Headlines

The Hispanic Radio Conference, coming this Tuesday and Wednesday, March 13-14 in Miami, offers an amazing lineup of speakers and panelists. If you don't care about the future of radio, you might want to skip it.

The negotiations will continue between iHeartCommunications and some of its lenders as they work toward restructuring iHeart's $20 billion of debt. The deadline, which expired Wednesday night, has been extended another three business days -- through 11:59 p.m., Monday, March 12. This gives the two sides another five days, if they happen to work weekends, to hammer out a deal.

The 2018 Infinite Dial research shows that podcasts have been steadily growing over the past few years. Sixty-four percent of Americans, 12 and over, are now familiar with podcasts, compared to 60% last year. Forty-four percent have listened to a podcast, up from 36% two years ago.

The burgeoning podcast medium will be the focus of a new conference program, show floor pavilion, and recording studio at the 2018 NAB Show, April 7-12 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

This will come as no surprise to Radio Ink readers. According to the latest Infinite Dial survey, smart speaker ownership is exploding, lead by Amazon's Echo and Google's Home. Last year only 7% of Americans, 12 and over, owned one of the devices. In 2018 that number ballooned to 18%.

Austin’s ALT 97.5, “The New Alternative,” announced Thursday a broadcast agreement with the Houston Astros. The station will be the official Houston Astros affiliate in Austin, Texas, and will carry all regular season and post season games for the 2018 Major League Baseball season.

To help AMs and FMs on their path to success, the Radio + Television Business Report and Radio Ink are pleased to present our first series of short podcasts focused on Hispanic radio — and its power — in advance of the 2018 Hispanic Radio Conference, March 13-14 in Miami.

The Michigan Association of Broadcasters Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2018 Scholarship Program. Scholarships were presented during the Great Lakes Media Show on March 7 at the Lansing Center. The MAB Foundation awarded $28,500 in scholarships this year. 

The imaging company today released its fourth annual "Benztown 50 List of Radio’s Biggest Imaging Voices," a listing of the top 50 radio voiceover artists in the U.S. and Canada. Benztown enlisted P1 Media Group to compile and analyze industry data that was the foundation for the list.

The Springfield, MA station's radiothon raised a whopping $245,367 over two days, beating last year’s number and bringing the total raised since 2002 to over $4.5 million. All proceeds go to the Children’s Miracle Network to benefit Baystate Children’s Hospital.