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For 22 years, he’s been a top programmer and Brand Manager for stations such as legendary News/Talker KMOX. Now, this Brand Manager is being promoted to Operations Manager for Audacy Corp.‘s St. Louis six-pack of radio stations.

Steve Moore will now oversee Adult Contemporary KEZK-FM, Hot Adult Contemporary KYKY “Y98,” Talker KFTK-FM 97.1, R&B WHHL-FM “Hot 104.1,” Adult Hits WFUN “96.3 The Lou,” and the aforementioned KMOX, which has a nighttime signal bigger than no other in the USA and an FM translator to help attract audiences in St. Louis who do not consume AM radio.

“I am beyond delighted to have Steve ascend into this new role,” said Becky Domyan, Senior Vice President and Market Manager for Audacy in St. Louis. “He has been so instrumental in building operational alignment, collaboration, and synergy across our St. Louis footprint. I am looking forward to Steve helping us continue to grow our incredible brands.”

“I couldn’t be more excited for this new opportunity,” Moore commented. “I appreciate the trust that Becky Domyan and Audacy have shown me and I’m looking forward to working more closely with Derrick, Leo and the talented broadcasters on these incredible music stations.”

Moore officially rises from Operations Director, a role given to him in November 2017 following the merger of CBS Radio with Audacy (then Entercom).

This article is part of our Buyer’s Guide feature on telco and talk show products for radio.

Glory Communications has been using the Broadcast Bionics Caller One talk show system since 2020 at urban inspirational station WFMV(AM) in Cayce, S.C., and the Worship and Word Network, which serves a large portion of South Carolina.

Caller One is a software talk show system that runs on a PC, webRTC and SIP Voice over IP technology to route calls to air without dedicated hardware. It was designed with smaller studios in mind.

Tony “Gee” Green, program director of WFMV and vice president of programming for Glory Communications, said installation and integration was easy. “It’s also a telephone interface that is very easy to learn and use.”

For WFMV, Caller One is used in a variety of ways, he said. “Since it’s a digital application, it has a superior sound for on-site remote broadcast. It’s also used, now more than ever due to COVID-19, as a platform for advertisers both for recording commercial content as well as live programs.”

It’s used to provide audio for artist interviews and for daily interactions with the station’s listening audience.

“As for the Worship and Word Network, its primary use is for talk show interviews and listener interactions. It’s an excellent application for the talk format because it offers you the opportunity to use more than one line at a time. Callers can not only call in to the host but they can hold conversations with each other or a remote host.” Broadcasters General Store is the U.S. dealer for the product.

Info: www.bionics.co.uk, www.bgs.cc

The post Caller One Goes for the Glory appeared first on Radio World.

National radio programming provider United Stations has signed an agreement to sell national network commercial time for the team at KRS Audio Productions and their “Country Music Countdown” package.

The deal is effective immediately.

KRS Audio Productions is the radio group formed by Ken Halford, Roger Ramsey and Shawn Studer, who handle the production and affiliation for Bob Kingsley’s long-running Country Countdown show.

The decision follows a summer 2021 decision by KRS Audio Productions to produce a new Top 30 Country Countdown in a “brown bag” format.

In commenting on the addition of KRS Audio Productions to the company’s ad sales portfolio, United Stations’ Greg Janoff commented, “Country remains the most prevalent format in U.S. Radio, and the KRS team know how to super-serve local stations in that format. We’re happy that we can now include the environment of their programming to our marketing partners.”

KRS Audio Productions’ Shawn Studer added, “The guys at United Stations recognized immediately what we are doing at KRS, and we appreciate their partnership as we roll out and grow our programming.”

United Stations Media Networks was founded in 1994 by the late Dick Clark and Nick Verbitsky.

ATSC 3.0-delivered next-generation TV signals, promising better sound and picture and improved reception, has been launched in the professional home — at least for today — of NFL star Aaron Rodgers.

Now offering NEXTGEN TV signals are five broadcast TV stations serving Green Bay, Wisc.

With BitPath coordinating the launch, as of January 25, 2022, local viewers with a NEXTGEN TV-capable set can watch ATSC 3.0-delivered signals for Gray Television-owned ABC affiliate WBAY-TV, CBS affiliate WFRV-TV, FOX affiliate WLUK-TV, NBC affiliate WGBA-TV and The CW Network affiliate for the northern Wisconsin market, WCWF-TV.

WCWF, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group as part of a duopoly with WLUK, is the lighthouse station for the market.

