Headlines

Much of the Tech Press is reporting this launch as a way for Facebook to get into radio. It's called "Live Audio," and Facebook unveiled the new product Tuesday. The social media behemoth says "sometimes publishers want to tell a story on Facebook with words and not video."

Sara Clemens has resigned as Pandora's Chief Operating Officer. It was just back in March when the company realigned, making Tim Westergren CEO, that Clemens took over as COO. Before the promotion, Clemmons spent two years as Pandora's Chief Strategy Officer. The company sent Radio Ink the following statement...

Joule Broadcasting in South Carolina had its licenses renewed for WJXY-FM in Conway and WXJY-FM in Georgetown, but not before the FCC slapped the stations with $22,000 in fines for failing to keep issues/programs lists in the public file.

It’s a 3-year extension between the Minnesota Wild of the NHL and iHeartMedia’s KFAN 100.3 FM. The Twin Cities station will broadcast all preseason, regular season, and Stanley Cup Playoff games through the 2019-2020 season.

Each year, during the holiday season, WLNK-FM 107.9 The Link’s morning show, Bob & Sheri, helps make coming home for the holidays memorable for nearly 4,000 troops. Bob Lacey and Sheri Lynch welcome troops as they transit through the Charlotte airport on their way home for the holidays.

Myrtle Beach station WAVE 104.1 (WYAV) held their Marathon for Meals, November 12-18, in support of the Myrtle Beach-based Helping Hand and Community Kitchen organizations. The result? A massive 13,000 pounds of food donations collected.

47 year veteran programmer Chris Kampmeier is retiring from the radio business in less than two weeks. His final position in the business was Region VP of Programming for iHeartMedia’s North Florida Region. Before he sprints out the door into retirement, we had a chance to ask him about his career as a star programmer and leader. In part two of our interview we asked Chris if he would share some secrets that lead to his many years of management success. Luckily for all of us, he said yes.

That's according to a revised forecast from MoffettNathanson Research which now says traditional media will see a 6% decline in total advertising next year. Most of that decline is on the TV side. Radio will be down 1.5%...and that's good news when compared to other media.

And as a result of Nielsen's November connectivity problem that impacted December ratings, the Media Ratings Council says it is withholding its accreditation for the affected markets.

As a result of the long-term deal, Nielsen will provide ASCAP with expanded U.S. radio airplay data along with metadata and unique identifiers for recordings. ASCAP says this will allow it to provide members with, "unprecedented transparency as ASCAP brings together the verified recording information with its authoritative data on the underlying works."