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Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC requests the substitution of channel 15 for channel 5.

Bill Sanders, a second-generation Iowa broadcaster and a former chair of the NAB Radio Board, has died. He was 77.

According to his obituary, “His work life started and ended in the world of radio broadcasting.”

Sanders grew up around KICD in Spencer, Iowa, which was owned by his father Ben. Sanders eventually purchased the station and served as general manager until retiring in 2000.

Bill Sanders (photo via Warner Funeral Homes & Crematory)

KICD, now owed by Saga Communications, posted an appreciation that includes audio clips of Sanders. It noted that the station was owned by the Sanders family for 54 years.

Sanders was also a former board member and president of the Iowa Broadcasters Association and was inducted into the Iowa Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He served on the NAB Radio Board in the late 1980s and was chairman of the board from 1989–90.

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He was also former chairman of the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, which honored the longtime broadcaster with a special achievement award, and a former member of the advisory board of the Associated Press.

The obituary said Sanders was diagnosed over time with several rare cancers, starting in 1984.

“He was the most optimistic person on earth and he oozed positivity every single day,” the obituary read. “The man never had a bad day. Even when the cancers took away his ability to smile/laugh/eat/drink and talk he continued to look forward. He was not going to let the disfigurations stop him from living life to its fullest.” [Read the obituary.]

The post Former Iowa Broadcaster Bill Sanders Dies appeared first on Radio World.

The GM of Gray Television‘s NBC affiliate in Louisville, formerly the head of its WVUE-8 in New Orleans, is being promoted to a senior-level position.

At the same time, Gray has created the position of Regional Vice President/General Manager and is elevating five General Managers into this new role.

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Until this morning, the ninth work stoppage in Major League Baseball history appeared to gain investor angst on Wall Street, with an Opening Day delay poised to eat into Bally Sports revenue, thus impacting Sinclair Broadcast Group shares.

At the Closing Bell on Nasdaq, SBGI was down 7.1% to $26.04.

Friday could be a big rebound day for the stock. Some 45 minutes before the end of Thursday’s trading, the 99-day lockout appeared to be over.

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There are no more fall Radio Shows, but the NAB Marconi Radio Awards will still be held in the autumn.

The National Association of Broadcasters says its 2022 Marconi presentation will take place during NAB Show New York in October.

April Carty-Sipp, executive vice president of industry affairs at NAB, said the move makes sense given the “prime location and ideal timing in the fall when the Marconis have traditionally been presented.”

“We look forward to celebrating the best in radio in October.”

The awards honor radio stations and on-air personalities for excellence in radio broadcasting. The nomination window will open in May. NAB Show New York will take place at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

The post Marconi Awards Move to NAB Show New York appeared first on Radio World.

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USSI Global says it has completed the first phase of its project management services for Intelsat’s C-band clearing and relocation activities.

“Completed in October 2021, USSI Global provided logistics and field services that were essential in supporting Intelsat’s customer service transitions, technology upgrades and earth station filtering required to meet the aggressive Phase I schedule as mandated by the FCC’s Report and Order,” the company said in a press release.

It is working with Intelsat and other satellite companies to relocate radio, TV and other contribution and distribution services to a different part of the C-band spectrum. The FCC’s initiative is opening 300 MHz of the C-band for 5G mobile services by the end of 2023.

[Related: “USSI Global Supports SES in C-Band Transition”]

Intelsat hired USSI Global as one of its vendors to manage the transition. The vendor said it started with contacting the owners of 2,500 sites to inventory their antennas and assess the needed transition work.

A closeup of an Intelsat satellite dish.

“USSI Global’s program management and logistics team subsequently handled all equipment procurement and logistics for these sites,” the press release read, “ensuring that systems were delivered in alignment with transitional deadlines.”

Its technical staff installed 5G passband filters and antennas at about 300 sites. New satellite IRDs were installed at some programmer affiliate sites to facilitate an upgrade in compression technology.

Phase II will start shortly and require about three times as many sites and antennas to be transitioned, the company added.