WFRV is owned by Nexstar; WGBA is a E.W. Scripps Co.-owned station.

If you were a National Football League fan, last weekend’s matches — all of them — offered some spectacular thrills. From superstar Tom Brady’s furious comeback attempt to the Cincinnati Bengals’ victory over the Tennessee Titans, there was much to keep viewers glued to the TV. Then, there’s the epic match that saw the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Buffalo Bills in an overtime match shown on CBS.

Just how many people were tuned to CBS, and to the Gray Television-owned affiliate in Kansas City showing the game, one of the greatest in NFL history?

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The FCC’s Media Bureau is reminding everyone that applications and submissions that can be submitted using its Licensing and Management System must be submitted that way.

This may seem obvious; however, as we’ve reported, the bureau recently announced that it will no longer accept any filings in its old Consolidated Database System (CDBS), and it set up procedures for the public to submit certain types of filings by email pending final transition of all filings to LMS.

This apparently caused some confusion, so now comes a reminder that the Media Bureau will not accept applications that are required to be filed using LMS but that are submitted using those new email filing procedures. The latter procedures just apply to those types that until recently would have been submitted via CDBS. (Here’s that earlier announcement, if you’re not sure which types are involved.)

“As of Jan. 12, 2022, all Media Bureau filings that cannot be submitted using LMS must be submitted by email to audiofilings@fcc.gov.”

It also reminded filers that emailed submissions must include the required Anti-Drug Abuse Act Certification. It also addressed other required information and fees. For those details and guidance about sending questions to the FCC, see the bureau’s latest announcement.

The post FCC Issues Reminder on Filing Process appeared first on Radio World.

DAYTON, OHIO — Cox Media Group has moved forward with the naming of Rob Rohr’s successor as VP/GM of its “CMG Ohio” unit, comprised of the radio and television properties serving the Gem City and its surrounding communities.

Taking the role is 26-year company veteran Darren Moore.

Effective today, he’ll oversee all CMG Ohio operations including news, programming, sales, digital, engineering, production and community affairs for dominant CBS affiliate WHIO-7, and for three radio brands: Classic Hits “95.3 and 101.1 The Eagle,” News/Talk WHIO-AM & FM, and market-leading WHKO-FM, branded as “K99.1 New Country.”

Moore has spent many years in Pittsburgh, where he began his career at CMG as a WPXI-11 intern in 1996. After that experience, he took an Account Executive role at WAXN-64 in Charlotte, which had just gone on the air. He later returned to the ‘Burgh, serving as NSM of WPXI and two other stations, WJAC-6 in Johnstown, Pa., and WTOV-9 in Wheeling, W. Va. Today, WJAC and WTOV are owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Moore would then rise to LSM and, ultimately, Director of Sales at WPXI.

“Darren’s passion for people, the broadcasting industry and CMG is infectious and inspiring,’ said Paul Curran, EVP of Television at CMG. “His strong track record of forging internal and external relationships will make a positive impact on our Dayton operations and in the Dayton community. I look forward to watching him excel in this new role as our approach to broadcasting in Dayton continues to evolve.”

Moore added, “I am honored to join the outstanding broadcasters at CMG Ohio, home to some of the most iconic TV and radio brands in the entire industry. I can’t wait to start working with the Dayton team, further enhancing our award-winning brands, serving our customers and viewers, and partnering with the local Miami Valley community.”

In May 2018, the Media Bureau Policy Division’s Senior Deputy Chief denied a petition filed by Gray Television concerning a CBS-affiliated UHF station and its absence on both DISH Network or DirecTV in several towns within a half-hour drive of the property’s city of license.

Steven Broeckaert, the division leader, made the decision on the grounds that the resulting carriage obligation “is not technically and economically feasible for each of the satellite carriers, and would effectively circumvent Section 338(c)(1).”

One month later, Gray filed an Application for Review of the Memorandum Opinion and Order. Now, nearly four years after the FCC’s inaction on the matter, Gray has asked that the petition be dismissed.

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Cox Media Group has appointed Darren Moore as VP/GM of CMG Ohio effective immediately. He will oversee CMG Ohio operations, including news, programming, sales, digital, engineering, production and community affairs for WHIO-TV, 95.3 and 101.1 The Eagle (WZLR), 1290 and 95.7 WHIO, and K99.1 New Country (WHKO-FM), in Dayton, Ohio.

Moore joined CMG 26 year ago as an intern for WPXI(TV) in Pittsburgh, launching a career built on his early childhood memories of visiting the station with his father, a former CMG employee. After finishing his internship, he relocated to Charlotte to work as an account executive for the newly launched WAXN-TV, before returning to Pittsburgh where he eventually became director of sales at WPXI.

