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It's been quite a week of back-and-forth about the relationship radio has with advertising agencies. On Thursday, we posted a list of questions several advertising agency executives have for radio stations. Today, we have answers from a radio representative. Plenty of answers. And perhaps a little anger and sarcasm thrown in.

Dentsu Aegis Network has upgraded its ad-spending forecast for 2018 to 3.9% -- up from 3.6% in its January projection. Total ad spend around the world is expected to come in at $615 Billion. Dentsu predicts radio will be up 2%. In January the radio projection was 1.3%. The 2019 radio projection is plus 1.2%.

Our week-long series on the love-hate relationship between radio and advertising agencies has stirred up quite a discussion. We're hopeful it's been fair and balanced and that each side is learning about the other. On Thursday, we reached out to Ashley Chase from Independent Brands, an agency in Oklahoma. Ashley's been following the discussion and agreed to an interview.

The weekly one-hour golf talk show on WFAN-FM/New York will be hosted by golf expert Ann Liguori and air Sunday mornings from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. ET, June 17 through September 2. The inaugural show will be broadcast live from the 2018 U.S. Open in Shinnecock Hills, NY.

It's clear Journal Communications and Scripps knew they had a superstar in Beverly Brannigan. Brannigan made it to the Market Manager level from the programming side, which is something we do not see a lot of in our business. Since 2014, Brannigan has been the Vice President and General Manager for the Scripps radio cluster in Wichita. She's also the Vice President of Programming for the entire Scripps radio group. And, of course, she's on Radio Ink's 2018 Most Influential Women in Radio list.

The discussion about advertising agencies and radio has certainly caught fire this week. Yesterday, we heard from two ad agency executives who asked to remain anonymous. They threw out the following list of questions and statements and asked us to see how you might react and answer them. Have at it...

On Wednesday, the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology passed the PIRATE Act. The "Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act’’ calls for an increased penalty of up to $2,000,000 for anyone convicted of operating a pirate station. The bill moves to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee for a vote.

In this latest Hispanic Radio Podcast hosted by RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson, veteran national sales pro Jose Villafañe — recently appointed Head of Sales and an Advisory Board member for MLC Media — discuss the top things a radio station should consider when evaluating syndicated programming for a key daypart. 

We are pleased to announce that former Greater Media CEO Peter Smyth is the recipient of Radio Ink's 2018 Lifetime Leadership Award. The award is presented as part of the annual Radio Ink Forecast summit, held at the Harvard Club in New York City. Forecast this year will be held on November 14.

The ongoing debate about the way advertising agencies treat radio, and vice versa, started by Roberty Christy and expanded upon by Brian Winnekins, caught the attention of our good friends at the Radio Advertising Bureau. We spent some time on Tuesday discussing the issue with RAB CEO Erica Farber.