Beasley Q4 Revenue Declines 2.1%
The company is still working through the station swap with CBS which is closing in on one year ago. Beasley picked up stations in Tampa and Charlotte (and one in Philly) from CBS for stations in Miami and Philadelphia. Beasley is required to report the five stations it handed over to CBS under discontinued operations despite having operated them through November 2014. After Q1 of this year, the reporting becomes normal again for the company. On a pro-forma basis Beasley revenue for Q4 2015 declined 2.1% or $600,000. That decline was based on overall softness in Charlotte, Las Vegas, and Wilmington. The good news is that when you exclude the $1.7 million in Q4 2014 political revenue, which did not return in 2015, pro-forma revenue was up 4%.
How To Lead Your Team To Win Five Crystal Awards
This April the team at Hubbard Radio's WTMX in Chicago will be rewarded for all the hard work it does for the community of Chicago. The station will be honored with the NAB Crystal Heritage Award for winning five Crystals. The award is given for exceptional year-round community service, which is exactly what WTMX excels at.
Commissioner Pai To Keynote Hispanic Radio Conference
If the FCC is to help the broadcast industry survive and flourish, Commissioner Ajit Pai may be the man to make it happen. Hear his thoughts on the state of the FCC at the Hispanic Radio Conference!
Berner Builds Her Own Programming Team
New Cumulus CEO Mary Berner is shaking up how programming decisions are made at the company. She says she is giving PDs more control over the day-to-day programming of their stations, "which has not been the case in the past." The new structure will be built under Mike McVay and includes new hires with resumes from companies like Nielsen, iHeartMedia, CBS Radio, and Cipolla Analytics.
How Radio Covered The Big Snowstorm
Many states on the east coast are digging out of one of the biggest snowstorms in recorded history. It's clean-up time in New York, Washington DC and many other cities after the weekend in which snow was coming down at 2-3 inches per hour. Through it all, radio stations up and down the dial were doing what they do in times of extreme weather...serving their community.
Borrell Predicts Radio Ad Decline In 2016
Borrell & Associates has released its second industry paper on Local Advertising Insights. In it Borrell predicts that local advertising will experience a growth spurt of 16.4%, from $113 Billion in 2015 to $132 Billion this year. $5.5 Billion of that increase will come from state and local elections and $17 Billion will be from growth in digital spending. So what's the deal with radio?
It’s Going to Be Dashboard Crazy at CES This Year
CES is about to begin in Las Vegas and Greater Media's Buzz Knight is there to cover the show for Radio Ink. Buzz recently interviewed Consumer Technology Association CEO Gary Shapiro who said Nine automakers and more than 115 automotive tech companies will be exhibiting across 200,000 square feet of space this year, that's a 25 percent increase over last year. As for in-vehicle communications, they’re making cars safer and drivers more connected. Exhibitors at CES 2016 will unveil a complete, immersive infotainment experience for the car, with advancements in active window displays, access notifications, navigation systems, and a whole lot more. Here's Buzz's interview with Shapiro.
Musician Drops $150 Million Lawsuit on Spotify
The suit was filed this week by David Lowery (pictured) of alternative rock band Cracker. He says Spotify "knowingly, willingly, and unlawfully reproduces and distributes copyrighted" music without a license to do so." CNN Money reports Spotify says it plans to pay "every penny" it owes to songwriters and publishers, but "unfortunately, especially in the United States, the data necessary to confirm the appropriate rightsholders is often missing, wrong, or incomplete. When rightsholders are not immediately clear, we set aside the royalties we owe until we are able to confirm their identities."
Pandora Signs Agreements With ASCAP and BMI
This is a pretty big deal here due to the confrontational relationships Pandora has had with the world's leading performance Rights Organizations, especially BMI. And as a result of this deal, Pandora is dropping its appeal of the recent BMI rate court decision. ASCAP and BMI have a combined catalogue of over 20 million musical works.
Here Are The New Royalty Rates To Stream
The long-awaited rates from the three-person Copyright Royalty Board finally arrived late Wednesday night. In 2016, commercial webcasters will pay 22 cents per performance for any subscription services (such as Pandora One which is $5.00 per month). That's down from 25 cents per spin. Commercial non-subscription services will pay 17 cents per performance. That's up from 14 cents for Pandora and down from 25 cents for radio.
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