Top Radio News

QUU Unveils Ad Sync Technology for HD Radio

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, September 19, 2019

Quu (pronounced "Q"), has unveiled "ad sync" technology that allows broadcasters to pair client logos and custom text with their over-the-air advertisements on HD Radio receivers. HD Radio, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi Corporation, is the only digital radio broadcast system in North America approved to transmit audio and data using a digital signal.

The ad sync technology will be visible on HD Radio receivers that are enabled with the Artist Experience feature, allowing local stations to enhance their over-the-air advertisements with client logos and text to enabled receivers in vehicles within their markets. This patented technology provides an opportunity for broadcasters to generate additional revenue today with technology that is already currently available in the marketplace.

"We are thrilled to partner with HD Radio to offer this compelling ad sync capability to our broadcast network," said Quu President and Chief Executive Officer Joe Harb. "Our broadcast partners now have the opportunity to expand their advertising reach within vehicle with both logos and text, meaningfully adding to the connected vehicle experience."

"By enabling extraordinary in-vehicle experiences with rich digital radio solutions, HD Radio continues to evolve and bring more value to our partners, said Joe D'Angelo, Senior Vice President of Xperi's broadcast business. "We are pleased to partner with Quu to enable connected vehicle access to content that not only provides an enhanced in-vehicle radio experience, but also allows broadcasters to engage listeners through valuable additional advertising touch points."

GMA's Ginger Zee Headlines Beasley's BEN FM Her Story Luncheon

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, September 19, 2019

Ginger Zee

ABC News and Good Morning America Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee was the keynote speaker at 95.7 BEN FM's 3rd annual Her Story Luncheon. The annual event took place on Wednesday, September 18th (11:30a-2p) at Chima Steakhouse, located at 19th & JFK in Philadelphia.

The luncheon was hosted by Kathy Romano, host of BEN FM's "Her Story" weekly program and co-host of the Preston and Steve Show on 93.3 WMMR-FM. Attendees included CEO's, influencers in arts and cultural worlds, directors of non-profit organizations and public relations professionals, as well as BEN-FM listeners who won tickets to the event.

The "Her Story" program showcases dynamic women that are making a significant impact in the community via their business, their charity work or a combination of both. The program airs on Sunday mornings at 7:30 a.m. on 95.7 FM and is available via podcast at 957benfm.com.

AIMM Report: Cultural Relevance Drives Purchasing Decisions

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A breakthrough new study that proves the incremental value of genuinely reflecting culture in marketing creative was unveiled today by The Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM). The Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIIM) was developed by AIMM in partnership with NBCUniversal and AIMM member companies. CIIM evaluates advertising creative in various categories and identifies the impact and effectiveness of cultural insights in ads and programming on increased brand relevance, ad relevance, purchase intent lift, and loyalty.

"CIIM points at the role that cultural insights play in forming deep consumer-brand connections that lead to significant value creation," said Carlos Santiago, Co-Founder, AIMM and President, Santiago Solutions Group, who led the study team. "Genuinely mirroring cultural values, in the eyes of consumers, boosts their recall, interest, net promoter scores and purchase intent. These findings present marketers with a paradigm shift as to how culture can optimize growth opportunities."

Released today, initial findings - which included a survey of 10,000 individuals across demographics including Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, LGTBQ+, the Disabled community, and Non-Hispanic White - found that culturally-relevant ads are a key driver of brand affinity and purchase intent.

Results revealed that consumers who perceive ads as culturally relevant, compared to those who do not, are:

• 1.5x more likely to learn more about the brand
• 2.8x more likely to recommend the brand to others
• 2.6x more likely to find the brand relevant to them
• 3x more likely to find the ad relevant to them
• 2.7x more likely to purchase a brand for the first time
• 50% more likely to repurchase a brand they have bought in the past

Bob Liodice, CEO, Association of National Advertisers, said, "ANA is extremely proud of AIMM and NBCU for the rollout of CIIM. One of the cornerstones of ANA's growth mission is measurement. The utilization of CIIM provides marketers and the industry with a powerful measurement tool that will enhance culturally relevant creative to engineer incremental brand and business growth."

