Industry News

In People News: Don Brake has been promoted to become the new operations manager for Cumulus Media in Savannah, Ga.

That cluster includes country station KIX 96/WJCL(FM), urban outlet E93/WEAS(FM), urban station Magic 103.9/WTYB(FM) and classic rock station I-95/WIXV(FM).

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Brake will also be program director for KIX 96. He succeeds Gerry McCracken, who is retiring.

Brake will move from Beaumont, Texas, where he has been PD and host of a midday country music show. His background includes programming and operations positions for Cumulus and other companies in markets including Morgantown, W.Va.; Frederick, Md.; Binghamton, N.Y.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Hagerstown, Md./Chambersburg, Pa.

The announcement was made by Regional VP Eric Mastel.

Send news of engineering and executive personnel changes to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Brake Is Cumulus Ops Manager in Savannah appeared first on Radio World.

In recent years, institutions of higher learning have decided that operating a radio station is no longer in the best interests of that school. As a result, WBRU-FM in Providence on Sept. 1, 2017 bid farewell. There are other FMs that have faded into the sunset, sold off by colleges.

The latest college to join the list of station sellers is an Ivy League school along the Vermont/New Hampshire border.

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Further relaxation of ownership rules seems unlikely, but the FCC now is seeking to refresh the record before it completes its 2018 Quadrennial Review.

Inexpensive adapters help with an AoIP EAS connection.

A radio station in Ontario is delighted with the money it is saving by switching to wind and sun power.

Also: Promo Power, apps from AIM and products from AudioLogger, Shure, MOVO, Inovonics and ENCO.

Read it here.

The post Inside the June 23, 2021 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World.

It’s been the “voice of Franklin County” since 1957, serving an area to the south of Roanoke, Virginia, with classic Country music and a mix of news and community-focused programming including an on-air Swap Shop.

Now, this Virginia Class B AM is trading hands, as is the FM translator assigned to this heritage facility.

But, no changes are expected, keeping WYTI in the family following the November 2020 passing of its longtime owner, Bill Jefferson.

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He’s a 30-year radio broadcasting veteran who joined Cumulus Media in 2018.

Now, this longtime programming and operations leader is transferring from the company’s “Texas Country” FM serving the Beaumont-Port Arthur area of the Lone Star State to the center of Georgia’s Coastal Empire: Savannah.

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One was the Chairman of the FCC when its cross-ownership rules were enact.

Another was the FCC’s Chairman that successfully, thanks to the Supreme Court’s input, erased many of those rules through “modernization” efforts allowing for common ownership of TV and radio, or newspaper and radio, assets in a given market.

They’ll be joined by the agency’s chairman during the second term of Bill Clinton as President, and by an interim FCC leader who, in taking the role, became the first female Chair of the Commission.

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In May 2018, a station swap was consummated that saw Salem Media Group trade a Class B AM serving the Seattle-Tacoma market to a company based in San Jose, Calif.

The agreement handed Salem the keys of an AM in Portland, Ore., it had been operating via an LMA with the station’s new owner, Intelli LLC.

Now, Intelli is selling that Seattle property to Salem.

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WorldDAB is highlighting the number of new cars in Europe that now ship with DAB+ as a standard feature.

“In the second half of 2020, over 80% of new cars in key European markets came with DAB+ radio as standard, a dramatic increase on the same period in 2019,” the organization stated in releasing a market report.

“This step-change reflects the impact of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC), which, from December 2020, requires all new car radios in the EU to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio.”

President Patrick Hannon was quoted saying that the numbers “demonstrate that DAB+ is firmly established as the core future platform for radio in Europe,” and he said progress in Germany, France, Italy and Benelux “has been particularly impressive.”

The report stated that as of the end of 2020, about 100 million consumer and automotive DAB/DAB+ receivers had been sold in Europe and Asia Pacific, “up from 92 million six months year earlier.”

The organization also released a detailed infographic with the rollout status in various markets in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

The post WorldDAB Celebrates Automotive Penetration appeared first on Radio World.

By Rosemary Ravinal

Public speaking is the foundation of leadership. Whether you are facilitating an online meeting, delivering a new business pitch, representing your company on an industry panel, doing a podcast interview, or speaking at a condo board meeting, how well you communicate will set you apart.

Public speaking mastery is hard work and requires tons of practice and great coaching.  But if you take your delivery alone and the mental blocks that hold you back from greatness, there are a few things you can do improve right away.

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Automation provider WideOrbit has snagged a big win, reaching agreement with Salem Media Group to covert its radio properties to WO Automation for Radio.

Salem has 99 radio stations. WideOrbit said 56 of those in the top 25 U.S. markets.

The announcement was made by WideOrbit VP of Radio Automation William “Dub” Irvin and Salem SVP of Engineering Scott Foster.

“Implementations are set to begin in July 2021 and will complete in 2023. Once implementations begin, 13 of the top 20 radio operators in North America will be powered by WO Automation for Radio,” the company said in its announcement.

Version 5 of the automation software was released this year; the manufacturer emphasizes its improved remote voice tracking capabilities and native apps to run live shows remotely.

Salem is an existing user of WO Traffic; the software company said integration with the automation platform will enable live log editing, playlist delivery, real-time reconciliation and automatic start and stop date synchronization between the two.

The automation system will also integrate with Salem’s MusicMaster music scheduling system.

Send news for Who’s Buying What to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Salem to Standardize on WideOrbit Automation appeared first on Radio World.