Radio+Television Business Report

On Tuesday, all eyes were on the U.S. Supreme Court as oral arguments were heard in FCC v. Prometheus, the case that sees the Commission and the NAB teaming to get its cross-ownership rules approved with a reversal of a lower court’s remand.

While that’s certainly a huge matter, other legal issues impacting radio and TV in 2021 deserve attention.

What’s the first one that comes to mind to Gregg Skall, the noted Washington, D.C. communications attorney with boutique firm Telecommunication Law Professionals?

Find out in the latest InFOCUS Podcast, presented by DOT.FM.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Gregg Skall” on Spreaker.

Cumulus Media on Thursday revealed what it calls “important changes” to its top-level sales leadership, impacting both its broadcast radio stations and its Westwood One national radio arm.

At Westwood One, Sales President Bryan Forbes is out. He’s leaving the company “to pursue another opportunity.”

As such, Ron Russo is taking the role, gaining oversight of network sales and sales planning. Russo, a 17-year sales leader, was previously EVP/Sales, Northeast at Westwood One. His resume includes roles at iHeartMedia and CBS Radio.

Meanwhile, at the Cumulus stations, Rafe D’Amico succeeds Forbes’ role that saw him oversee the AM and FM properties’ national spot team and manage their relationship with Katz Radio Group.

D’Amico will serve as SVP of National Sales. His resume includes roles as VP of Strategic Partnerships and National Sales at Beasley Media Group.

D’Amico reports to Cumulus EVP/Operations Dave Milner, while Russo reports to WWO head Suzanne Grimes.

In addition to those moves, Westwood One EVP/Sales and Sports Partnerships Brandon Berman, who has focused on sports and overall Midwest region efforts, adds the Northeast region for WWO.

Berman started his career at Westwood One some 15 years ago, as an account executive.

Taking on Southeast region duties at Westwood One is Kim Bryant, adding them to her role as EVP/Sales for the West and Southwest.

Bryant has been associated with Cumulus since the early 2010s. Before that, she held management roles at iHeart predecessor Clear Channel and Entravision.

Finally, seven-year WWO veteran Adam Shifrin rises from a Midwest and West sports sales role to become VP/Sports Sales and Marketing at Westwood One. He now manages all Westwood One Sports Play by Play, CBS Sports Radio, and associated shoulder inventory as well as the dedicated sports sales and operations teams.

“Westwood One is extremely fortunate to have a group of sales executives poised to lead the team forward seamlessly,” Grimes said. “I’m thrilled to announce these well-deserved promotions that will enable us to manage through this challenging pandemic with confidence, commitment, resilience and results.”

In August 2017, RBR+TVBR shared the news that a St. Louis-based provider of private-label online audience engagement and interactive content platforms had agreed to purchase a data-driven email marketing software and consulting business focused on the collection and use of first party data for the media industry founded by Ruth Presslaff.

Now the company that acquired Presslaff Interactive Revenue (PIR) is itself being purchased.

Second Street, which has carved a niche as a provider of private-label online audience engagement and interactive content platforms for broadcast media companies including contesting, quizzes, ballots, polls, surveys, e-mail, and data profiling, is being purchased by Upland Software, which offers products that give its clients opportunities for digital consumer engagement.

The all-cash deal is valued at $25.4 million, paid at closing.

Terms include a $5 million cash holdback payable in 12 months (subject to indemnification claims).

Upland expects the acquisition to generate annual revenue of approximately $9.4 million, of which all is recurring, and will not be subject to reductions for deferred revenue discount as a result of GAAP purchase accounting.

“The price paid for the acquisition is within Upland’s target range of 5-8x pro forma Adjusted EBITDA and it is expected that Second Street will generate at least $4.2 million in Adjusted EBITDA annually once fully integrated,” Upland says.

Additionally, the company notes that the acquisition will be immediately accretive to Upland’s Adjusted EBITDA per share.

“Adding Second Street to Upland’s product portfolio will provide Upland’s customers the power to build promotions and email campaigns that grow revenue, customer databases, and consumer engagement,” the Austin-based company says.

The Cosine Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to Second Street.

He became a renowned radio industry figure for serving as Station Manager at one of America’s most-listened-to Top 40 stations of the 1970s, with his 50kw Class A AM outdueling its rival, “The Voice of Labor in Chicago,” by March 1976.

In May 1979, he was named President of ABC-owned FMs following the resignation of Allan Shaw.

Now, media executives across the U.S. are paying tribute to Marty Greenberg, who has died of pancreatic cancer.

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SAVANNAH, GA. — Travel 40 miles south of the University of Georgia’s main campus in Athens, and you’ll find Greensboro, Ga., and the small town of Siloam, situated on Carl Sanders Highway.

Here, a Class A devoted to praising Jesus is trading hands. The buyer is based on Florida’s Panhandle.

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It’s a topic of conversation no one wants to have: a big transaction that a company hoped to close didn’t make it to the finish line.

That’s exactly what has transpired with multiple deals involving Deb McDermott and radio and television properties found across the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York; and TV stations that were to be sold by Bill Christian and Mike Reed.

