News

Brands chasing Hispanic consumers have a double bonus on Spanish-language radio: reach and culture. A new Katz Radio Group study finds listeners see their favorite stations as cultural anchors, a connection that makes them more receptive to the advertisers there.

(Randy Lane) When I start coaching a show, talents often say, “Nobody calls anymore,” or, “Listeners in this market don’t call radio shows.” That’s interesting, because several of our shows get more calls than they need. The difference isn’t necessarily the market.

Nebraska radio stations turned their airwaves toward childhood brain cancer research again last week, and listeners answered by topping last year's total. The 14th annual Team Jack Radiothon, in coordination with the Huskers Radio Network, raised more than $210,000.

Happy Friday! This week's Radio Ink Blast From The Past comes from the very recently retired Allen Power. Send your Blast From The Past story and photo to Editor-in-Chief Cameron Coats for your chance to be featured in Radio Ink.

Childhood literacy, wildfire relief, and medical research are among the causes behind Dolly Parton's selection for the 2027 Artist Humanitarian Award. Country Radio Broadcasters will present the honor posthumously at Country Radio Seminar in Nashville.

Another year of radio community service is up for accolades. NAB has now opened entries for the 41st annual Crystal Radio Awards, with 50 finalists and 10 winners to be chosen and then honored in Washington, DC, during the NAB State Leadership Conference.

Software could soon replace the EAS box at radio stations, but broadcasters want the FCC to move carefully. The NAB, state broadcasters associations, and Sage Alerting Systems each asked the Commission to keep software EAS voluntary and to phase in changes.

A federal watchdog has weighed in on the cuts that silenced Voice of America and its sister networks last year, finding the agency overseeing them skipped key planning steps. The State Department's inspector general also outlines six fixes, all of which USAGM has agreed to pursue.

Annual employment reports are now gone from the FCC's rulebook. The Media Bureau ordered the removal of the requirement that stations report workforce race, ethnicity, and gender data, bringing federal regulations in line with a Fifth Circuit decision that nullified the rule.

Fear is doing more to shrink ad budgets than any competitor ever could. So who's pushing back? In October, Radio Ink features the people who keep showing up: the 2026 Radio Wayne finalists, a new leader for New York, and a one-man shop informing rural Nevada.