Headlines

Wired Magazine shows NextRadio some love with a feature article online. The article states, as Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan has been saying for years, that every smartphone in the world has an FM tuner built in, however so many of them are never flipped on. The article also highlights the important role radio plays when a tragedy or disaster strikes.

Because Television is the darling of the company, details about the CBS Radio division hardly ever see the light of day. That all changes when the radio division gets spun-off and goes public. According to The Wall Street Journal CBS Radio lost $136 million in 2015. That from the IPO the company filed Friday for its Radio division. The Journal reports CBS Radio revenue declined 6% to $1.23 Billion in 2015.

Steve Harvey, Delilah, Michael Savage, Bob Kingsley, Eric and Kathy and Jeff & Jer lead the list of radio personalities going into the National Radio Hall of Fame this year. The results were announced this morning.

Although the company did not specify how the money for digital was spent with Emmis, the company reported an increase in digital revenue of 35% in March, April, and May. That helped offset national business and local spot business being down in the low single-digits. Automotive continues to be Emmis' largest category, making up 13% of its quarterly revenue. The restaurant and cellular businesses were up, and the financial and media categories were the weakest.

Following the Emmis earnings call on Thursday a shareholders meeting was held and a four-for-one reverse stock split was approved. The stock split was designed to prevent a delisting of the company’s stock from NASDAQ.

(By Ryan Wrecker) Your audience has a special connection with your personalities. How they fuel that connection differs from person to person, and the method of delivery is changing. If we’re not careful enough to recognize this new medium (and the impact it will have in our industry), we’ll miss out on monetization opportunities and the marketing and positioning of our personalities as the markets’ top talents.

Nominations close Friday for the Radio Wayne Awards (named after “Radio Wayne” Cornils, 1935-2000, who devoted his life to increasing professionalism in radio). The only way your radio team members can be considered for a Radio Wayne Award is if you nominate them.. MAKE YOUR NOMINATIONS HERE. Your deadline is July 8.

Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan said Los Angeles continues to be the Emmis weak spot, as the company is still dealing with the defection of Big Boy to iHeartMedia a year ago. Net revenue for March, April, and May came in at $42.7 million compared to $42.6 million in 2015. Excluding Power 106 in Los Angeles, Emmis would have been up 5%. Smulyan said he's encouraged by the pacings in Los Angeles and the company expects to overcome iHeart's Hip Hop challenger around September of this year.

This is a follow-up to our July 5 story where we reported that WCBM's Tom Marr was headed for medical hiatus after suffering a stroke as a result of recent back surgery. Marr has been in Baltimore radio since 1967, and has been with WCBM since 1988. He died Thursday at the age of 73. WCBM Director of Programming & Operations Sean Casey issued this statement...