Headlines

(By Renee Cassis) Steve Goldstein, CEO of Amplifi Media, and Fred Jacobs, owner of Jacobs Media, who formed Sonic AI as a joint venture that focuses on smart-speaker development and strategy, presented “Key Strategies for Future Platforms: Smart Speakers” during Borrell’s Local Online Advertising Conference in New York City yesterday.

The Academy of Country Music has revealed the full list of winners for the 53rd Academy of Country Music Awards. This year’s event will be held at Topgolf Las Vegas on Saturday, April 14. And here are the winners...

Birmingham, AL, stations WBHK 98.7 Today’s Kiss, WBHJ 95.7 Jamz, and 610 WAGG welcomed the return of Huffman High School students on Friday, March 9, with smiles, hugs, and a balloon release at the ringing of the bell. The students, faculty, and community of Huffman High School are mourning a terrible loss following a shooting inside of the school on Wednesday, March 14.

iHeartMedia Little Rock has announced the debut of HOT 94.9, “All The Hits.” The HOT 94.9 format will consist of songs from artists such as Justin Timberlake, The Weekend, Bruno Mars, Kendrick Lamar, and Imagine Dragons. It replaces Classic Hits from the 70's and 80's.

The Alexandria, LA, station had their Annual Country Cares for St. Jude Radiothon this past Thursday and Friday. The radiothon raised $105,598 for the kids at St. Jude.

NEWS TALK 1037FM in Chambersburg, PA has debuted its new drone the station is calling its "Live Eye In The Sky." GM Patrick Ryan tells Radio Ink the main purpose of the drone will be to cover news and community events. The drone is flown by a licensed commercial drone pilot the station contracts with and it has to be insured each time it goes up in the air.

(By Renee Cassis) “If you had asked me five years ago if we were still talking about transitioning to digital, I would have said ‘no way.'” That from Beasley Media Group CEO Caroline Beasley, who was part of a panel at the Local Online Advertising Conference, taking place in New York City Monday and Tuesday.

The drug store chain moved to number four, from 24th, on last week's Media Monitors chart of top radio advertisers. CVS ran 26,784 commercials on radio stations across the country. GEICO was on top of the chart once again with 32,758 spots. Here were your top 5 advertisers for the week.

ESPN Radio has renewed its license of the Veritone aiWARE platform for its sports talk programming and live event coverage. Since 2016, ESPN Radio has worked with Veritone to analyze its national radio network programming -- sports talk and live event programming including the NFL, NBA, College Basketball, College Football, and Major League Baseball.

Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc. is accepting applications from interested parties wishing to be considered for the 2018-2019 Country Radio Seminar Agenda Committee. The application deadline is Friday, April 6.