Headlines

Calling it the "All New 102.7 The Beach," Entercom is relaunching its classic hits station in South Florida. The station will now feature artists such as Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, Duran Duran, Prince, Blondie, Guns and Roses, and others. The station has been playing some form of classic hits for over 25 years, with some songs as far back as the '50s and '60s.

The new format is called “FUN 96.9 FM (KQOB), it's a rock-leaning Classic Hits format featuring a mix of pop and rock hits from the `60s, `70s, and `80’s. Artists now being heard on the station include: The Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Steve Miller, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, and Journey.

It's astonishing to think of how much has changed since attending my first CES in 2008. Our society has become attached to mobile devices, which has created good/bad outcomes and opportunities for many industries (including ours).

Alpha CEO Larry Wilson has been named Radio Ink's Radio Executive of The Year and will appear on the cover of the upcoming issue of Radio Ink magazine. Wilson dominated the past year in terms of the number of stations purchased and has quickly grown his company to the fourth-largest in the industry in terms of stations, behind iHeart, Cumulus and Townsquare. Upon the successful completion of all pending transactions, Alpha Media will own 252 radio stations in 54 markets. The big question now is what's next for Wilson and Alpha? Does he try to go public or wait and operate for awhile until the industry stabilizes? Here's an excerpt from our upcoming cover story interview.

All eyes will be on innovation this week as CES opens in Las Vegas Wednesday. iHeartMedia CEO Bob Pittman will make an appearance. Pittman will be interviewed by popular iHeart host Ryan Seacrest on Thursday at 2:15. Check out the entire CES agenda HERE and watch for our updates from CES from Greater Media's Buzz Knight.

KROCK is owned by Galaxy Communications in Syracuse. Two suspects in a Christmas assault on host Joe Grosvent and his cousin have turned themselves in to police, according to cnycentral.com.

On New Year's Eve, Cumulus completed a discounted prepayment of a portion of its $1.9 billion senior secured-term loan facility due December 2020. Cumulus purchased $64.9 million of its senior secured-term loan for $50 million, a discount of 23%.

The format flip for Cumulus in Atlanta is to alternative rock. PD Greg Ausham says “99X will once again be Atlanta’s unique source for new music discovery. 99X will be a station rooted solidly in today’s artists and devoted to looking ahead toward what’s next musically.”

The suit was filed this week by David Lowery (pictured) of alternative rock band Cracker. He says Spotify "knowingly, willingly, and unlawfully reproduces and distributes copyrighted" music without a license to do so." CNN Money reports Spotify says it plans to pay "every penny" it owes to songwriters and publishers, but "unfortunately, especially in the United States, the data necessary to confirm the appropriate rightsholders is often missing, wrong, or incomplete. When rightsholders are not immediately clear, we set aside the royalties we owe until we are able to confirm their identities."