The post USSI Global Preps for Phase II for Intelsat appeared first on Radio World.

With CEO Ed Christian “unscripted” and sharing with investors and Wall Street analysts “what happens in the kitchen” in describing how Saga Communications gets its revenue each quarter, SVP/Operations Chris Forgy offered a peek at what the company’s top three ad categories were in the final quarter of 2021.

At the same time, CFO Sam Bush shared details on something Forgy praised as “beautiful” to Saga’s bottom line — its Local Direct prowess.

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A 19-year veteran Allen Media Group employee who first joined as Vice President of Advertising Sales has been given the new role of Chief Revenue Officer.

Before his 2003 arrival at the Byron Allen-owned operation, he spent over a decade in national broadcast buying.

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Of the broadcast media companies offering rich dividends, Saga Communications has consistently delivered, with the company’s stock going ex-Dividend on March 21 and a $0.16 per share award scheduled for an April 8 delivery.

In Q4 2021, the numbers were good, showing across-the-board improvement from 2020. That said, Saga still has a way to go to return to 2019 — or 2018 — dollar totals.

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There’s been much chatter about where the presentation of the 2022 NAB Marconi Radio Awards will be, now that the Radio Show has been abandoned, with sessions integrated into the annual NAB Show schedule.

The honors won’t be in Las Vegas in late April. Rather, they will be held on a Wednesday evening in mid-October as part of NAB Show New York.

The awards, which honor radio stations and on-air personalities for excellence in radio broadcasting, will take place during a special dinner program at NAB Show New York on October 19, 2022 at the Javits Center.

Established in 1989 and named after inventor and Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi, the NAB Marconi Radio Awards have emerged as a signature awards program for the Radio industry.

For those questioning the choice of NAB Show New York for the awards dinner, NAB EVP of Industry Affairs April Carty-Sipp replies, “NAB Show New York is the perfect venue for the Marconi Radio Awards with its prime location and ideal timing in the fall when the Marconis have traditionally been presented. We look forward to celebrating the best in radio in October.”

The entry window for the 2022 NAB Marconi Radio Awards nominations will be May 1-31.

DALLAS — A 98,000-watt Class C FM signal that covers the northern half of the sprawling Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and the Oklahoma cities of Ardmore and Durant has officially transitioned from talk about hoops and passes to Biblical teaching, Sacred Music and “Informative News.”

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The NUG@NAB Radio Technology Forum will be back for 2022.

Prior to the start of each spring NAB show, Nautel hosts the Nautel User Group (NUG), a technology forum that brings together notable industry speakers and company personnel to discuss broadcast transmission best practices, challenges and trends in technology.

In years past, the event has included guest speakers, updates on important industry milestones, tips and tricks, and a Q&A session. Radio World Editor in Chief Paul McLane is among the speakers.

The event wraps up with a networking lunch.

Starting this year, attendance at the NUG@NAB event qualifies for a 0.5 credit toward SBE recertification in Category H (attendance at a factory school or in-station learning environment). After the event, an optional session will offer an in-depth introduction to Natuel’s new HTML5 Advanced User Interface.

This year the event will be held on Sunday, April 24, 2022, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. PDT at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. Those interested in attending the free event — which is open to anyone interested in radio transmission — can register online.

The post NUG@NAB Ready to Roll in Las Vegas in April appeared first on Radio World.

When it came time for questions from financial analysts who cover Townsquare Media to ask questions, the focus was on pacings and on Automotive category performance. CEO Bill Wilson and the company’s Chief Financial Officer obliged, and the situation regarding Auto dollars in 2022 isn’t a great one.

At the same time, Townsquare’s top two executives talked up their company’s underappreciated value to Wall Street.

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The latest Share of Ear report from Edison Research reveals radio continues to dominate in several key areas.

But can one go so far as to say that AM/FM radio shares are pandemic proof?

The fourth quarter 2021 report examines American audio listenership in several ways, including examining ad-supported audio use among key voter segments and by location and demographic.

Cumulus Media and Westwood One’s Audio Active Group recently dug into the data.

