News

As many radio companies seek to grow their podcast divisions amid the industry's larger embrace of digital, advertisers are reaping the benefits as B2B and performance advertisers use on-demand audio to drive brand metrics.

CEO Bud Walters shares with Radio Ink that on Thursday the company held its annual St. Jude Radiothon in Mattoon, Illinois. The first Radiothon back in 2000 raised $19,000. This year, over $128,000. Over the years, WMCI in Mattoon has raised over $1.5 million for St. Jude.

During the recent virtual Emmy Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards ABC Audio’s Power Portal provided affiliate stations with videos and social media pieces for their websites, apps, and social media platforms.

(By Buzz Knight) Jack Trout was a giant figure in the world of branding and positioning. He recently died at the age of 82. Without him and his former partner Al Ries, there would be no such thing as “branding” and “positioning.” His influence on our thinking as marketers and strategists has been around since 1969 when he first used the term "positioning," a concept more vital today than ever.

Erik Kuselias has been signed as the new talker for Genesis Communications’ Tampa station WWBA-AM 820 News, and its Space Coast radio station, WIXC-AM 1060 News. This brings the Erik Kuselias News Program to the stations beginning February 13.

Registration is open for radio stations to participate in Jacobs Media's Techsurvey 2019. This year's study will launch in early January. Stations have until December 21 to sign up HERE. The technology survey for radio included information from over 560 radio stations last year.

In Santa Monica, NPR affiliate KCRW is staring down the barrel of layoffs to end 2023 in the face of a significant budget shortfall. In response to a projected $3 million deficit, KCRW began offering voluntary buyouts to its employees last week.

Tuesday morning, BMI filed an action in Federal Rate Court looking to set interim fees for radio stations represented by the Radio Music License Committee. The RMLC represents over 10,000 radio stations. BMI says the RMLC made an unacceptable offer and that's the reason for the court filing. The RMLC did not respond to our request for comment.

The L.A. Kings and iHeartMedia have a new digital partnership: all Kings games will stream live on the new, official LA Kings Audio Network, a custom station available on iHeartRadio.

Ken Lagana has been appointed to the newly created role of Executive VP of Digital Sales at Entercom. Lagana joins Entercom from Megaphone, where he was Head of Sales and Marketing.