Headlines

The new product radio's largest company has unveiled is called "SmartAudio." We now live in a world of big data and iHeart's new digital data advertising product is part of the programmatic buying platform which was unveiled about a year ago. SmartAudio helps advertisers target specific audience segments. But it's much more than that.

Thursday, March 16, sees the launch of community-licensed KNKX’s rebrand -- new logos, and brand pillars that support KNKX’s mission of delivering excellence in jazz, blues, and news with stories that inspire, inform, and connect our community. The rebrand is based on four core values: storytelling, innovation, community, and connection.

WINK 106/Corning, NY, raised over $80,000 dollars during the Children’s Miracle Network Radiothon in conjunction with Arnot Health, March 9-10. All funds were raised locally and stay in the community, supporting services for infants and children at the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units at Arnot Ogden Medical Center.

Celebrity radio hosts and Radio One’s national network of praise stations joined forces to support Radio Cares for St. Jude Kids national radio broadcast event which raised more than $1.5 million for the kids of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

This is not something new. Every few years public radio and TV stations have to fight for their government funding as politicians who do not believe these media outlets are reporting the news evenly and fairly, attempt to take away their funds. President Donald Trump plans to propose a budget that eliminates all federal funding for public broadcasting

Online advertising is sucking away radio's advertising dollars, and the government needs to step in and do something. That's the conclusion Galaxy CEO Ed Levine has come to after commissioning a BIA/Kelsey study of the Syracuse market and receiving results that seriously disturbed him.

(By Bill Duerden) For quite some time now, this is a question that has been swimming in my head. In my lifetime, I have heard folks (read, industry experts) declare the death of radio more times than I can count. But, for the first time, I'm starting to wonder if our industry is truly starting to walk down the Green Mile.

It's certainly a complicated scenario the financial minds at iHeart have put together, but the goal is to try to put the company in a much better financial position moving forward. And if one scenario is approved, Clear Channel Outdoor will be separated from iHeartMedia.

At 4:30 this afternoon we'll hear from Cumulus CEO Mary Berner and her team as the company reports 4th quarter 2016 and full year earnings. Cumulus has been struggling through a turnaround and with trying to fix its balance sheet which includes about $2 Billion in debt. Berner has now been in charge of the company for 18 months.

National Public Radio says it now has 37.4 million listeners, which is their largest audience in history. NPR's Senior Vice President of News and Editorial Director Michael Oreskes says, “At a time when many news organizations have been forced to contract, NPR is expanding coverage and focusing resources on the local and national issues that listeners care about.