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Houston was hit hard in 2017. Hurricane Harvey, and the flooding that followed, wreaked havoc on that city. CMG has three stations in Houston, and they remained on the air the entire time, providing vital information to listeners. And that's because CMG Houston Market Manager Mark Krieschen has a detailed plan that his team practices every year.

​As last year’s horrific disasters, from hurricanes to earthquakes, demonstrated all too acutely, the importance of radio in providing lifesaving information and communications cannot be denied or compromised. Is your station ready?

As part of its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Cumulus has asked for court approval to dump several contracts in Chicago, including those with the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls and the Merlin stations it has been LMAing since 2014, WKQX-FM and WLUP-FM.

According to Cumulus, the company operating the stations formerly owned by Randy Michaels, WLUP-FM and WKQX-FM in Chicago, have lost $8.4 Million since 2014. Cumulus says the stations, net of LMA fees, lost $1.5 million in 2014, $800,000 in 2015, $1.1 million in 2016 and $5.1 million in 2017. The LMA fee Cumulus was paying to Merlin was $600,000 per month.

In a perfect world there would be one simple, credible measurement system where all audio listening, whether over-the-air, on a device, via third-party apps or podcasts, could be neatly packaged for an advertiser to see exactly how many listeners a radio station has. The reality is that technology does not exist, and who knows if it ever will. On Thursday, the MRC released new standards it's hoping will lead to more credibility on the digital measurement side.

Triton Digital, and many broadcast companies, are very happy with the new MRC standards for audio measurement that were released Thursday (Nielsen tells Radio Ink they will not be commenting). Here's what Triton CEO Neal Schore had to say about the new standards, along with several broadcasters.

That's according to a new blog from BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist Mark Fratrik, who says those 755 stations had a total value of over $3.3 billion. The number of radio stations sold increased by 179 and the total value of those stations increased by over $2.8 billion.

Earlier this week it was announced that Marketron, the software company used by thousands of radio stations, was sold to private equity firm Diversis Capital. The company named Michael Collins (pictured) as its new CEO, replacing Jeff Haley. What does the sale mean for your station if you use any of Marketron's products? Let's find out from the CEO himself.

Radio excels at events, concerts and other large-scale promotions so this story should come as good news to any station interested in increasing revenue this year.