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Cities 97 (KTCZ-FM, Twin Cities) recently raised nearly $530,000 through its 28th annual Cities 97 Sampler CD. For every CD sold, $1 was donated to the Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. The remaining proceeds benefited 97 local Minnesota charities. This year, the CD featured performances recorded live in Cities 97’s Studio C by 20 artists

Reuters is reporting that a group of iHeartMedia lenders has signed a cooperation agreement to oppose the debt overhaul the company has been working on for months.

The big NAB Show is now underway in Las Vegas and in case you decide to stay home and make more sales calls rather than roam the streets of Sin City you can catch a number of the sessions on your digital devices this year. Here's a complete listing of the panels and speakers the NAB will be streaming, including FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's keynote on Tuesday afternoon.

The name of the panel is called "Coffee and Conversation with Deborah Parenti & John Caracciolo." Our boss and the JVC CEO will share stories about their successful career paths. And for anyone in Las Vegas today hoping to climb the ladder of success this panel, part of the Broadcast Education Association's 62th Annual Convention, is a great opportunity to pick the brains of two highly successful radio people. The panel will be held at the Westgate Resort & Casino Pavilion 3 at 2:45 pm.

(By Bob McCurdy) The benefit of a message broadcast is that it is broadly “cast.” It is inclusive, reaching all current and future users of any product/service. This is significant, as the future economic value of any consumer differs from their current economic value, due to the marketing “law of buyer moderation.”

(By Jeff McHugh) Top-performing shows today keep the audience’s attention by offering content that cannot be found anywhere else. Here are some strategies that can keep your fans coming back to your show for a memorable, unique version of content that is otherwise available everywhere.

(By Ronald Robinson) They are still at it. They can’t help themselves, and they just won’t stop. Recently, I have been paying closer attention to the pontifications of a number of radio programmers – people who really should know better. They are to the point where much of their rhetoric could be classified as “wishful muttering.” They continue to insist they are putting (alleged) facts to (alleged) truths.

Debtwire senior credit analyst Seth Crystall tells MySA.com the reason for the early look at the revenue numbers is to help convince lenders and bondholders to agree to a debt-exchange offer iHeart has been working on. The debt-exchange offer expires today for lenders and April 28 for bondholders. There have already been two extensions. The good news is the radio side of the business was up. Here's what iHeart reported.

The SEC filing by iHeart Thursday points out that a substantial amount of the company's cash goes toward debt service obligations. The company says it will continue to incur net losses and generate negative cash flow from operating activities given its debt and interest expenses. All of this has lead to "substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of 12 months following the date the first quarter 2017 financial statements are issued."

FM translators are now blanketing the country. There are thousands either rebroadcasting an AM signal, an HD signal, or (despite the FCC's rules not to) airing original content. With all those translators comes the possibility, and probability, that some will interfere with existing full-power FM radio stations. The NAB wants to help resolve those interference problems and has filed comments with the FCC to do so. Here are the details...