News

Mike Dungan is Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group Nashville. UMG Nashville is the biggest — and one of the most successful — labels in country music. Some of the format’s biggest names call it home. Dungan is also on the cover of the February 13 issue of Radio Ink, which also includes our Best Country Program Directors in America list.

Stevie Wonder is in a unique position to talk about the Performing Rights Organization controversy radio is now dealing with. Not only is Wonder a successful songwriter and performer, he's a successful radio station owner. He's owned KJLH, licensed to Compton, California, for nearly 40 years.

In 2016, Edison Research conducted three studies on behalf of PodcastOne. The goal was to examine the effectiveness of podcast advertising for five national brands. Some brands in the study were well known, launching new messaging, others were lesser-knowns looking for increased awareness and trial.

It was back in September that Pandora launched its $4.99-per-month, limited-ad subscription service called Pandora Plus. The company has been mainly promoting the service to current users, sending out promos to try to upsell them, without any additional expense. On Thursday, Pandora reported that service generated 375,000 subscribers by the end of the year.

All in, Pandora generated $392.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, which includes the $313 million in ad revenue, $60 million in subscriptions and other revenue, and $19.4 million in ticket service revenue. The advertising revenue was up 16% over the fourth quarter of 2015. Local advertising revenue accounted for 27% of total ad revenue, up 26% year-over-year in Q4.

The newly implemented CRB rates took their toll on Pandora. In 2016, content costs represented 53% of total revenue up from 52% in 2015. Total content costs rose by almost $124 million dollars in 2016

Revenue for the ratings firm was $1.66 billion for the fourth quarter of 2016, which is an increase of 2% over Q4 2015. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2016 decreased 36.7% and the audio division (radio) was down 1.6%.

It's one of the most popular events held every year at CRS. Universal Music Group Nashville brings most of their biggest stars to the Ryman Auditorium to play one or two songs for CRS attendees. This year's lineup, like every year, is outstanding...

Great radio content comes from the big radio companies and single-station operators. It comes from all news stations, sports stations, and music stations. Our mission is to find that great content and share it with our thousands of daily headline subscribers. Alyssa Feuerer is the Marketing Director at 88.9 Radio Milwaukee. After she read our spotlight on 1010 WINS Monday, she reached out and shared a terrific story about how her radio station is producing great, and unique content, in the city of Milwaukee.

The Chicago-based talker will be joining the network lineup in the 9 p.m. to midnight ET timeslot. He'll replace Steve Deace, February 20. The former Congressman also hosts the 5-7 p.m. slot on Salem-owned WIND-AM 560 The Answer. Walsh will continue to host the local show, which he's been doing since 2013.