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We've seen our share of weather-related disasters over the past several months. From the floods in Houston to the hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico, Mother Nature has not been kind in 2017. Many broadcasters were affected by the weather mayhem, some being knocked off the air or losing power.

That's according to details in a research report prepared by NPR and Edison Research. More than half the people surveyed say they use the device to make purchases. Fifty-seven percent of smart-speaker owners have ordered an item through their device. Households with children are even more likely to have purchased through the device.

It was a 13-month battle but Lakes Media President Tom Birch sounds confident he's finally won. Birch says he received a letter from the FCC that orders the immediate cessation of Arohi Media's translator W252DK and dismissal of the pending W252DK license.

The Chicago Bears and CBS Radio have signed a multi-year extension to keep the team’s radio broadcast rights on WBBM Newsradio 780 & 105.9FM. WBBM has been the radio home of the Bears since 2000.

Wednesday, November 15, is the date that's been set for the third annual Stars and Strings at The Chicago Theatre in downtown Chicago. The show, which honors veterans, boasts an all-star lineup featuring Brad Paisley, Chris Young, Darius Rucker, Kelsea Ballerini, Lady Antebellum, and Sam Hunt.

If the radio industry were a poker game, some of its players would be running out of chips. Will a major player pull out an ace? Or toss in the cards? Who is willing to join the game? Who is willing — and able — to bankroll players, and what’s in it for them? “Prospects for Radio as an Investment in 2018: The Real Street Talk” will answer many of your questions.

Commercials for the employment service Indeed.com have been heard regularly for many weeks now on radio stations all across America. Media Monitors reports Indeed running over 34,000 spots last week which was good enough for second place on their weekly chart.

(By Gary Berkowitz) By now, everybody knows the pain and devastation that was caused by Hurricane Irma. Since the beginning, coverage of storms like this have been radio’s strength. Radio people love emergency coverage and, if I must say so myself, nobody does it better.

(By Bob McCurdy) The owner of ad agency Coming of Age, Jim Gilmartin, wrote a blog titled, “Don’t Put Ten Pounds Of Copy Into A Five Pound Bag,” and as the title implies, he believes when it comes to copy that “less is more.” But he also touched on another concept, “conditional positioning,” which plays to a unique strength of radio.

Now that we've heard from Cumulus CEO Mary Berner that, operationally, the company has turned the corner, what about the debt issue? That was another topic we discussed with the two-year Cumulus CEO in our interview that will appear in the October 9 issue of Radio Ink Magazine.