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From Radio Online: RAB launches a unique training certification program tailored to content creators in broadcast radio and audio. The new course is built upon the fundamentals and hallmarks of RAB's certified Radio Marketing Consulting course. Developed and produced by RAB's Professional Development team, the course focuses More...

From Radio Insight: Chavez Radio Group flipped Bilingual Rhythmic “Forge 103.9” KBDS Taft/Bakersfield CA to Hip Hop “Fire 103.9” earlier this month. The station is very current intensive and running commercial-free. With the change the station has also added Skyview Networks’ “Ed Lover Experience” for middays from 10am-3pm. The 4pm hour on Thursday, April 25 featured: Drake – You Broke Me Heart Flo Milli ft. Lil Yachty – Never Lose Me Kehlani – After Hours 2Pac & Dr. Dre – California Love Future & Metro Boomin – Like That Sza – Saturn Rema & Selena Gomez – Calm Down YG Marley – Praise Jah In The Moonlight Bossman Dlow – Get In With Me Usher ft. Pheelz – Run Don Toliver – Bandit Travis Scott ft. Playboi Carti – FEIN Nicki Minaj – FTCU Sexyy Red – Get It Sexyy Too $hort ft. Lil Jon – Shake That Monkey more

From Radio Insight: After beginning to operate the stations via Time Brokerage Agreement in January, The Voice Radio Network will purchase 1460 WIFI Florence NJ and translators 92.9 W225CJ Burlington and 98.5 W253DG Trenton for $950,000. Byrne Acquisition Group acquires “Q Rock Radio” 1240 WLSQ/106.7 W294CW Loris SC from Banana Jack Murphy Productions for $250,000. The station will join the company’s Conservative Talk “Talk 94.5” WTKN Murrells Inlet and Soft AC “Easy 105.9/100.7” WEZV North Myrtle Beach/WYEZ Andrews in the Myrtle Beach market. A.T. Moore’s Family Life Education Foundation sells 90.9 KFLO-FM Minden and 90.7 K214BE Shreveport LA to Isaac and Robin House’ Spring Quest for $125,000. Edward Baker’s Big River Radio sells Country “C98.3 The Bull” WCEF Ripley WV to Brandon Scott Northcraft, Clay Perkins and Clinton Perkins’ Hometown Radio LLC for $375,000. Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland County transfer the CP for 91.7 WLWG Mount Pleasant PA to Grace FM for no consideration. Sales WithdrawalsKeith Baldwin’s KBaldwin Media Group has withdrawn their $100,000 purchase of Gospel 970 WRCS Ahoskie NC from James Watford?s WRCS-AM 970 Inc. Translator SalesBroadway Media trades 94.5 K233DI Provo UT to San Pete County Broadcasting Company for 92.1 K221GK Salt Lake City. K233DI will rebroadcast San Pete’s 1400 KIXR Provo, while K221GK will continue to rebroadcast Broadway Media’s “ESPN 700” KALL North Salt Lake City. Freddie and Ana Cruz’ Power 102.1 FM LLC acquires 103.7 K279CU Thibodaux LA from GAP Broadcasting for $70,000. The translator will rebroadcast the buyer’s 910 WUBR Baton Rouge. more

From Radio Insight: The syndicated “Good Day Show with Doug Stephan & Jai Kershner” will end its run in daily syndication on Friday, May 3 after 36 years. Coinciding with the shut down of distributor Genesis Communications Network, the show will be replaced by a pair of four hour weekend shows available via FTP distribution. ?Good Day Saturday? and ?Good Day Sunday? will be distributed by United Stations Media Networks. The two weekend shows are modular so that they can be carried in one to four hour blocks. Stephan states, “This isn?t goodbye, but it is changing when and how we will deliver our program. Weekends are a vast wasteland of infomercials and reruns. The content on this new show aligns with the same positive approach, features and friends that listeners have become accustomed to from ‘Good Day’. This new program is deliberately formatted so each hour stands on its own and can be used in any daypart on the weekend or weekdays, and it can be aired more than once, should you want to do that.” During its run, the show has also been known as “Good Day with Doug Stephan” and “The DJV Show”. For more information on the show reach out to Mike McVay at mikemcvay@mcvaymedia.com or Doug Stephan at doug.stephan@gmail.com. more

From Radio Online: In celebration of 20 years on the air at KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, the "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" morning show is hitting the road to meet listeners at some of the meaningful small businesses that have been a part of the show throughout the years. It all started Thursday, April 25 as Seacrest began his tour More...