"At NBCUniversal, we have always known the value of diversity and multicultural representation in advertising and media," said Laura Molen, President, Advertising Sales and Partnerships, NBCUniversal. "While we hear from marketers in every industry that reaching diverse and multicultural audiences is critical, we partnered with AIMM to create CIIM to show the broader media and advertising community what we already experienced to be true: culturally-relevant creative and environment drive real brand results."

"People are thirsty for culturally relevant content and we have an obligation as marketers to follow both the head and the heart - to drive growth in our businesses and bring America with us - that's why AIMM is launching the #SeeALL movement within the marketing industry," said Tony Rogers, Chair, AIMM, and Chief Member Officer, Sam's Club.

"Inclusion and authentic cultural representation are the right thing for our country; the right thing for our businesses and the right thing for the marketing community," said Michael Lacorazza, Founding Chair, AIMM, and Head of Integrated Marketing, Wells Fargo.

In the coming months, AIMM, in partnership with NBCUniversal, will release the full scope of the results across all consumer segments. To make the findings actionable for marketers, CIIM will also be developing a baseline, norms for industry, segments, and individual CIIM™ scores available for creative assets provided by advertisers. In 2020, the study will provide learnings on how culture impacts ROI. CIIM will serve as an actionable tool in guiding marketers, advertisers and the entertainment industry on how to best reflect, understand and respect all consumers in order to drive profit and growth.

iHeartMedia Louisville Names Brent Johnson as GSM

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

iHeartMedia announced today that Brent Johnson has been named General Sales Manager, effective immediately. He will report to Kristy Beebe, SVP of Sales for iHeartMedia Kentucky-Indiana and be responsible for driving revenue growth and overseeing sales opportunities for 97.5 WAMZ, 100.5 KISS FM, Real 93.1 and 98.9 Radio Now.

"We are proud to have Brent on our iHeartMedia Louisville team," said Beebe. "Our team is highly impressed by Brent's previous digital experience. His familiarity of the Louisville market will contribute greatly to the success of this team."

Johnson joins the Louisville market from OOHology Advertising Agency, where he most recently served as the vice president of marketing. He also served as the senior manager of digital business development for Learfield IMG College and senior digital strategist for Google. In addition, Johnson played football for the University of Louisville before playing professionally in the National Football League for a year.

"I am extremely excited to be a part of the iHeart family," said Johnson. "For the last fifteen years, I have had enormous opportunities to develop my leadership skills, which has led to my career here at iHeart. Being able to work at the nexus of digital and social technologies and now pair those learnings with music, sound, and voice, will continue to help us impact our consumers because that's where growth, for any kind of business, happens."

Kim Reis Exits Entercom as VP/Digital Market Operations

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Kim Reis

Entercom VP/Digital Market Operations Kim Reis exits the company after her position was eliminated. She has worked in the media industry for 26 years and joined the radio giant as Director of Digital Audience Engagement in July, 2013. Prior to her tenure at Entercom, she was Digital Media & Marketing Director for Media General's WJAR-TV, where she trained both local and national employees on best practices for digital content management and sales efforts.

Reis began her career as a radio morning show co-host on WPRO-FM (92 PRO) and WWKX-FM (KIX 106)/Providence, before moving into television, where she was employed as a technical news director and assistant marketing director at WLNE-TV, an ABC affiliate in Providence.

She is seeking her next opportunity and may be reached at kimreis196@gmail.com.

Alexus Parker Joins National Radio Talent System as ID

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Alexus Parker

The National Radio Talent System welcomes new Institutes Director Alexus Parker. She'll work directly with the broadcasters, universities and students of the Radio Talent Institutes, and managing social media. Prior to joining NRTS, parker was the Marketing Director for the iHeartMedia's cluster of stations in Raleigh, NC. She began her career with iHeartMedia in Roanoke, VA, where she became Promotions and Digital Content Director.

