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(By Paul Weyland) Have you ever wondered why we’re back at 1980s spot rates? Well, you can thank our friends at the advertising agencies, as well as our own poor negotiating skills. Imagine being present at the scene of the worst negotiation ever … between an advertising agency principle and a television general manager.

(By Ronald Robinson) There’s nothing like a new piece of terminology to excite and confuse the locals. The latest is “UX” (User Experience). We must love our terminologies, especially when they describe or re-label something that has been there all along. Say, they wouldn’t be talking about what an audience goes through when they hear our stations, now, would they?

The 30-second radio public service announcement is the latest bid by the Broadcasters Foundation of America to ensure their message reaches all broadcasters who are in need. The Foundation provides financial assistance to broadcasters in acute need due to critical illness, accident, or other serious misfortune.

The Tacoma station won 5 national awards at the 2017 Public Radio News Directors Conference, all from the station’s locally-produced culture magazine Sound Effect—“Your weekly tour of ideas, inspired by the place we live.” The show airs Saturdays and explores a different themes and presents provocative and smart conversations with insight and humor.

After much speculation that the Pandora founder and two-time CEO would step down, Tuesday was the day. As the Board begins its search for a new CEO, CFO Naveen Chopra will step in as interim CEO. Westergren is also out as a Pandora board member. President Mike Herring and CMO Nick Bartle are also gone.

The changes keep coming from the pure-play streamer. On the same day Pandora made it official CEO and founder Tim Westergren was leaving, the company announced it was winding down operations in Australia and New Zealand. Pandora had been serving those two countries with its curated music service since December of 2012. Here's the official company statement...

According to BIA/Kelsey's updated 2017 U.S. Local Advertising Forecast, radio stations in New York will receive about $992.2 million of the $13.7 billion spent on local media. Direct mail will receive the most ($3.57 billion), digital came in second ($1.78 billion), followed by TV over-the-air ($1.73 billion), mobile ($1.54 billion), then radio ($992.2 million).

From Borrell & Associates' most recent 12-week study of small businesses, this question: Do local businesses buy advertising on feelings or facts? This week's chart illustrates what 2,293 of them are doing. Using a sliding scale of "100% Gut" to "100% Data," Borrell asked the business owners to indicate how they decided to buy media.

Radio was well represented Tuesday at the annual Gracie's Luncheon in New York City. At this all-star table were the NAB's John David, ABC Radio's Steve Jones, talk show host Joan Hamburg, Radio Ink Publisher Deborah Parenti, CBS Radio's Chris Oliviero, the recently retired Harvey Nagler from CBS News Radio, Heather Cohen from the Weiss Agency, and Broadcast Attorney Frank Montero.

WMJX-FM in Boston won a Gracie Tuesday for MAGIC 106.7’s Exceptional Women radio show. Show host Sue Tabb (pictured right) and producer Kendra Petrone received the Gracie in the “Soft News Feature” in honor of their “Then You Stand” submission. Exceptional Women has now earned 25 Gracies, in addition to 20 local and national awards.