At the close of business last Friday, and with little fanfare, the FCC released its first AM revitalization Report and Order. This rulemaking began two years ago and the most significant outcomes have little to do with the AM band itself.
Comparing the FCC’s proposed rulemaking to the R&O shows that most of the agency’s initial proposals will be enacted. This includes things like allowing for more flexbility on interference calculations and protections, antenna siting and design, the option to use analog transmission protocols that are more energy-efficent, and increased utilization of AM’s expanded band channels. But the meat of the R&O involvews developments regarding the FM band and the utter lack of comment on a digital strategy for AM. Continue reading “AM Revitalization Order Released”
Month: October 2015
Love/Hate on Pirate-Hunting
Some interesting — albeit contradictory — rhetoric out of the radio industry regarding the “problem” of pirate radio and how to deal with it. First up is FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, the self-designated point-man for the unlicensed broadcasting issue. He’s spent the last year blogging up a storm about pirates and convening meetings with broadcast executives and lobbyists to scheme strategies to bust them.
His latest comments came at the NAB’s annual Radio Show, held this year in Atlanta. On a panel not ironically entitled, “FCC Experts Talk Radio,” O’Rielly touted the increased level of political heat pirate broacasters now face thanks to his tirades, but he’s lamenting the fact that “enhanced enforcement efforts” seem to be “in a holding pattern for a long time to come.” He’s asking the Commmission to begin a serious pirate crackdown “before Halloween, or at the latest, Thanksgiving. It’s time to put together a game plan and start executing.” Continue reading “Love/Hate on Pirate-Hunting”
Cumulus Meltdown: Consolidation Karma
The thud heard ’round the industry: Cumulus Media, the second-largest radio station conglomerate in the country, ousted its founders in late September. CEO Lew Dickey has been demoted to a vice chairman, while brother John (an executive vice president) has already cleared out his office.
The move was orchestrated by private equity firms who hold a significant portion of Cumulus’ stock and have not been pleased by the company’s meltdown this year, which has seen its stock price tank by more than 80%, from north of $4 at the beginning of 2015 to 75 cents at the close of trading last week. As I write this, Cumulus’ market capitalization in total is $169.5 million. That’s a valuation more than $1 million less than what DTS bought the HD Radio system for. Think about that: hundreds of stations, a passel of networks, and online properties worth less than a mostly-ignored technology. Continue reading “Cumulus Meltdown: Consolidation Karma”
No HD Bounce From Radio Show
The latest NAB Radio Show has come and gone, and there was little news about the HD Radio system other than the addition of new automobile makes and models to the company’s roster (including some GM models that had dropped HD last year). Not totally surprising considering that iBiquity’s just been acquired, and I’m sure the folks there and at new parent-company DTS were pretty preoccupied over the last couple of months with the deal.
But I did stumble across some interesting observations online that suggest there’s no rekindled love affair between HD and the industry just yet. In fact, folks still seem to be coming to grips with the fact that the technology still exists. The first is from Art Stone, the proprietor of Streaming Radio Guide. He scraped iBiquity’s directory of HD-enabled stations and crunched the numbers. iBiquity lists 3,818 “current HD based broadcast Channels.” This number counts all HD program streams, including HD-2/3/4 streams, and includes international broadcast licensees. Continue reading “No HD Bounce From Radio Show”