Headlines

2017 will see ESPN Radio celebrating its 25th anniversary. To mark the occasion, the network will broadcast an anniversary special on Wednesday, January 4, from 7-9 p.m. It will also be re-aired periodically throughout the year. Keith Olbermann will host, with guests Tony Bruno and Chuck Wilson.

SOS Radio 90.5/Las Vegas doesn’t want any child to feel left out this Christmas. The station partnered with Hope for Prisoners to create 17 personal living room areas for 17 families to eat and open gifts from their incarcerated parent. Twelve of the 17 families were surprised by the parent personally showing up to greet their children with gifts.

A total of 474 brand-new bicycles have been collected by Alpha Media in Fort Dodge, IA, to donate to Operation Christmas: Church Women United and Upper Des Moines Opportunity through the Bikes for Tykes event. Both organizations serve families in several counties in the Fort Dodge area.

In return, the holders of the 2018 senior notes at 10% will receive priority guarantee notes at 11.25%. The new notes will mature on March 1, 2021 and iHeart will pay interest on the new notes March 1 and September 1 of each year. The first interest payment date on the new notes will be March 1, 2017.

On Tuesday, New York’s highest appeals court ruled (READ THE RULING) that companies like SiriusXM do not have to pay to play pre-1972 recordings. The court ruled that New York's common law doesn't protect the public performance of pre-1972 sound recordings.

Attorney Helene Freeman, who recently served as co-counsel in Led Zeppelin’s major US court victory over the rights to "Stairway to Heaven" spoke to Radio Ink about Tuesday's New York Court of Appeals ruling in the Flo & Eddie/SiriusXM case. She says this will probably spell the death knell for efforts to secure performance rights for pre-1972 sound recordings in the courts under existing law. Here's where she thinks this issue should go...

Nielsen told clients today it has has identified the root cause of the PPM meter connectivity issue that has the radio industry rattled about the currency. It's all about "reboot logic." Here's what the ratings firm sent out to clients on Tuesday...

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.