Headlines

The NAB will be running an ad in Capitol Hill newsletters and publications Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to thank over 250 members of the House and Senate for co-sponsoring the Local Radio Freedom Act. The resolution, which was introduced in Congress in February 2015, has 230 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 26 in the Senate.

ABC Radio will provide three one-hour specials during Memorial Day Weekend in addition to the previously announced Somewhere on the Road: ABC Radio’s Country Summer Tour Roundup. The following programs will be available: Tribute to the Troops 2016, Summer Survival Guide 2016, and Return of the Summer Sequels.

WJR-AM/News Talk 760 in Detroit took the top prize as Station of the Year from The Michigan Association of Broadcasters. WJR was also honored by MAB with 14 Best in Category and nine Merit Awards.

91.9/91.5 and 88.5 The Family is pleased to announce the final results of their 24th annual “Help for the Homeless” hygiene drive. More than $300,000 dollars’ worth of new hygiene and cleaning products were donated to 82 local crisis programs in 15 communities in their listening areas.

(By Deborah Parenti) Every year, Radio Ink salutes America’s best program directors. It’s a major undertak­ing, headed by Editor-in-Chief Ed Ryan and a board of dedicated programming professionals. For weeks, they cull through and carefully evaluate hundreds of nominations, finally determining the 50 who are “the cream of the crop.” I, however, have a very important question to ask...

Our conversation with Adams Radio President Ron Stone sure was lively yesterday, so in case you missed it, we encourage you to read what Stone had to say about Digital as well as all the comments that followed. Stone is part of the upcoming Independent Warrior Special Report in the May 23 issue of Radio Ink Magazine.

Nielsen does not want radio stations learning the identity of its PPM panel participants. They are crystal clear on that. A contest Cumulus Atlanta Top 40 station WWWQ ran was leaning in that direction and Nielsen flagged the station for doing so. Nielsen notified subscribers about the incident under the heading "Ratings Bias/Ratings Distortion." Here are the details...

MySA.com is reporting that the upcoming May 16 court showdown between iHeartmedia and some of its bondholders will remain in Bexar County, Texas. A state district court judge has denied a motion by the bondholders to change the jurisdiction of iHeart’s lawsuit.

Thanks to Dennis Wharton at the NAB for sharing this article written by music industry executive Iving Azoff in recode. Azoff slammed YouTube for its double-speak on how the company values music, yet pays artists a pittance of what they should be paid.

Online radio imaging service Phantom Producer has announced the issuance of a U.S. Patent for its Web-based application for managing and combining syndicated imaging audio with local station jingles and IDs. The invention allows radio stations to access radio imaging services covering nine different formats.