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Emmis Communications has entered into a new employment agreement with the only CEO the company has ever had, Jeff Smulyan. Smulyan’s base salary will continue to be $1,025,000 through February 28, 2019, and increase $25,000 each year. The new agreement runs through February 28, 2022, and will automatically renew for additional one-year terms. The company also paid Smulyan a $1 million signing bonus.

We hear it a lot. The biggest challenge for managers is hiring. We also hear how difficult it is to hire strong talent from the upcoming generation. Radio needs young blood oozing up and down the halls of its radio stations to keep things exciting, fresh and innovative. We turned to the 2018 MIW Group mentees for answers.

If you have not created a way for your audience to listen to your radio station on a Smart Speaker you are living in the Dark Ages. According to the latest Jacobs Media Techsurvey, Smart Speaker ownership jumped from 11% to 21% in just one year. And if you're not telling your audience your radio station is available on Smart Speakers, you may be missing an opportunity to increase your listening base, or at the least maintain the listeners you have.

Townsquare Media announced late in the day Thursday it has sold North American Midway Entertainment to North American Fairs for $23.5 million plus a 15% residual interest in any future proceeds of a sale of NAME in the next 10 years. Townsquare purchased NAME in 2015 for $75.5 million.

This is the kind of advertiser we all want to hear from. Walt Blasberg is the owner of the North Hero House in North Hero, VT. North Hero House is an Inn and restaurant on Lake Champlain. It's not the typical advertiser you're going to hear on the radio every day. Yet, as soon as Blasberg decided to incorporate radio into his marketing campaign, his business took off. (Our weekly Advertiser Success Stories are sponsored by Sun & Fun Media).

Ron Stone is the CEO of Adams Radio Group. On Friday we interviewed Stone as part of our CEO series on deregulation and whether there should be more deregulation for radio. He's opposed. Our interview with Ron resulted in a lot of reader feedback. In case you missed it Friday here's that interview again.

The United States Traffic Network continues to do damage to Entercom's revenue. As expected, USTN cost Entercom $12 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2018. Add to that what CEO David Field called a "soft advertising environment" and six format changes that have not seen the revenue upside yet, and Entercom reports a Q1 quarter down 7.5%.

A flurry of documents were filed with the bankruptcy court on Tuesday, including a schedule of trial dates that could lead to the confirmation of Cumulus' bankruptcy filing.

In a Monday court filing, Cumulus' Term Loan Lenders voiced support for the company's restructuring plan while blasting a committee of noteholders and the ad hoc cross-holder committee for objecting to the plan. The Term Loan Lenders say, "Cumulus is finally on the cusp of de-levering their enterprise by more than $1 billion and creating a trajectory for long-term success," with a plan that "delivers real economic value to out-of-the-money unsecured creditors."

Broadcast equipment from two pirate radio stations in Boston was seized in a joint operation involving the FCC, the U.S. Marshals Service and Boston Police Department. The announcement came from the Department of Justice. Boston, Miami, and New York have the greatest concentration of pirate radio activities. Here's an FCC map of all the known pirates...