“Darren’s passion for people, the broadcasting industry and CMG is infectious and inspiring,” said Paul Curran, EVP of Television at CMG.

The post CMG Taps Moore for Ohio appeared first on Radio World.

At-home production and REMI — an acronym that non-tech leaders may not know — have grown in importance over the last several years. It was only accelerated by the pandemic. Thus, having Jim Jachetta, EVP/Chief Technology Officer of VidOvation, as Adam R Jacobson’s guest on the latest InFOCUS Podcast couldn’t be timelier.

Jachetta shares some of the “5 Essential Elements of At-Home Live Remote Production Workflows and discusses how local news organizations can best take advantage of this.

Listen to “The InFOCUS Podcast: Jim Jachetta, VidOvation” on Spreaker.

Calling all vinyl aficionados: Apr. 23, 2022, will be the day to celebrate the unique, much-loved and resurging medium known as vinyl. Vinylthon 2022 will feature a full day of vinyl-only broadcasts from stations across the U.S. and around the world.

The nonprofit College Radio Foundation, which is organizing the event, described Vinylthon as the radio industry’s response to the “remarkable vinyl renaissance” that continues around the world. The event is open to all stations both commercial and noncommercial and will raise scholarship funds for students interested in a career in the radio industry.

“This event is a hugely fun day for both listeners and broadcasters alike,” said Vinylthon Founder Rob Quicke, a faculty advisor at WPSC(FM) at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. “People are still very passionate about the magic and warmth of vinyl.”

Over the past 15 years, sales of vinyl have seen steady growth, reaching a “post-Napster high” of $467 million in the first half of 2021, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, despite supply chain shortfalls affecting production. In 2020, vinyl sales overtook CD sales for the first time since the 1980s.

2022 marks the seventh Vinylthon event, with more than 150 radio stations participating in 2021. The event has been supported in the past by music artists such as Andrew Farriss from INXS, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, Ritchie Kotzen from Mr. Big and Poison, and Mike Peters from The Alarm.

The event is free for noncommercial radio stations to register; there is a small fee for commercial stations to participate, said Quicke. “Commercial radio stations that participate are paying it forward to the next generation of professional broadcasters, who really need the financial support,” he said.

Stations that air more than 12 hours of vinyl-only recordings during the event will earn the Golden Slipmat Award — a pair of golden slipmats that can be used on turntables or displayed on a studio wall.

“Playing vinyl on the air is an amazing, hands-on experience for many of today’s radio broadcasters, and a trip down memory lane for the listeners,” Quicke said.

The organization has released additional information on the event, including information on registering and a list of participating stations. As of press time, nearly 100 U.S. stations and a dozen international stations had registered.

The post Vinylthon 2022 Honors Warmth, Vitality of Vinyl appeared first on Radio World.

As of today, the Local Radio Freedom Act has the support of 208 House representatives and 24 Senators. While that’s a sign that the resolution has strong support on Capitol Hill, there’s no guarantee that it will get passed by the House or Senate.

Here’s how you can led your support to the LRFA.

If your Congressional representatives are not on this list, we strongly encourage that you take a few minutes and ask them to join in supporting the act. And, if they have already signed on, it wouldn’t hurt to remember what your mother taught you: Say thank you.

Here is a form provided by the NAB that makes it easy to do both. It encourages those in Congress who have yet to add their name to the act to do so and it says thank you to those who have already done that. How easy can that be?

As a reminder, here is a list of the current congressional supporters of the Local Radio Freedom Act.

Click here and do your part for the Local Radio Freedom Act. Your e-mail could be the one that helps enact the Local Radio Freedom Act.

Tracy Gilliam (left) and Todd Storch

From our People News page: Futuri has created two new positions. Tracy Gilliam was named chief strategy officer, and Todd Storch becomes chief revenue officer.

Futuri offers audience engagement and sales intelligence services for broadcasters and digital publishers, using artificial intelligence and the cloud. Daniel Anstandig is its CEO.

“Gilliam will focus on M&A and strategic growth, as well as further developing Futuri’s client solutions and best-in-class Customer Experience team,” the company wrote.

Futuri in 2015 acquired TopLine Matters, a sales intelligence system Gilliam launched. She also is a former general sales manager for CBS Radio in Los Angeles and VP/market manager for Clear Channel, now iHeartMedia.