Among the conclusions is that AM/FM radio continues to grab a sizable share of registered voters’ listening time. When calculating the share of ad-supported audio time spent among persons aged 18 and older, registered voters who were surveyed by Edison say they spend 75% of that audio time listening to AM/FM radio. Those numbers fall significantly when compared to other outlets: 11% for podcasts and into the single digits for the ad-supported platforms Pandora, SiriusXM and Spotify.

Radio’s share among registered voters and by party. (Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group)

The report also revealed that AM/FM radio leads when tracked across major demographics. Leading the charge are those aged 35–64 who say they spend 79% of their ad-supported listening time with AM/FM radio. Persons aged 25–54 fall in the second range with 72% of time spent with radio, followed by ages 18–49 (66%) and ages 18–34 (59%).

In comparison, the age group spending the largest percentage of time listening to podcasts is those 18–34s at 21% followed by 17% for those aged 18–49, 13% for those aged 25–54 and 9% for those aged 35–64.

[Read past coverage of the Share of Ear report]

But what about the charge that AM/FM radio shares are pandemic proof? An analysis of the report by Brittany Faison, insights manager for the Audio Active Group of Cumulus Media | Westwood One, found that time spent listening to AM/FM radio changed relatively little — 79% to 76% — from 2019 to 2021. Compare that with a drop in listening to an audio service like Pandora, which saw its numbers fall from 8% in 2019 to 6% in 2021.

One area of growth? Podcasting, which almost doubled from 6% to 11%.

The report also found that in the car, AM/FM radio leads ad-supported audio across all age groups with AM/FM radio accounting for 84% and 88% of their time spent listening to ad-supported audio. By comparison, podcasts at best get 8% of listening and ad-supported streaming between 1% and 5%.

Ad-Supported Audio TSL by Demographic Group (Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group)

The analysis by Faison found that advertisers looking to reach people in their car with advertising should seriously consider those in-car ad-supported listening stats.

“When it comes to ad-supported audio in the car, AM/FM radio is the ‘queen of the road’ with shares in the mid to upper 80s across every buying demographic,” wrote Faison. “Looking at ad-supported audience shares in the car, even among persons 18–34, AM/FM radio’s share is a whopping 84% — 84 times larger than Spotify’s one share.”

Faison also noted the importance of considering online streaming. Over the past six years, the proportion of AM/FM radio listening occurring via online streaming has risen from 8% to 14%, with Nielsen finding that 10% of radio listening is to the AM dial.

“Currently, there is more radio listening occurring via the stream (14%) than the entire AM dial,” Faison wrote. “Smart advertisers should allocate 14 cents out of every dollar spent on AM/FM radio to the station stream.”

AM/FM Radio Listening: Over the Air vs. Streaming (Edison Research)

AM/FM radio also leads ad-supported listening on smart speakers with a 43% share, the report revealed. With 40% of U.S. homes now owning a smart speaker, AM/FM has been brought back into the home.

The report also revealed other key details, such as the fact that podcasts and certain online listening services seem to skew higher in larger markets when compared to other services.

Radio World invites industry-oriented commentaries. Send to Radio World.

The post Latest Share of Ear Report Indicates Radio’s Strengths appeared first on Radio World.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday said yes to a more than half-billion-dollar advance funding funnel for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in fiscal year 2024.

It’s part of a 2022 omnibus appropriations package that includes a sizable chunk of money to establish at FEMA the “Next Generation Warning System.”

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The fourth quarter earnings parade, after a brief pause, resumed Thursday (3/10) with the pre-dawn release of Townsquare Media‘s fiscal results for the final three months of 2021.

How did the “local first” company that derives much of its revenue from digital, rather than its small to mid-size market radio stations, perform? “A strong Q4 finish with great momentum for 2022” is how the company describes its financial health report.

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It serves an area of Appalachia between Roanoke and Lynchburg, Va., with 6,000 watts, focusing on Bedford and its surrounding communities. And, until March 1, it was a simulcast partner with a co-owned Oldies station focused on Lynchburg, owned by Lynchburg Radio Group.

