Headlines

The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t moving on the radio dial and have announced a multi-year extension with Beasley Media Group’s 97.5 The Fanatic (WPEN) to serve as the team’s flagship radio station. The Fanatic will continue to exclusively broadcast 76ers games, as well as remain the official home of 76ers pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows.

The Indiana Pacers have renewed their play-by-play deal with Emmis' 107.5 FM/1070 AM The Fan in Indianapolis. This will be the 22nd season Pacers games have been broadcast on an Emmis station. Terms of the new agreement were not disclosed.

Five House members and another Senator have joined as cosponsors of the resolution opposing "any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge" on local broadcast radio stations. The Local Radio Freedom Act now has 211 cosponsors in the House and 24 in the Senate.

We want to know who the 25 people that have had the biggest impact (good or bad) on the radio industry over the past 25 years are. And we want you to tell us. The results of our poll will be published in the November 13 issue of Radio Ink -- celebrating the 25th year of the magazine.

Over the past few weeks our readers have been voting for the top 20 AOR stations of all time. You'll find that final vote at the end of this story. Before we list how you voted in our poll, we turn to three AOR experts to see how they voted. Both John Sebastian and Lee Abrams have ranked their lists. Fred Jacobs provided us with a list of 20 stations as well. Fred's top 20 are not ranked.

(By Eric Rhoads) Being in the role of RAB president is one no one in their right mind would want. (With respect to Erica Farber, current RAB president) because you not only have to be a visionary, you have to manage the politics of the needs of each member sector…. The big-market players like Clear Channel (now i-Heart Radio) as well as the small-market independent players and the needs of everyone in between. Gary Fries handled them all masterfully.

The New York Post has a piece devoted to the upcoming departure of Mike Francesa from WFAN in New York. Francesa has been voted Radio Ink's #1 sports talker ever since our list was created. He's leaving at the end of the year when his contract expires. The Post points out that if it weren't for this one person, Francesa would have never been hired.

We've seen our share of weather-related disasters over the past several months. From the floods in Houston to the hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico, Mother Nature has not been kind in 2017. Many broadcasters were affected by the weather mayhem, some being knocked off the air or losing power.

That's according to details in a research report prepared by NPR and Edison Research. More than half the people surveyed say they use the device to make purchases. Fifty-seven percent of smart-speaker owners have ordered an item through their device. Households with children are even more likely to have purchased through the device.

It was a 13-month battle but Lakes Media President Tom Birch sounds confident he's finally won. Birch says he received a letter from the FCC that orders the immediate cessation of Arohi Media's translator W252DK and dismissal of the pending W252DK license.