcast Network to the Guild. A union is vital to  ensuring podcast workers are able to build sustainable careers in an industry where their contributions have been essential to the sector’s continued rapid growth.”

 

Nielsen’s Gracenote has unveiled Audience Predict, a new content analytics tool that forecasts the potential future performance of entertainment programming.

Audience Predict draws on Gracenote content metadata, Nielsen audience measurement data and advanced machine learning technology to provide content distributors and owners with predictive insights to help maximize their return on programming investments, the company said.

Audience Predict joins Inclusion Analytics in Gracenote’s new Content Analytics suite of offerings designed to help companies better understand what to produce, whom to cast and where to place programming to maximize audience reach and return on investment, Gracenote said.

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

“The media ecosystem primarily associates Gracenote with advanced search and content discovery enabling TV providers to connect viewers to programming, but our industry-leading entertainment metadata and IDs have equally strong applications powering new analytics which inform smarter business decisions,” said Simon Adams, Gracenote chief product officer.

“By helping the content community see into the future around program performance today, we’re helping them solve one of the most vexing issues they face — distribution complexity. This expands our larger Content Analytics offerings which help the entire media industry make more informed decisions,” Adams said.

Audience Predict analyzes relationships between streaming service or network distribution outlets and the anticipated potential program performance utilizing years of proprietary Nielsen viewership data, the company said.

The solution forecasts potential audience size, composition, reach, and viewing minutes under different distribution scenarios by considering program genre and drop patterns for streaming content or airdate, airtime and lead-in for linear content. Using machine learning, the model will iteratively improve and can be trained to output new program performance metrics based on customer needs.

In addition, Gracenote said Audience Predict can help content creators and owners identify the most potentially advantageous streaming platforms or networks for their content and develop compelling program packages for target buyers. The solution enables data-driven decision-making on program acquisitions, renewals or cancellations for streaming and linear content distributors, forecasting which shows have the potential to draw the largest overall audience or best target segments.

Submit business announcements to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Nielsen’s Gracenote Launches New Audience Prediction Tool appeared first on Radio World.

NEW YORK — Hearst Television‘s Senior Director of Finance, based at the company’s New York City headquarters, has been promoted to Vice President.

Earning the new role: a 31-year finance veteran at Hearst Television.

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(Flag-map courtesy Wikicommons)

Under a motion approved Dec. 7 by the Council of States, the upper house of the Swiss bicameral legislature, FM stations would be allowed to operate in the country until at least 90 percent of all radio listening in the country happens digitally via DAB+ or webcasting. The proposal must still be approved by the National Council before it is considered by the Swiss executive branch.

Currently, all FM licenses in the European nation are scheduled to expire at the end of 2024 by which time stations are expected to have completed the transition to DAB+. Between now and then, FM stations can voluntarily shutter their analog operations.

In August, Swiss media regulator BAKOM set Dec. 31, 2024, as the FM shutoff date for the country. The regulator had targeted an earlier date for the complete switchover to DAB+, but stations in the French-speaking portion of the country were not as far along with the transition as their counterparts in the German- and Italian-speaking cantons.

[Previously: “Swiss FM Shutdown Reverts to Original 2024 Date”]

According to a report in the German-language Klein Report, the motion was proposed by Ruedi Noser, an FDP.The Liberals party councilor from Zürich. Noser has long been skeptical of the push to move broadcasters from FM to DAB.

The report notes that even if the 90-percent threshold is approved by the National Council (the Swiss lower house) and the Federal Council, it may not mean much of a reprieve for FM radio in Switzerland. The latest consumer survey by researcher Gfk Switzerland found that about 88 percent of Swiss radio listening happens via digital platforms.

In making the proposal, Noser also asked the Federal Council, the executive branch of the Swiss government, to investigate whether or not DAB+ was an “outdated” standard, comparing to internet radio and mobile streaming services.

“I don’t know whether you have already noticed that practically everything that comes to market today is attached to the Internet. The DAB standard is not an internet standard,” said Noser. “The DAB standard is a separate technical standard for radio — nothing else. Maybe at some point we will have to discuss switching off DAB.”

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

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