That shared programming has ended. In its place: KLOVE, as Educational Media Foundation has acquired the property.

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The author leads a tour of the ATSC booth at the 2022 International CES (Image credit: ATSC)

Triple vaxxed, masked, and fully caffeinated, we broke through the clouds over the Nevada desert in early January not certain what would await us at what had been the world’s largest trade show. While CES normally brings more than 170,000 to Las Vegas, no one knew how many would venture to America’s playground in the midst of a pandemic. And while attendance was down 75% over 2020, there were still more than 45,000 people from all over the world who did what they needed to do to reach Las Vegas for the big show.

CES was prepared. They’d struck a deal with Abbott Laboratories to be a show sponsor, and Abbott’s COVID rapid tests were available at badge pickup. The show also made the decision to require proof of vaccination and to move registration lines away from the Las Vegas Convention Center. So that meant badge and COVID test pickup at the airport or at the big hotels.

Same experience as before, but with a mask
I usually need a rental car during large events, and the entire process of waiting for luggage, riding to the rental car facility, and finding my wheels was easy enough — just a masked experience. Check-in at the hotel was straightforward, and no one looked happier to see me than the hospitality community so dependent on tourists and conventioneers.

We always arrive for CES and for the NAB Show a few days before most of the crowd, for exhibit setup. Aside from the requirements about masking and staying socially distant, there wasn’t much change from previous years. [Since CES, Nevada has lifted its state-wide indoor mask mandate. As of Feb. 24, the NAB Show still recommends masks for all exhibitors, attendees and staff at the show. —eds.]

NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt (left) met up with the author during CES. (Image credit: NAB)

While at CES, I did run into newly-minted NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt who was at the show to talk with CES exhibitors to find out why they stuck with the show, even during the rise of the omicron variant. LeGeyt said he was pleasantly surprised at how upbeat people were — from behind a mask — and how engaged attendees were, in turn. The reaction gives him reasons for optimism about April’s NAB Show.

In short, while there were certainly fewer people in attendance, the people who came to CES this year were very serious about business. One of my business contacts had to get permission to attend from the Israeli government. It took four tries, but he finally got the green light to leave (and to come back). And if there was one thing that surprised me most about CES 2022, it was the number of international visitors who made the trip. I had wrongly assumed that this would mostly be a show of U.S. attendees and companies.

Even the big government affairs dinner at CES was well attended. The evening reception was held outdoors at the Wynn. Dinner was inside, and people were seated in a socially distanced manner and truly happy just to see each other after so much isolation.

On the show floor, while some big exhibitors put up static displays and kept staff at home, others took a different tactic. Samsung did things the smart way, choosing to have a fully-manned and complete exhibit but borrowing a page from Disney theme parks and controlling exhibit attendance by assigning times for visitation. I never expected to have a “fast pass” for a CES display, but the system worked well.

Any big city has experienced disruptions in commerce because of COVID-19, and Las Vegas is no different. The Starbucks and restaurant in the Grand Lobby of the Convention Center had greatly reduced hours and similarly, the complimentary breakfast at our hotel was slim pickings because of the number of cancellations and probably because of staffing issues.

Big changes in store for NAB Show
Those returning to the LVCC for the 2022 NAB Show will find some big changes — some really big changes — in store. The biggest one is the billion dollar (with a “B”) expansion of the convention center itself. The new West Hall now stands where the Landmark Hotel was felled for the movie “Mars Attacks.” In place of the parking lots just across Paradise Road from North Hall rises the mammoth West Hall, itself looking like a UFO from another planet. It’s a beautiful expansion of the already-enormous LVCC, linked by both a pedestrian walkway and a space-age underground transportation network.

(Image credit: Las Vegas News Bureau)

The NAB Show will use the West Hall for the first time this year, housing pavilions like the “Future of Delivery,” “Connect Experiential Zone,” and Futures Park. If you need your Dunkin’ fix, rather than Starbucks, you can head to West Hall’s food court.

But the big change is underground. While the rest of the world was locked down during the pandemic, construction crews were busy finishing both the above-ground and below-grade expansions at the LVCC.

