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Five House members and another Senator have joined as cosponsors of the resolution opposing "any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other charge" on local broadcast radio stations. The Local Radio Freedom Act now has 211 cosponsors in the House and 24 in the Senate.

We want to know who the 25 people that have had the biggest impact (good or bad) on the radio industry over the past 25 years are. And we want you to tell us. The results of our poll will be published in the November 13 issue of Radio Ink -- celebrating the 25th year of the magazine.

Over the past few weeks our readers have been voting for the top 20 AOR stations of all time. You'll find that final vote at the end of this story. Before we list how you voted in our poll, we turn to three AOR experts to see how they voted. Both John Sebastian and Lee Abrams have ranked their lists. Fred Jacobs provided us with a list of 20 stations as well. Fred's top 20 are not ranked.

(By Eric Rhoads) Being in the role of RAB president is one no one in their right mind would want. (With respect to Erica Farber, current RAB president) because you not only have to be a visionary, you have to manage the politics of the needs of each member sector…. The big-market players like Clear Channel (now i-Heart Radio) as well as the small-market independent players and the needs of everyone in between. Gary Fries handled them all masterfully.

The New York Post has a piece devoted to the upcoming departure of Mike Francesa from WFAN in New York. Francesa has been voted Radio Ink's #1 sports talker ever since our list was created. He's leaving at the end of the year when his contract expires. The Post points out that if it weren't for this one person, Francesa would have never been hired.

He was the GSM in L.A. and now he's running the show in San Diego. Steve Brodsky has been promoted to GM for Salem's KPRZ-AM and KCBQ-AM in San Diego. Brodsky was the GSM at Salem’s KKLA-FM Los Angeles where he was for the past two years.

Scripps' 94.5 KTI-FM has hired Milwaukee radio icon and Country Radio Hall of Famer Karen Dalessandro to host PM drive and serve as music director. Dalessandro is a two-time CMA Personality of the Year and the former morning show host of crosstown iHeart Media Country station FM106.

Bob Cooney has joined Anthony Gargano as co-host of the 97.5 FM/Philadelphia The Fanatic Morning Show. Cooney had been filling in for several months and officially began his new position on Monday, September 11.

We've seen our share of weather-related disasters over the past several months. From the floods in Houston to the hurricanes in Florida and Puerto Rico, Mother Nature has not been kind in 2017. Many broadcasters were affected by the weather mayhem, some being knocked off the air or losing power.

That's according to details in a research report prepared by NPR and Edison Research. More than half the people surveyed say they use the device to make purchases. Fifty-seven percent of smart-speaker owners have ordered an item through their device. Households with children are even more likely to have purchased through the device.