Headlines

Lakes Media Network's sellers in Southern Virginia and Northern North Carolina now have access to Townsquare Ignite's digital advertising platform. The six-station operator is the latest broadcaster to join Townsquare's growing Media Partnerships division.

From AI-voiced radio shifts to cloned podcast hosts, the audio industry keeps questioning how far synthetic voices can go before audiences push back. That line is closer than many expected, with listeners recoiling at the idea of an AI stand-in for a favorite host.

Outsiders hear "small market radio" and picture fewer listeners, fewer dollars, maybe a stop on the way to somewhere bigger. The people actually running those markets know the stakes are hardly minuscule, because you can't fake local in a small town.

An outside investor is about to put fresh capital into Beasley Media Group, and the money already has a destination. A single institutional buyer is purchasing stock and warrants, with proceeds slated to pay down a revolving credit line and retire part of debt due in 2028.

A year after Congress cut off federal support for public broadcasting, California is putting its own money behind local newsrooms, and radio is included. Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed the Community NEWS Act, creating refundable tax credits for news outlets that keep journalists on staff.

How can radio talent use AI without automating the personality out of the show? Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio is putting that question to working broadcasters in a free webinar next month, with on-air hosts and programmers sharing how the tools fit into their everyday workflows.

Two family-built New York broadcasters are coming together. Pamal Broadcasting, rooted in Albany since 1987, has agreed to acquire Ed Levine's Galaxy Media and its Syracuse and Utica stations, stretching Pamal's reach from the Hudson Valley into Central New York.

With the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act now in the Senate's hands, Christian broadcasters brought their priorities to Capitol Hill. NRB's President's Council gathered in DC for its Capitol Hill Media Summit with Speaker Mike Johnson and FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty.

Influence, not reach, is what podcast advertisers are really buying, according to one of the agency executives placing those buys. Adopter Media's Adam McNeil joined Audacy Head of Podcasts Leah Reis-Dennis for an Ad Age webcast expanding on Audacy's State of Audio report and what drives campaign performance.

(Paige Nienaber) Radio's greatest strength has always been its relevance. The "living in the moment" with the audience when something happens. Gas is all that anyone is talking about, so it would behoove you to talk about gas. "But we don't have money to buy gas!" Here's what you do: