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Up until now, Pandora has been in a hiring mode. New salespeople were being hired in major markets all over the country. Smart techies were being hired to improve Pandora's algorithm brains, the Music Genome Project. It looks like that all came to an end Thursday as CEO Tim Westergren said the company is "undertaking operational efficiency measures to reduce overall operating costs in 2017." Radio folks know that terminology well. It means hide under your desk, here come the pink slips.

First they were, then they weren't, now it appears they are again. According to The New York Post, SiriusXM Chairman Greg Maffei told some shareholders this week that the satellite company is still interested in buying Pandora. The Post reports Maffei saying, “Sirius would look at [Pandora] at the right price.”

Paterson, New Jersey resident Conroy Dawson is in big trouble with the feds. Dawson's accused of running a pirate radio station called "WBLR - Big Link Radio," at 97.5, and not only refusing to shut it down but trying to dodge the law by moving it to different locations after being warned.

There's been a lot of national press here in America about what's happening to FM Radio in Norway. Norway is moving to digital broadcasting by shutting down its "national" FM radio broadcasts. That, of course, is followed with the question, could this happen in the U.S.A. NAB Chief Operating Officer Chris Ornelas took on that question in an NAB blog posted Thursday.

That's one of 20 predictions made by the team at BIA/Kelsey in a new report called What’s Next: BIA/Kelsey 2017. BIA/Kelsey Managing Director Rick Ducey predicts national brands will outpace regional and local small and medium-sized businesses in total ad spend growth targeting local audiences.

There has been a lot of information going out to radio stations about BMI and GMR lately. And in the age of digital, the communication is taking place at warp speed. If you are not receiving this important information, information that could affect your wallet, it could be because the RMLC does not have a valid e-mail for you. Take a minute of your time to send an e-mail update to Bill Velez at the RMLC [email protected]

It was certainly a quiet exit for one of radio's most well-liked executives. Not to mention he's probably one of the funniest people that ever walked the halls of a radio convention. Valle confirmed to Radio Ink he's been gone from the company for several months now. Valle switched roles in June from running radio at Univision to President of Political & Advocacy Sales. Here's what he told us last night.

Last time a story leaked out about ESPN Radio was when Steven A. Smith was rumored to be coming back from SiriusXM. That story turned out to be true, of course. Now there are reports circulating in the national press that Mike Greenberg is leaving the long-running morning show on ESPN radio that he hosts with Mike Golic.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will speak at the Aspen Institute at 11 a.m. on Friday. It will be his final speech as chairman. He's stepping down on January 20. Wheeler is expected to reflect on the lessons he learned during his FCC tenure and discuss what he'd like to see as the path ahead for U.S. broadband policy. The speech will be streamed live HERE.

Christmas was brighter for thousands of kids in Topeka this year thanks to Alpha Media joining forces with the Topeka Rescue Mission. The organizations collected thousands of items to distribute to families who otherwise might not have had any presents under the tree. Around 4,000 people were helped this year with 3,700 toys being collected for kids.