Industry News

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the television deal market delivered $4.16 billion deal volume in the first half of 2021.

However, that volume would have been a mere $35 million had it not been for one company: Gray Television.

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Allen Media Group-owned free-streaming platform Local Now has added the first “alpine lifestyle and ski/snowboard culture content TV channel” to the lineup.

It’s the latest example of how “FAST” channels are quickly becoming the visual answer to the fast-growing podcasting industry.

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The FCC has moved forward with a Forfeiture Order that imposes a $512,228 per-station penalty against 17 stations that enjoy shared services agreements with Sinclair Broadcast Group, while reducing a penalty assessed to one licensee but not eliminating it.

This puts the cumulative financial penalty handed to eight individual licensees at $9,007,876, eliciting cheers from DirecTV parent AT&T and pro-MVPD advocacy group American Television Alliance (ATVA).

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Financial markets finished Thursday’s trading sessions on a mixed note, as the Nasdaq rose by 102.01 points to 14,762.58 and the Dow Industrials were off by 127.59 points to 34,930.93.

How did media stocks fare?

Activity was mostly on the rise, with Audacy, iHeartMedia, Beasley Media Group and Salem Media Group all on the rise as Cumulus Media shed 6 cents, finishing at $11.91.

On the TV side, Nexstar, Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Scripps were among the gainers as Dish and Nielsen were down.

WideOrbit, known for its broadcast TV and radio inventory and revenue workflow management products, has initiated a round of executive promotions designed to “better align with, and better serve” its clients.

This sees its President and EVP/Sales stepping down from a role he’s held for 20 years.

Bruce Roberts will remain with WideOrbit, however, as a “mentor to WideOrbit managers,” and as an advisor to WideOrbit founder and CEO Eric Mathewson.

Roberts will also maintain his role as “a significant shareholder of WideOrbit.”

The departure results in Tim Swift adding the role of President to his Chief Operating Officer duties. He’ll continue to focus on improving operational efficiency and “ensuring WideOrbit continues to provide customers with best-in-class support and service,” the company said.

Swift joined WideOrbit in 2018 as VP Integrations after serving as a Controller at KSL-TV in Salt Lake City and as Director of Business Analytics at owner Bonneville International.

Concurrently, Toni Coonce will take on the role of Executive Vice President of Sales for WideOrbit. Coonce joined WideOrbit in 2006 as a TV Account Executive, and later served in the roles of Director of Sales/TV and Vice President of Sales/TV.

Other promotions at WideOrbit see Dave Aston as SVP/National Sales; Rick Dorn as VP/Local Sales; and SVP Don Durand shifting to WideOrbit’s Product division while continuing to consult on International Sales.

Furthermore, Senior Director Megan Tobin has been promoted to Chief Marketing Officer, as Jeff Greenfield has been hired to serve as SVP/Buy Side. He’s the founder and COO of C3 Metrics.

“Bruce’s contribution to both WideOrbit management and revenue growth has been immense,” Mathewson said. “There is no doubt that without Bruce’s sales expertise, charisma, and patience, WideOrbit would not be nearly as successful an organization. Thankfully, we have a talented and deep bench of managers at WideOrbit, and we congratulate those taking on new roles to help WideOrbit clients as we continue to focus on providing our clients world-class software and support.”

 

He began his programming career in 1983 at “The Loop,” specifically WLUP-FM 97.9 in Chicago. Not bad for a 21-year-old who’d go on to program former Adult Alternative KFOG-FM in San Francisco, launched Sports Talker WMVP-AM in Chicago in 1994, and would create crosstown WDRV-FM “The Drive” under Bonneville International ownership in 1997.

Now, Greg Solk is being put in charge of the programming and operations for an entire group of stations in the nation’s third-largest market.

Audacy (formerly Entercom) has promoted Solk to VP of Programming and Operations for its Chicago market, effective August 1.

In this role, Solk will oversee programming and operations strategy for WXRT-FM, WBMX-FM “104.3 JAMS,” WUSN-FM “US99,” WBBM-AM & WCFS-FM, WSCR-AM “The Score” and WBBM-FM “B96.”

Solk has served as Brand Manager of “93XRT,” since 2017. A search for his successor is on.

“Greg has been an invaluable partner who is respected and appreciated by his team at WXRT, across Audacy, and throughout the industry,” said Rachel Williamson, Regional President and Market Manager for Audacy in Chicago. “He has been influential in the success of many of the biggest brands across Chicago and I could not be more excited to promote him into this enhanced role overseeing our Chicago programming strategy.”

