Headlines

(By Paul Weyland) Broadcast stations bring me into their markets to visit with their local direct clients. Recently I was working with a European broadcasting company. They had arranged back-to-back meetings with me and potential local direct clients. Most of those meetings turned out great. That's right, "most."

(Loyd Ford) Video is not going away. You’ve seen this with Facebook Live, but you should be picking up on this just by looking at the difference in those things you share that are text, photo, and video. We thought we would share a few ways to encourage planning to make your rock star videos come alive in 2016.

Knapp posts on his Facebook page that the company cut him loose to save money. "For the past 5 years I have consistently had the highest ratings on the station, so I was told repeatedly it was not about my performance."

(Ronald Robinson) “Sales” constitutes the first, and sometimes the only, priority. Based on the overwhelming evidence of what radio has been producing in the areas of on-air presentations and commercial content, I am satisfied most radio-folk have little perspective on these extraordinary matters of consequence. “More sales” is the salvation. End of chat.

Alpha Media station in Mason City, IA (KGLO and KRIB) won 11 awards in the Small Market Division of the 2015 Iowa Broadcast News Association contest. KGLO News Director, Bob Fisher, picked up nine awards, including four 1st Place awards. Fisher has received a total of 66 awards in the last 12 years,

Radio Ink is pleased to announce the co-chairs for Forecast 2017: Dan Mason, former president and CEO of CBS Radio and chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation of America, and Julie Talbott, president of Premiere Networks. Forecast 2017 will be held November 16, 2016 at the Harvard Club in New York.

Thursday morning, CEO Jim Meyer told investors, "We had a fantastic first quarter. It was a quarter to be proud of." SiriusXM reported record Q1 revenue of $1.2 billion, up 11% over Q1 2015.

We think SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer meant that as a compliment. After quoting from a recent Jacobs Media study that showed how much time consumers spent listening to radio in their vehicles -- and how often they listened to SiriusXM -- Meyer wanted to remind investors that the satellite company's main competitor is radio, not pure-play streamers. He said, "Terrestrial radio is still the 800-pound gorilla in the room." And he said a lot more.

With Q1 2016 revenue of $275 million (which excludes ticket sales), Pandora's revenue was up 19% over 2015. Advertising revenue increased 23% in the first quarter of 2016 to $220.3 million, compared to $178.7 million in 2015.

Revenue was up, listener hours were up, but the company is still struggling to make a profit. The $115 million loss in Q1 was compared to $48 million in Q1 of 2015. Content costs represented 58% of total revenue in Q1, an increase from the fourth quarter and year over year.