Headlines

(By Buzz Knight) One of the privileges of the business we are in is making friends with some unbelievable partners that we encounter. In most instances, this connection is immediate and it lasts a lifetime. Some are cut short in an untimely manner. This past Friday we lost Jim Barry, the spokesman from the Consumer Technology Association, to Cancer.

(By Eric Rhoads) Radio, for the most part, is a single-pillar business. It lives or dies based on advertising. Though many stations and companies have alternative revenue streams, none comes close to matching the revenues or the wide margins of advertising. What if radio’s single pillar were to go away?

Cesar Gerlens has been one busy pirate. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau says Gerlens had illegal radio stations in four locations. According to this notice, Gerlens had stations at four different residences, three were using the 92.1-FM frequency, in Brockton, Everett, and Randolph, and another at 90.1-FM in Mattapan.

Tatiana Felgengauer was stabbed in the throat by the attacker, Monday. It's being reported her injuries are not life-threatening. Felgengauer works at the Russian radio station "Echo of Moscow."

According to Media Monitors, GEICO (39,928) and The Home Depot (37,323) were first and second again on their weekly chart of radio commercials. By airing 30,283 commercials on radio stations all over the country, JC Penney came in third. McDonald's was fourth (27,170) followed by ZipRecruiter (23,365), rounding out the top five.

Presenters for the 29th Annual National Radio Hall of Fame Induction ceremony have been announced. Among them are Entercom CEO David Field and CBS Radio Host Scott Shannon. The ceremony is November 2 at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. Here's the entire list of presenters.

(By Bob McCurdy) If you read one article this week, read “Shokunin Kishitsu and the Five Elements of Mastery,” and if you watch one film, make it Jiro: Dreams of Sushi. It is available on Netflix and it is impossible to walk away uninspired. The commitment to excellence displayed by this chef in both the article and documentary is epic.

(By Jeff McHugh) Great production can help image a show’s brand, make benchmarks more memorable, and help pump up excitement. But like any sharp-edged tool, production sometimes does more harm than good. Here are five checkpoints that help you assess if your radio show or podcast is using production effectively.

(By Ronald Robinson) At no time in my radio career did I ever wish to be wearing a tattered robe held together by a flayed piece of rope. I never wanted to be wandering rain-soaked or freezing sidewalks in my open-toed sandals while carrying a sandwich board that read: “Attention Radio – Snappeth Out Of It!” Nor did I want mine to be a lone voice in the wilderness.

On October 18, city council members unanimously voted to pass a resolution, strongly endorsing the efforts of both SAG-AFTRA and the Spanish Broadcasting System. The resolution calls for both entities to engage in good faith negotiations and reach a fair contract with a living wage for talent providing on-air services for two popular LA Spanish-language music stations