Solk said, “The past four and a half years at WXRT have been among the most rewarding of my career — especially the opportunity to work alongside legendary talents. Along with so many others behind the scenes, this team returned WXRT to the top echelon of our great city’s broadcast properties. Now, I look forward to continuing to work with Rachel and our group’s superb brand/programming leaders. Together we will do our best to continue enlightening, entertaining and delighting the millions we serve on our airwaves and through our growing digital channels.”

Solk entered the Audacy family through its tax-free merger with CBS Radio; in February 2017 he was named PD/OM of WXRT and the former WJMK-FM. Before that, he served as SVP/Programming for Hubbard Broadcasting, working across all seven of its markets.

 

Concerns about the pandemic are the leading reason that some radio engineers won’t be going to the NAB Show in October.

That’s not a startling conclusion; but a survey by transmitter manufacturer Nautel offers some other insights into the plans of past engineering attendees.

[Read: NAB Lists “COVID Protocols” for Fall Show]

Nautel, which will have an exhibit booth at the show, surveyed past attendees of its Nautel User’s Group meetings to assess customer intentions for both October and April. NUG meetings are typically held in conjunction with the show and draw mostly engineers or people with related technical jobs.

This Nautel graphic shows the reasons given by respondents who think they will not attend. (The label that cuts off is “Can learn what I need virtually.”)

The company received about 185 responses to its survey. The number who said they “definitely will” attend the NAB Show in October was about 28%, and another 16% “perhaps” will attend. The number who “definitely will not” attend was 37%.

Nautel noted that the “will not attend” number has grown from 15% who checked that box eight months ago, when the convention was farther out on the calendar and the impact of the pandemic in 2021 was unknown.

Among those who think they won’t attend in October, the pandemic was the option chosen most, as shown in the graphic. The second reason was “rather wait until next year.” (Respondents could choose more than one option.) Others included budget considerations and not wanting to travel by air. Some reasons submitted under “other” were international travel restrictions, uncertainty about mask policies and “too busy.”

The numbers look much different where Nautel asked about attendee plans for next spring. Thirty-four percent said they definitely plan to go, and another 34% said they perhaps will. Only about 4% of past NUG attendees who responded said they definitely plan not to be there next April.

[Read: Evanov Tries Out Hybrid AM HD Radio in Toronto]

Head of Marketing John Whyte told Radio World that Nautel conducted this survey “to make sure we’re gearing up for the event in an appropriate way, to ensure we have the right team in Las Vegas to support show attendees’ needs and make sure we can answer questions about Nautel solutions promptly.

“We’re very excited at the prospect of seeing our customers and colleagues in person once again. It has been too long so we’re hoping, like many in our industry, that October presents a safe environment for us to connect face to face,” he said.

While Nautel does not plan its usual Radio Technology Forum event this fall, it does hope to host a casual product update and AUI briefing session on the Sunday morning. It said details are pending.

 

The post Nautel NAB Survey Reflects Pandemic Worries appeared first on Radio World.

Thanks to an asset purchase agreement signed July 21, Edward de La Hunt and Tamara de la Hunt, are now the sole owners of a group of AM and FM stations and four FM translators serving the Minnesota cities of Park Rapids and Walker.

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He was the Group VP of Business Development at Xandr, the advertising and analytics division of AT&T.

Now, he’s the head of strategy and business development at advertising data, measurement and analytics software company EDO Inc.

And, he’s not to be confused with the SVP of Business Development at NATPE who served as Group Publisher of Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News under former owner NewBay Media.

It’s a different Charlie Weiss who is now at EDO Inc., which is also welcoming Mark Berner as Vice President of Engineering.

It’s part of a bigger effort at the company, which seeks to expand its convergent TV ad
intelligence and effectiveness abilities.

Weiss is now in charge of strategic and platform partnerships across the media
and data landscape, and reports to EDO President/CEO Kevin Krim.

Krim commented, “We are entering a pivotal stage of disruption in Convergent TV and growth as a company serving this special industry. Mark brings critical engineering and management experience to our growing team of top data science, engineering, and product talent; and Charlie is a proven change agent with an impressive history of building and leading strategic partnerships.”

In the chaotic post-pandemic viewing and streaming media ecosystem, Latino viewership continues to reflect the broad range of contemporary U.S. Latino identities and household demographics.

According to a recent Horowitz Research survey, demand is ever-expanding for new, high-quality Spanish-language content on par with English-language content among individuals and families with identities ranging from Hispanic to Afro-Latino/a/x and across language and acculturation segments nationwide.

Join us September 22-23 in Miami for the live and in-person Hispanic Radio Conference! Click here for all of the details and to register.

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