Headlines

Hot AC WBQB (B101.5) broadcast the 4th Annual Careathon to benefit Children’s National Health System, October 26 and 27, live at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. During the 28-hour event, B101.5 listeners and sponsors pledged $131,543, exceeding last year’s $118.386.50 total.

It’s criminal that the richest country in history still has a severe hunger problem. But not everybody is taking it lying down. WhyHunger's Hungerthon tradition kicks off Thursday, after a record-breaking year raising $1.1 million to help end hunger in America. And radio is well represented.

(By Jeff McHugh) The FCC just eliminated the main studio rule. Look for more local studios to close and for more layoffs among local programming staff in the coming year. Change will also create opportunity for talented performers. Here are some ideas to consider...

(By Ronald Robinson) The most recent (cynical) FCC ruling paved the way for broadcasters to literally abandon their local communities and move their facilities to a central location – so far out of town that even a robust carrier pigeon might not make it back to headquarters with an emergency message.

(By Bob McCurdy) I came across an article written by Shelly Palmer, a well-respected marketing and technology maven. It got me thinking. Hoping it will do the same to you. Palmer’s article put forward a lot of ideas about the future -- which caused me to raise questions relevant to our careers.

Originally, the plan was for Entercom to recognize $25 million in cost-saving synergies from its merger with CBS Radio. Entercom CEO David Field has hinted in previous earnings calls that there was a possibility that could go higher, but this increase was massive.

The Entercom Q3 revenue decline was 1% and that's excluding political. Overall, Entercom took in $122.3 million for the quarter. Both national and local were down. CEO David Field believes one of the reasons the revenue was down slightly was the disruption of the past nine months.

CBS Radio has some of the most recognizable radio brands in the country and Entercom CEO David Field says they've been neglected -- and he intends to change that. Field says CBS Radio is a wonderful company with tremendous people. He was even asked about the morning show at WFAN in New York.

Those words from Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins. While the Urban One radio stations were down less than 1% in Q3, the company outperformed the markets it operates in, according to Miller Kaplan, and that's a good sign, according to Liggins.

We haven't written much about Irving Azoff's Global Music Rights Organization, lately, nor have we really heard how much radio companies were paying under agreements they work out with the new PRO. Until Thursday.