News

Wendy Williams will receive the NAB Show New York Impact Award on Thursday, October 18, during the 2018 NAB Show New York. The NAB Show New York Impact Award honors the most innovative leaders in media and entertainment for their impact and influence on the overall industry, as well as in the city of New York.

It was back in 2013 that Carl Parmer started SummitMedia when Cox Media Group sold him 24 stations in Birmingham, Greenville S.C., Hawaii, Louisville, and Richmond. The former Heftel executive added Tuscaloosa along the way and has been biding his time, waiting to grow the company even larger ever since.

The Fort Wayne station posted the news that morning man Charly Butcher passed away Wednesday afternoon likely due to a cardiac event. A statement from the station says: "To say we are heart-broken would be an under-statement. We ask that everyone respect the privacy of his family during this challenging time. "

With the purchase of 19 Scripps stations, we checked in with BIA's Mark Fratrik who tells us the Scripps stations generated $35,675,000 in over-the-air advertising revenue in 2017. Add that to what BIA reports for SummitMedia ($54 million) and that increases Summit’s total to $89,775,00.

The Statesman is reporting that a pirate station serving as Jones’ Austin flagship has been taken off the air after the FCC hit the owners with a $15,000 fine. This week a lawsuit was filed in Austin accusing Liberty Radio of operating at 90.1 FM without a license since at least 2013. Religious programming is now airing on that frequency.

Following the ugly breakup with United States Traffic Network, Entercom continues to move forward with its own traffic plan, hiring radio veteran and former Univision Executive Lee Davis as Senior VP of Sales for its Traffic Weather and Information Network. Davis will oversee revenue for the network throughout the country.

TechCrunch Disrupt is taking place in San Francisco September 5-7. Spreaker and TechCrunch have partnered up in a social media competition aimed at helping podcasters learn the craft of podcasting. Spreaker is giving away three Innovator Passes to the TechCrunch Disrupt event to three lucky podcasters.

PodcastOne’s newest show, First Degree, debuted August 15 bringing a fresh angle to true-crime podcasts, as stories are told through the eyes of someone who has just one degree of separation from the tragedy itself.

iHeartRadio, in partnership with 23andMe, is launching spit – a provocative podcast that interviews musicians like John Legend and Melissa Etheridge about the connection between their biology and identity.

It was back in 2014 that Scripps announced it was merging with Journal Communications, snatching up 34 radio stations, TV stations, and newspapers. In January, Scripps announced it was planning to sell all of its radio stations so the company could focus on television. Mission accomplished.