From Radio Online: "The Good Day Show with Doug Stephan andamp; Jai Kershner" will end its long run as a morning program with its final program via Wegner/Echobox on May 3. The program will be replaced with two weekend offerings -- "Good Day Saturday" and "Good Day Sunday" -- featuring new content that are More...

From Radio Online: Benztown releases two new episodes of "Chachi Loves Everybody," an original podcast featuring Benztown President and audio brand builder Dave "Chachi" Denes. The episodes feature Chachi's recent sit-down at the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas with RAB CEO Mike Hulvey, and his chat with Epic Media Founder Brad More...

From Radio Online: As the world grapples with economic uncertainties and ongoing digital transformation, Nielsen's 2024 Annual Marketing Report provides crucial insights into the evolving landscape of media and advertising. Amidst fears of a recession and challenges like inflation and supply chain More...

From Radio Insight: Nielsen begins its releases of the March 2024 diary surveys today. Today’s markets include monthly ratings for Baton Rouge, Louisville, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Puerto Rico. Other markets coming this week include: On Friday, April 26: Monthly ratings for Birmingham, Buffalo/Niagara Falls, Fort Myers, Greenville/Spartanburg, Richmond, and Rochester, and Tucson. more

From Radio Online: The FCC has taken a strong stance against illegal broadcasting by proposing hefty fines totaling over $850,000 against operators of six pirate radio stations. This action comes as part of a broader effort under the PIRATE Act to curb unauthorized radio transmissions that have been identified in the Boston More...

From Radio Online: iHeartMedia is named the Webby Podcast Company of the Year, a Special Achievement Award for podcast companies with the largest body of Webby-winning, nominated and honored work across all Podcasts categories. In 2024, iHeart was recognized with 18 Webby Awards, 38 nominations and 16 More...

From Radio Online: The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced the results of the 2024 NAB Radio Board of Directors elections. The two-year terms of the elected board members will begin in June. New board members include Beasley Media Vice President and Market Manager Mary Menna for District 2 (NY, NJ), More...

