News

Marketers see the future and it is on the automobile dashboard promoting a movie, telling drivers where the closest fast-food location is, or how to navigate to the nearest Starbucks. AKQA Media Managing Director Scott Symonds tells AdWeek, "Radio once held drivers hostage as the only form of in-car entertainment."

Freddy Rivera has been named Afternoon Drive Host for 102.9 Now, “Dallas/Ft. Worth’s Variety from 90s to Now,” effective February 5. Rivera will broadcast weekdays from 2–7 p.m.

Newsman Drew Scott is joining the team of JVC's Long Island News Radio (WRCN).  In addition to working at News 12 (Long Island TV), Scott was the founding news director of WLNY TV 55 and worked as Washington Correspondent at the White House for Tribune Broadcasting.

The SoundExchange Board announced Wednesday that President and CEO Michael Huppe will continue to lead the company through 2021. Huppe took over at SoundExchange in 2011.

Chris Soechtig has been named Market President for iHeartMedia's Tampa Bay market. Soechtig replaces Sam Nein and will report to Linda Byrd, President of iHeartMedia’s North Florida Region.

Rosenberg was a member of the inaugural WGN Radio Walk of Fame class in 2014. For 40 years (1973-2012) he was the host of WGN Radio’s Extension 720, "a daily two-hour festival of intelligent talk" on WGN-Radio in Chicago. Rosenberg died of pneumonia and its complications after entering the hospital on New Year’s Day. He would have been 93 on April 15.

Radio veteran John Summers is joining WHCU-AM/FM/Ithaca as their Brand Manager and News Director. He starts January 22. Summers was most recently the Regional Program Director and News Director for the Northwest News Radio Network and the Washington Ag Network.

Responding to a question about generating other revenue streams, at the 2018 Citi Global TMT West Conference, Wednesday, SiriusXM CFO David Frear said part of the rational behind taking a 16% stake in Pandora was to tap into radio's free ad market. Frear said your revenue is defenitely on their radar screen.

As of December 31, 2017, 32.7 million people subscribe to SiriusXM. Net subscriber additions in 2017 were 1.39 million. The company also announced it has 27.5 million self-paying subscribers, which keeps the cost-per-customer down.

That's what the results of a new survey from NPR and Edison Research confirm, as devices like Amazon's Echo and Google's Home continue to grow in popularity. According to data from The Smart Audio Report, one-in-six Americans now own a smart speaker (16%), up 128% since January 2017.