Headlines

Broadcast attorney David Oxenford writes that the press is treating the recent Beatles announcement as a breakthrough, omitting the fact that the Beatles have been available on many streaming services for as long as there have been streaming services.

The debate rages on to this day. There are those that believe deregulation and consolidation ruined radio, homogenized its sound and killed jobs. Others still argue that more deregulation is needed and national scale is important for radio to compete with more competition for the eyes and ears of the consumer than ever before. There is one important point that seems to get overlooked when debating 1996.

We are accepting nominations for the 2016 Best Country PD's in America. Make your nominations HERE. The deadline is this Thursday, December 31.

Salem Media Group has been recognized as one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the country by the independent research firm, the National Association for Business Resources.

As of January 4, iHeart's Real Talk 760 (KDSP-AM) in Denver will flip to sports. The new station will be called "Denver Sports 760."

Broadcasters have been waiting to be able to make sales pitches to advertisers that include both over-the-air listening numbers and online listening numbers. That product is still in the hands of Nielsen and is very close to being rolled out, according to the ratings firm. Rob Kass is Nielsen's Vice President for Digital Audio. We spoke with Kass about where the combined listening measurement stands as of today and we'll be sharing that interview with readers over the next several days. Here's part one of our interview.

It's an expensive format to make work, especially in the shadow of D.C. powerhouse WTOP. The all-news station CBS (WNEW-FM 99.1) launched about four years ago has been dumped and turned over to Bloomberg Radio. It's Bloomberg's first FM station for the format and it will be called Bloomberg 99.1. CBS says all local employees that worked at the station were released Friday morning at 10 a.m.

Nassau County (Long island) police say that former Opie and Anthony co-host Anthony Cumia was arrested on strangulation and assault charges this past Saturday.

Andy Bloom was #11 on Radio Ink's 2015 Best PD's in America list. He's been in radio since the 1970's when he was a teenager. CBS sent him packing on Friday.