“Storch will be responsible for driving Futuri’s continued revenue growth through aligned sales and marketing go-to-market strategies and operational plans for profitable growth,” Futuri wrote.

He is former CEO of Kindrid and Five Star Global, and was SVP, Strategic Initiatives at Ministry Brands. He’s a former VP/senior consultant at The Center for Sales Strategy and co-founder of Taylor’s Gift Foundation.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Futuri Names Gilliam, Storch to New Roles appeared first on Radio World.

Nexstar Media Inc. has upped a pair of experienced broadcast leaders and current Nexstar executives to the respective roles of VP/GM to the company’s broadcast and digital operations in Peoria, Ill., and in Columbus, Ga.

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Lawo has announced the end of production of its sapphire mixing console.

In an email notice to clients, it said existing users have a window to buy modules and boards through June.

The sapphire was introduced in 2010. “We always aim to maintain availability of our products for as long as possible; however, the discontinuation of key components and other factors inevitably leads to the end of a product’s life,” the company stated.

“Sapphire and Nova17 technology have been at the heart of many of the largest broadcast productions over the last decade. The product family supports many different application scenarios and various types of audio formats, with the introduction of Ravenna connectivity as early as 2012,” it wrote.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

“With the introduction of the new diamond surface in late 2021, sapphire and its related components approached the end of its life as a mixing console.”

For existing installations that use sapphire modules, Nova17 core and DALLIS Master boards, Lawo is offering a final purchase window until June 30.

“Lawo’s service team will continue to support all sapphire installations based on the final software release for each sapphire module,” it continued.

“Support will be offered according to our terms and conditions of sale; however, due to increasing complexity in supply chain, Lawo’s support team will only be able to service sapphire with components still in stock; supplies of replacement components will be limited to stock on hand. Limited numbers of products for replacement may also be available until end of stock.”

As a product alternative, Lawo suggests its diamond console and Power Core.

The post Lawo Ends Production of Sapphire appeared first on Radio World.

It’s a company offering radio stations products and services products and services designed to increase sales, improve ratings and lower expenses for barter that’s sister to a radio programming syndicator.

As of today, both entities have a new COO. And, it is a 30-year veteran of network radio sales and operations.

Taking the Chief Operating Officer role at Sun & Fun Media and Key Networks is Dennis Green.

He rises from the role of Chief Revenue Officer.

Green will continue to report to Rob Koblasz, Founder and Chief Executive
Officer of Sun & Fun Media and Key Networks and will continue to be based in New
York.

Green joined Sun & Fun Media as Chief Revenue Officer in May 2018 and added Chief
Revenue Officer responsibilities for Key Networks upon the network’s launch in March
2019.

In his new role, Green will oversee operations for Sun & Fun Media’s products
and services for barter to radio and for Key Networks’ portfolio of nationally syndicated
programming and services including Bloomberg Radio, The O’Reilly Update With Bill
O’Reilly, The O’Reilly Update – Morning Edition, Shawn Parr’s Across the Country,
Virtual Jock and other programs.  “Dennis is one of the hardest working people in radio, and we are very pleased to reward his efforts with this much-deserved promotion,” Koblasz said.

Green added, “I’ve been fortunate in my career to work with amazing talent and provide
programming and services for stations. Rob Koblasz gave me an opportunity to build
upon the success at Sun & Fun and to start Key Networks … Thank you to the best-in-class staff we have assembled to help lead the charge to provide best-in-class products and services to affiliates around the country. The best is yet to come.”

Prior to joining Sun & Fun Media and Key Networks, Dennis spent 22 years at Westwood One, where he departed as SVP of Affiliate Sales and Broadcast Operations rising from other affiliate sales roles.

Earlier in his career, Green served as Head of Multimedia Syndication for Bloomberg.

Audience engagement and sales intelligence tech firm Futuri has expanded its leadership team by welcoming a Chief Strategy Officer and, concurrently, a Chief Revenue Officer.

The two individuals are taking roles Futuri says are designed to support its growth and expansion initiatives.

Taking the Chief Strategy Officer role is Tracy Gilliam. In this role, Gilliam will focus on M&A and strategic growth, as well as further developing Futuri’s products and customer experience specialists.

Gilliam is one of Futuri’s founding members, thanks to the company’s acquisition of a sales intelligence system she launched in 2015, TopLine Matters.

The product is now known as TopLine.

Gilliam’s resume includes role as General Sales Manager for CBS Radio in Los Angeles, and as a VP/Market Manager for Clear Channel Communications, today known as iHeartMedia.