The Vegas Loop now connects, in figure-8 form, the new West Hall with a Central Hall Plaza underground transportation station and a similar arrival station at the back of South Hall (near parking lots for cars). The Loop is powered by a network of Tesla electric cars, which are human driven and not autonomous — for now.

The Las Vegas Loop is powered by a network of Tesla electric cars, which are human driven and not autonomous — for now. (Image credit: CTA)

This is the beginning of an underground network of bored tunnels created by Elon Musk’s Boring Company. Ascending into the subterranean world in the formerly grassy area outside Central Hall, you enter a world that looks like the Batcave — if the Batmobile was a Tesla.

A friendly driver can whisk you to the far reaches of the convention center in a couple of minutes — but that’s just the first step in a planned 20-mile, 50-plus station network of underground tunnels that might someday connect the airport to the LVCC and hotels in between. Expansions of the Loop are already in the works to bring visitors to the Wynn/Encore from the LVCC (finally!) and also over to the sparkling new Resorts World complex.

Las Vegas continues to evolve and change. When the Stardust opened in 1958, it proclaimed itself the world’s largest hotel — with more than 1,000 rooms. In its place today, the Conrad and Hilton hotels that anchor the Resorts World complex have three times that many rooms and a ritzy shopping mall, to boot — it’s worth a visit.

The MSG (Madison Square Garden) Sphere is under construction behind the Venetian, which will someday soon seat more than 17,000 people at arena events. The “Sands” moniker has disappeared from the convention center at the Venetian, quietly removed a few months ago.

We enjoyed some of the new sites, including a nightcap at Resorts World, tacos at Taco El Gordo (which all of a sudden is at the heart of the revitalization of the area near the West Hall), and a visit to the near Area 15 Entertainment Complex — an immersive art and bar scene that includes the latest outpost from artisans at Meow Wolf. If avant garde art isn’t your thing, then maybe axe throwing or a Jules Verne-style distillery will be!

In short, bring your sense of humor along with your mask to Las Vegas. The people of Las Vegas — and the people who bring you the NAB Show — are ready to have you back.

To register for the NAB Show, April 23-27 in Las Vegas, visit http://nabshow.com/2022/.

Dave Arland is president of Arland Communications and executive director of the Indiana Broadcasters Association.

The post Who Attends a Las Vegas Trade Show During a Pandemic? appeared first on Radio World.

A web-based tool that allows newsrooms to search transcripts of local government meetings is one of the winners of the 2022 PILOT Innovation Challenge.

The National Association of Broadcasters announced the recipients of its contest on Mar. 8, 2022.

“Minutes,” created by Michigan Radio, saves time on research and gives reporters the ability to create deeper, more relevant stories for audiences, NAB wrote in the announcement.

Also relevant to radio is Blueprint CRM from Townsquare Media, a customer relationship management platform for broadcasters. It is optimized for ease of use and has tools for prospecting, managing relationships and garnering insights.

“The vision for the Blueprint system is to combine the best technology with the unique insights and strategies developed over the past decade building the Townsquare Media business,” NAB wrote.

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

The third winner is Spalk’s Virtual Sportscasting Studio, which NAB says allows for remote production of network-quality live sports programming. “Spalk will work with faculty and students at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University to produce high-quality, remote commentary and play-by-play to broadcast live sporting events on their channels.

This allows local broadcasters to produce COVID-19 safe, low-cost, high-quality content which leads to expanded local sports coverage and new revenue opportunities.”

Winners will receive mentorship, feedback, travel support and exhibit space at the NAB Show.

[For More News on the NAB Show See Our NAB Show News Page]

The judges gave honorable mentions to Teamium, a smart project resource management system for production teams, and TVadSync, a platform for broadcasters “to collect first-party ATSC 3.0 viewing data, analyze viewing behaviors and attribute advertising to business outcomes.”

The announcement was made by PILOT Executive Director John Clark.

The post PILOT Announces Innovation Challenge Winners appeared first on Radio World.