National Radio Talent System President Dan Vallie stated, "We talked to quite a few people about the position, but Alexus came highly recommended and is very impressive. She is a great fit for our team as we continue to grow the National Radio Talent System and the Radio Talent Institutes across the country."

The National Radio Talent System is the first and only program of its kind, working with the broadcast industry and universities together in a collaborative effort to discover, teach and prepare the next generation of broadcasters who can be hired today and be leaders in the industry tomorrow. Currently the National Radio Talent System has eight Radio Talent Institutes across the country.

Veteran Music Journalist, Radio Host Dauphin Dead at 45

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Chuck Dauphin

CMA Award-winning journalist and veteran radio host Chuck Dauphin has died at Nashville's Alive Hospice following a series of complications from diabetes. He was 45. From 2011 until his death, he was a principle country music contributor at Billboard. Dauphin rarely turned down the opportunity to interview a new act, and he always championed the Classic Country greats, who were the official soundtrack of his life. He was among the first music journalists to champion some of today's most famous entertainers; his words on artists including Ashley McBryde, Brandy Clark, Brantley Gilbert, Carly Pearce, Cody Johnson, Luke Bryan, Luke Combs and Midland helped make them stars.

"We are so proud of Chuck," said Dauphin's father, Charles F. Dauphin, Jr. "He accomplished so much and was loved by so many. Our deepest thanks to everyone who showed their love to Chuck. We know he felt your prayers and support."

Growing up in Tennessee, country music was always in the ether for Dauphin. His mother, the late Frankie Paulette Dauphin, doted on her son and raised him on the music from her vast record collection. His father took him to Nashville's CMA Fest annually and would regularly carpool him to town to shop for music at The Great Escape and Tower Records.

Dauphin's childhood dream of becoming a professional radio host was realized in 1991 during his junior year in high school when he earned his first job in the music business at WDKN in Dickson, TN. He worked there for 18 years, rose to Program Director and was known to everyone in Dickson County by his air name "Crazy Chucky." He enjoyed a flourishing radio career with stops at WNKX in Centerville, TN, WSM-AM/Nashville and he often appeared as a guest on SiriusXM's Country channels.

"His interviews got down to what was important to that person," journalist and longtime friend Deborah Evans-Price said. "Whether he was covering sports or country music, he had the innate ability to celebrate the person and their craft. He knew how to pull out the best in every interview to the point where readers always felt like they knew the subject intimately from his writing."

Memorial service and funeral information will be announced later this week via www.taylorsince1909.com or www.burnschurchofchrist.org. In lieu of flowers, his family asks that donations in Dauphin's name be made to Music Health Alliance, MusiCares, Alive Hospice, The Opry Trust Fund and/or Nashville Humane Association.

Nick Reed Elevated to KSGF/Springfield Program Director

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Nick Reed

SummitMedia/Springfield, MO, elevates Nick Reed to Program Director of News/Talk KSGF-FM (104.1). He joined KSGF in 2010 as PD/morning host but has focused on hosting the morning show for that past several years. Reed begins his new duties effective immediately, while continuing as an on-air host. He joined KSGF after two years in Milwaukee where he served as a talk host and news anchor for WISN-AM and WOKY-AM. Prior to that Reed worked for WHBL-AM/Sheboygan, WI, as PD and talk host.

Reed said, "I am so very happy to be with KSGF under SummitMedia right now. There really is a positive energy underway that made me want to be back in the saddle as Program Director of KSGF."

SummitMedia Springfield President Janelle Moffett stated, "Nick's insight and years of experience are a great asset to our group. We're fortunate to have him on our team."