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A resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives last night by Rep. Cheri Bustos and 42 House Members thanking journalists for their reporting during the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.

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It’s been a radio station in the capital of the Old Dominion, pitching itself as a home of “Timeless Rock N’ Roll, Pop & Soul,” for the last few years.

Now, “Boomtown Richmond” is officially getting a little more oomph.

It is officially purchasing two AMs and an FM translator that were once part of Davidson Media Group’s Spanish-language holdings across the East Coast, operated via an LMA for nearly three years.

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As 2021 began, the FCC formally objected to a Petition for Reconsideration of a Commission Report and Order that effectively eliminates the radio duplication rule for AM stations … and FM stations.

The petition was filed by three groups, who have come together to challenge the sudden re-inclusion of FM stations in the R&O, approved in August 2020.

Last week, the trio of groups submitted a joint “final consolidated reply” — as did a fourth group that’s been a NAB antagonist.

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In November 2020, RBR+TVBR first reported on the October 16 signing of an Asset Purchase Agreement that would see the transfer of ownership of a pair of UHF properties to Soohyung Kim-led Standard Media Group from Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The FCC last week gave its blessing to the sale.

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In one of the final acts of the Pai Commission, the FCC on Tuesday adopted a Report and Order modifying technical rules to promote the expanded use of distributed transmission systems, or single frequency networks (SFNs), by broadcast television stations.

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As of today, Northern California Public Media has used a 120-watt signal to reach such Mendocino County towns as Healdsburg, Cloverdale and Windsor. To bring its programming to listeners in Santa Rosa, a 16-watt translator at 90.9 MHz was brought into the mix.

Soon, everyone north of San Francisco will be able to hear NoCal’s programming. It’s buying a Class B1 commercially licensed FM and converting it to noncommercial status.

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On Twitter and via pen and paper, Ajit Pai offered words of thanks to FCC staff and the agency’s Commissioners, as his final act as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Pai’s goodbyes came just hours after the Commission released a parting shot aimed at departing President Donald Trump: It denied a request to stay its unanimous decision to authorize Ligado Networks to deploy a low-power terrestrial national network using portions of its licensed spectrum.

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On January 4, 2021, the newest entrant in the ever-expanding OTT universe bowed.

It’s Discovery+, from Discovery, and the promotional thrust of its rollout has been focused on, ironically, drawing consumers from MVPDs.

A marketing blitz is underway for Discovery+, and it is nearly exclusive to cable TV.

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While online language learning platform Babbel remains the biggest user of spot radio, according to the latest data from Media Monitors, commercials tied to the continued prevention of the spread of the COVID-19 virus are now being joined by spots promoting vaccination.

For the week ending January 17, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention was the No. 2 paid advertiser using broadcast radio, behind Babbel. It accounts for some 56,300 spot plays detected by Media Monitors.

New at No. 7? An effort from Bristol Myers Squibb-Pfizer, as COVID-19 vaccines roll out from Pfizer and Moderna across the U.S.

What does the remainder of the Spot Ten look like? More of the same, with Progressive, The Home Depot, Bank of America and GEICO continuing their long string of activity at broadcast radio.

It’s been a challenging year for radio industry pure-play Saga Communications. But, after a late October 2019 dip of its stock to nearly $17 a share, this audio-focused company appears to be in recovery mode.

How it performed in the final three months of 2020 will be made known on the second Friday in March.

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From a news perspective, 2020 was a year like no other.

And, as Americans settle into the prospect of a fresh start in 2021, a divided nation still living in a pandemic continues to elevate the importance of news, particularly at the local level.

For Nielsen, it’s clear that consumers’ on-demand lifestyles are having an effect on leisure time video viewing, but the unsettled population in the U.S. has elevated the importance of news to consumers across the country looking to stay informed about everything from social unrest to the presidential election to the protests and riots at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.

“Linear TV viewing is at a crossroads, given the shift away from scheduled, appointment viewing on TV, but consumers are voracious when it comes to wanting to stay informed,” says Justin LaPorte, VP of Local Audience Insights at Nielsen. “That elevates the opportunity for news programming across local, national and cable.”

LaPorte shared the details at a presentation given Tuesday at the NATPE virtual conference, based on fresh Nielsen Insights data.

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Starting March 1, Emmis‘ Indianapolis radio stations will have a new Market President.

It is a woman who has spent 22 years with Emmis in a variety of radio sales and promotions leadership roles.

She’ll replace a 11-year veteran who will be moving on.

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The Pearl TV broadcaster business group is applauding the decision by the FCC to give broadcasters more flexibility when using a Distributed Television System (DTS) for NEXTGEN TV broadcasts using ATSC 3.0.

Public and commercial broadcasters had sought the refinement of Commission rules, in order to ensure that a local broadcaster could better serve its market of viewers.

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CHICAGO — WGN America, the cable network that’s getting a major news-focused overhaul under new owner Nexstar Media Group, has selected a VP of Creative Marketing and Brand Communications to help growth the operation’s presence even further in 2021.

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