Industry News

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.

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.

“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.