Headlines

iHeartMedia has given up on country music in Indianapolis. After 14 months the company has flipped formats from country to Hip Hop and will now battle with Radio One for that audience. The iHeart station kicked off Monday at noon with with 10,000 songs in a row.

WAY Media President Bob Augsburg tells Radio Ink that as WAY-FM prepares to celebrate 30 years of ministry, listeners responded with a record-setting response to fund the ministry.

Valerie Kattz is the midday personality for Alpha’s 107.1 The Monkey WXYK (Gulfport, MS) and she used her hosting chops to co-MC the 5th annual “Rock N Rollover” event benefitting the Humane Society of South Mississippi.

It's the second extension Smulyan has granted in his effort to take Emmis private. The first was for two weeks, which expired September 30. This latest extension expires Friday. Smulyan is offering shareholders $4.10 per share, which amounts to approximately $46.5 million.

(By Bob McCurdy) This weeks Monday morning blog summarizes a client meeting we had last week. It's a great example of how knowledge of certain marketing fundamentals enabled us to guide the client to allocate their radio spend in a direction that will likely lead to a greater return and a more satisfied, long-term client.

Taking our early month look at radio's biggest ad category, we find out that September U.S. auto sales are forecast to fall about 1% from a year ago. Forbes is reporting that new vehicle sales will be 1.43 million. This would be the fifth month in the past seven to show a retail sales decline. A year ago, sales hit a record high of nearly 17.5 million vehicles.

On Friday iHeartMedia in St. Louis made the change to 100.3 The Beat, which is now the home of STL’s new Hip Hop and R&B music. The station also picked up the syndicated morning she The Breakfast Club.

Earls Family Broadcasting in Arkansas has added a new radio station to its lineup. On Saturday, October 1, the new 98.1 FM, all-Christmas went on the air. Dubbed Branson’s Classic Christmas, the station will air Christmas music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through December 25.

On Thursday, The FCC adopted rules to extend to broadcast licensees the same streamlined rules and procedures that wireless carriers use for having foreign ownership approved.

(by John Garziglia) The FCC in a just-adopted decision made it easier for a foreign investor to own a part of, or all of, a US broadcast station. Here is how, as a practical matter, the FCC decision is likely to affect radio station ownership and, through expanded investment opportunities, possibly increase station values.