Meanwhile, Todd Storch has been named Chief Revenue Officer. Storch will be responsible for driving Futuri’s continued revenue growth through aligned sales and marketing go-to-market strategies and operational plans for profitable growth. He brings more than 25 years of executive business management experience to Futuri, having held CEO roles at Kindrid and Five Star Global, and serving as SVP/Strategic Initiatives at Ministry Brands. He is also a former VP/senior consultant at The Center for Sales Strategy.

Storch also co-founded Taylor’s Gift Foundation, a non-profit organization providing grief support to organ donor families. It was created after the loss of his oldest daughter, Taylor.

Storch and Gilliam report to Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig.

On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, Los Angeles-based U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin gave a big win — or so it seemed — to one of the world’s biggest Quick Service Restaurant brands, McDonald’s.

In a six-page order, Olguin moved forward with McDonald’s Corporation’s Motion to Dismiss a racial discrimination case filed against the company by the Byron Allen-led Entertainment Studios Networks Inc. But, the judge left the door open for ES to file a Second Amended Complaint.

Allen’s team moved forward with doing so. A second Motion to Dismiss was filed by McDonald’s attorneys. Olguin has now denied that second motion.

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It’s known across the radio industry for its compliance and content distribution software that provides stations products designed to reach total ad accountability.

Now, it is joining a portfolio of media companies including vCreative and Counterpoint Software.

In an announcement released Tuesday (1/25), Banyan Software Inc. revealed that it has purchased Mr. Master Inc.

Terms of the deal, including the price, were not disclosed.

However, Banyan notes that it “employs a decentralized management philosophy, allowing Mr. Master to operate independently and continue the successful practices that led to Banyan’s acquisition interest.”

Mr. Master products include Automation Import Manager (AIM) software, which processes more than 1 million spots each week in addition to short and long-form programming for the radio industry.

“The Mr. Master team has deep, network radio software expertise and has spent over two
decades developing market leading products that serve the unique needs of its long-standing customers,” said David Berkal, CEO of Banyan Software. “We are excited to welcome Mr. Master into the Banyan family of companies and look forward to supporting the company’s future growth in the coming years.”

Mr. Master was founded by President Stu Jacobs. He commented, “We have a great team and product that radio has embraced as its go-to traffic and production workflow solution and partnering with Banyan marks an exciting new chapter in our journey.”

Jacobs is remaining in his role as CEO and will work alongside Banyan.

Mr. Master’s client roster includes iHeartMedia, Cumulus Media, Townsquare Media, Audacy Inc. and Cox Media Group.

As of today, the U.S. television industry has “one-stop access” to patents that are essential to the next generation broadcast standard developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC).

Now available: the ATSC 3.0 Patent Portfolio License, courtesy of MPEG LA.

“As a convenience to ATSC 3.0 implementers and the potential that ATSC 3.0 brings to market, our ATSC 3.0 License will continue MPEG LA’s rich and reliable tradition of addressing the market’s need for transactional efficiency and predictability in accessing necessary intellectual property rights owned by many different organizations under a single license,” says MPEG LA President/CEO Larry Horn. “We are especially proud to be joined in this effort by leading ATSC 3.0 developers from all over the world.”

The initial patent owners to MPEG LA’s ATSC 3.0 License are CableTelevision Laboratories, Inc.; Cerinet USA Inc.; Communications Research Centre Canada (CRC), part of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation; Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.; Koninklijke KPN N.V.; Koninklijke Philips N.V.; NEC Corporation; Nippon Hoso Kyokai; ONE Media, LLC; Panasonic Corporation; Shanghai National Engineering Research Center of Digital Television Co., Ltd (NERC-DTV); and Sun Patent Trust.

ONE Media, the joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group  and Coherent Logix and one of the primary architects of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard, applauded the formation of the ATSC 3.0 Patent Pool by MPEG LA. As ONE Media sees it, “formation of the pool will dramatically simplify the efficient licensing of the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology in multiple-receive devices, easing the distribution and deployment process.”

Patent pools provide for a consortium of companies agreeing to combine related intellectual property and offer “one-stop licensing” to vendors that want to include the technology in their equipment for sale to the public. MPEG LA is a pioneer in the formation and management of these types of pools, ONE Media notes. It adds that ATSC 3.0 is an ideal candidate for such pooling. Multiple companies have “standard essential patents” necessary for vendors to offer the advanced services in their equipment, ONE Media notes.

The ATSC 3.0 Patent Portfolio License and a summary of the License terms may be obtained here.