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Perhaps Harvey and Irma pushed the United States government into action. The Senate has passed the ‘‘Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act of 2017," also known as The SANDy Act. As far as radio is concerned, it's added to the list of essential services during federally declared emergencies.

Pandora's interim CEO, Naveen Chopra, spoke at The Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference this week and said the company sees new platforms like Amazon's Alexa where both listener and advertiser growth will come from. In the automobile, not so much.

NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith has agreed to a contract extension that will keep him in the position until March 31, 2023. Smith joined the NAB in 2009. He's a former two-term United States Senator from Oregon (1996-2008).

In a statement posted on Twitter, suspended WFAN morning show co-host Craig Carton says he is not guilty of the charges filed against him by the federal government and he plans to fight them and return "stronger than ever." Here's Carton's full statement...

As Florida continues to clean up from Hurricane Irma, Nielsen has informed clients that September Week 1 data is scheduled to be released this week. The company had to delay the data due to the evacuation of employees from the Tampa Bay area.

Nationally syndicated health-talk radio show Let’s Talk Nutrition is celebrating 12 years of live broadcasting on terrestrial radio. The show airs live 9-11 a.m. EST five days a week in nearly 60 markets coast to coast.

The FCC is reporting the number of radio stations off the air due to Hurricane Irma to be in excess of two dozen. Meanwhile, the Commission has expanded its Disaster Information Reporting System to include 18 counties in Georgia and three in Alabama, in addition Florida.

In an exclusive interview for the October 9 issue of Radio Ink Magazine, Cumulus CEO Mary Berner says, operationally, due to the changes she's made to the company over the past two years, Cumulus has turned the corner. Berner tells Radio Ink her plan to turn the company around is working. Here's an excerpt from that interview.

Regarding the recent op-ed piece Recording Academy President Neil Portnow wrote for Radio Ink that alleged artists no longer thank radio for playing their music, NAB Executive VP Dennis Wharton has responded with the following statement and examples of several artists that did thank radio, during last week's Radio Show in Austin.

According to the National Association of Broadcasters, attendance for the 2017 Radio Show in Austin was right around 2,000. The attendance for the 2016 show in Nashville was 2,272, which was 102 people more than the 2015 Radio Show in Atlanta. 2017 had its challenges for sure. The show began one day after Labor Day and was bookended by two major hurricanes, Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida. The 2018 Radio Show is set for Sept. 25-28 in Orlando.