News

(By Paul Cramer) The term artificial intelligence often evokes images of sentient computers from Star Trek or cyborgs from The Terminator. While those are extreme examples of artificial intelligence or AI, the Oxford Dictionary gives a more pragmatic definition of AI as computers that have the capability to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, and decision-making.

Fantasy sports has become big business and very popular with sports fans. Fantasy Sports Entertainment Group is now making the FNTSY Sports Radio Network available to radio. The FNTSY Sports Radio Network is a free fantasy sports radio network dedicated entirely to fantasy sports enthusiasts. KMG Networks is handling distribution and media partnerships.

Attorneys James Sammataro and Hans Hertell, with the Miami office of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, tell Radio Ink they have successfully defended SBS in the company’s second victorious copyright trial in the last six months. The court granted a "directed verdict" in SBS’s favor before the close of day one of the trial, ruling that the plaintiffs “miserably failed” to offer any credible evidence of SBS’s alleged infringement.

The new station is called "104.5 Latino Hits (KZEP)," and it replaces HOT 104.5, San Antonio’s Rhythm and Throwback. The new format kicked off at noon on Thursday with 10,000 songs of commercial-free music. A full local programming lineup will be announced at a later date.

As of Monday Hubbard Radio in Seattle will begin airing The Billy Madison Show on ROCK 98.9 KVRQ, according to Market Manager Mark Kaye. “Billy had me at hello. The first time I met Billy, Derek and Nard, I knew the Billy Madison Show was going to be a part of Rock 98.9 and a huge part indeed.”

All 53 Radio One radio stations and seven national network personalities will now use Clip Interactive to deliver interactive broadcast and streaming content feeds to listeners via Clip-built mobile apps and web players. The deal was signed after Radio One tested the products for seven months at its Washington, DC cluster.

Radio One's Chief Administration Officer Linda Vilardo has let the company know she will be leaving the at the end of 2017. In a short company press release, Vilardo said, “I’ve been working non-stop for many years, and I’m looking forward to taking a break and seeing what the future holds.”

Matty Staudt is the new Digital PD for iHeartMedia San Francisco. Staudt will oversee digital strategy for iHeartMedia’s six San Francisco stations, which includes all digital platforms, on-air personality websites, mobile, and social media. Staudt worked at Stitcher and as Executive Producer, WNEW in New York and KLLC in San Francisco.

(By Kelly Orchard) Congratulations, you’ve been named a market manager! Now what? You have a choice to make, right now. Do you want to be recognized and remembered by your team as the best manager they ever worked for — or the worst?

Russell Rush has been promoted from APD to PD for iHeartMedia's Mix 96.1 in San Antonio. He keeps his midday shift on the station. Rush has been with iHeartMedia since 2005. He also hosts a weekly public affairs show that airs on all seven iHeart stations in San Antonio.