From Radio Insight: After 100 years and a drastically changed landscape, it is interesting how radio is still so easily explained, but how rarely it benefits from a modifier. That?s especially true when you?re looking to differentiate the product originating on AM/FM from other like services. Not everybody who reads Ross on Radio regards ?terrestrial radio? as a pejorative. ?It sounds futuristic, like it?s out of science fiction,? says Jeff Berlin. ?It feels special and magical, like we are,? says Lauren Pressley of New Jersey?s WOLD.* Mostly, though, ?terrestrial radio? still comes across as satellite radio?s attempt to position itself as the space-age service, and everybody else as something lesser. That was certainly why the consumer press so enthusiastically adapted it in the early ?00s, and why radio advocates like Erica Farber have campaigned against it.* Edison Research, in its studies, uses AM/FM radio to signify stations originating there, even if those stations are consumed on another platform. In this column, I?ve mostly used the term ?broadcast radio? in the same way. As a proud broadcaster, I know that term is easily understood among us, but there?s no sizzle there for a consumer. In the first segment of Point-to-Point Media?s recent What Workers Want study, Strategic Solutions Research asked listeners about ?your local radio station.? It was a term that many respondents viewed favorably, and one that Strategic?s Hal Rood encouraged radio to embrace, particularly since there was no consumer benefit to ?terrestrial.? Part I of the What Workers Want trilogy of webcasts found that ?local information? was still valuable to 48% of respondents, third after non-stop music and ?funny content.? Even traffic, the thing still on most stations because it?s sponsored, but thought to have been made redundant by your phone, is still an attraction for 33% of listeners. ?I like ?local radio,?? says veteran PD Monica Starks. ?It?s where it?s originating from and hopefully not lost on programmers.? I agree that ?local radio? is a great thing to offer people. As Starks notes, being ?local radio? carries with it the responsibility to deliver ?local? rather than just talking about it. Even when an air personality is sitting in a station?s studios, and even if they?re speaking in real time, they may still be talking about entertainment news or what doctors in Sweden have discovered. When I listen to client stations, ?I need to learn more about the market? is usually among my notes.* ?Local radio? doesn?t cover everything, or have to. I?ve said before that not all radio needs to be local. Part of my vision for a more compelling radio dial is the creation of more ?real national? or ?real regional? to replace ?faux local.? I?ve also suggested that some of that national (or regional radio) could have some of the benefits of local just by being more transparent about where content is emanating from, something that works well for SiriusXM.* ?Traditional radio? reinforces the notion of radio as hidebound. ?Classic radio? means radio with the values that have always made radio great, but it also doesn?t provide for an ongoing evolution, and it?s easily confused with Classic Hits radio. For myself, I think of those stations that still do the right things as ?real radio.? That wouldn?t be a bad way to differentiate ourselves for listeners, but that one also carries a burden of proof.* Some readers make distinctions with friends depending on what exactly they?re referring to. ?I usually make it as specific or vague as necessary,? says Country Insider?s Brian Mansfield, who will use ?local,? ?terrestrial,? ?satellite,? or ?broadcast? as applicable. But he uses radio ?if it?s just delivered audio. Then I count on the reader to go, ?wait, what?s the difference between ?terrestrial radio? and ?radio??? And that sets up a teaching moment.? ?When I?m talking with people about how they listen to music, they usually don?t give a generic answer ?I stream,?? says Bruce Cole. ?They answer with brand specificity: Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, etc. My takeaway is to talk brand more than delivery message ? not radio but WXRT, CBS-FM, V103, etc.? For many readers, like Alan Sells, the answer is just ?radio, that?s what it is. You would have to waste too much time trying to rebrand any other term for 99% of potential users, who wouldn?t know why you were trying to rebrand the project.? It?s not news that streaming pureplays still often find ?radio? to be the easiest way to explain what they do. ?We don?t have to explain what we are,? says syndicated morning host Jerry Broadway. ?We are radio. Satellite and internet ?radio? are derivatives of a well-established brand. We don?t have to explain, they do.? When I?m asked about the survival of ?radio,? a question poised even by some broadcasters themselves at the National Assn. of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas earlier this week, there?s no grim determination required when I tell people that I believe there will be a franchise for ?radio? forever. The only issue is who will provide it and on what platform. Despite its initial publicity, SXM has always been for me a bastion of ?real radio,? although some of its expanded offerings, particularly following its merger with Pandora, are less so. “Free radio” is a popular and valuable talking point at the moment, but I?m still in favor of SiriusXM being thought of as radio and counting towards radio?s ?Share of Ear? in Edison?s studies, and in the perception of the media and advertisers. It would also help broadcasters in the perception of the media and advertisers if there were a way to make their presence in podcasting better known and recognized. According to Edison, four of podcasting?s top 10 networks and two of the top three are part of the radio industry; (again, I?m including SiriusXM here). Sharing that story would help reinforce the notion of “radio everywhere.” For those listeners on which that distinction might be lost, it would help broadcasters if just a fraction of the inventory of those podcasts went toward directing listeners to real-time radio, some likely for the first time. If broadcasters were able to target podcast listeners, they would have to offer both a compelling message and a product. That would require the same improvements, particularly in both quantity and quality of spots, that would improve radio for the existing audience. They might indeed do better to market specific brands or shows, and whatever they market will have to be available on multiple platforms, including the one they?re listening to at that moment. We won’t necessarily have to explain what real radio is; but it will be necessary to deliver it.* more