Edison Research Debuts The Infinite Dial South Africa 2019

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Edison Research

The Infinite Dial, a study on digital audio from Edison Research, debuted in South Africa last week as Edison Research President Larry Rosin presented the findings in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. The study was commissioned by South Africa's National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Commercial Radio Committee and sponsored by Triton Digital.

Following an online presentation of The Infinite Dial South Africa earlier Wednesday, the findings exploring digital audio, mobile, smart speakers, podcast consumption and social media among South Africans living within the major metro commercial areas, covering the upper two of the three SEM Supergroups (or upper three of the five SEM Clusters), are now available for download here.

The Infinite Dial research for South Africa is patterned on the longest-running survey (1998) of digital media consumer behavior in the U.S. and provides an up-to-date profile of the South African digital consumer. Some of the findings include:

• 88% of the South African major metro commercial population own smartphones.

• 68% of the South African major metro commercial population have listened to AM/FM radio in the last week.

• 44% of radio listening at home by the South African major metro commercial population was done on a non-radio device.

• 39% of the South African major metro commercial population have listened to online audio in the past month.

• 22% of the South African major metro commercial population are aware of podcasting, and 19% of the population have ever listened to a podcast.

Premios de la Radio to Reveal Nominees Via Cross-Platforms

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Premios de la Radio

Spanish-language broadcaster LBI Media has announced that it will reveal the full list of nominees for its 2019 Premios de la Radio in a new live format on October 7. For the first time in its 20-year history, Premios de la Radio will not announce its nominees via a press conference and instead will be releasing the entire list of potential awardees directly live in a new cross-platform format. This year, the syndicated "Don Cheto Al Aire" morning show will announce the full list of Premios de la Radio 2019 nominees with Chiquis, Luis Coronel, Pepe Garza and Don Cheto.

Organizers of Premios de la Radio, which recognizes and celebrates regional Mexican music in the U.S., will reveal the list of this year's nominees via "Don Cheto Al Aire," at 11am ET while simultaneously transmitting live through the show's social media feeds available on Instagram and Facebook, as well as on EstrellaTV via a special broadcast of "Nominaciones a Premios de la Radio 2019."

This year, the list of nominees will be announced by EstrellaTV's "Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento" celebrity judges and host: Chiquis, Pepe Garza, Don Cheto and Luis Coronel, respectively. After the official cross-platform announcement, the cast of the show will be available for a brief post debriefing session with select news media outlets at EstrellaTV Empire Studios in Burbank.

The full list of nominees and online voting will be available on October 7, at 9am at www.premiosdelaradio.com/vota

Jacapps V4 Platform is Now Integrated With Aptivada

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 18, 2019

jacapps

jacapps has announced that its mobile app platform, known as V4, has integrated with the Aptivada user management platform. This integration means that any of the hundreds of radio stations on the V4 platform who are Aptivada clients can now utilize Aptivada's registration features.

jacapps COO Bob Kernen commented, "It is increasingly important for media companies to know who is consuming their content. Registered users are far more valuable to advertisers and programmers, and Aptivada's platform makes it easy to capture this data. We continue to expand the offerings to our clients and are excited to provide access to Aptivada's outstanding technology."

Aptivada Co-Founder Creighton Green added, "This extraordinary partnership with jacapps emphasizes the importance of offering streamlined tools that give each of our clients the ability to work through one platform versus duplicating efforts. We're thrilled to join forces and deploy solutions that are extremely efficient and a win/win for everyone. We are confident that this will help stations grow their audience while providing new and innovative solutions to advertisers."

The first phase of the integration will support sign-up and registration via the media partners' mobile apps, enabling those partners to require registration for the use of certain content, including the stream. Future integrations will enable Aptivada's contesting and other features.

Pioneering Veteran Journalist Cokie Roberts Dead at 75

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Cokie Roberts

Radio Online is very sad to report acclaimed journalist and author Cokie Roberts has died at age 75. The cause of death has been reported as complications from breast cancer. Roberts recently acknowledge she'd had "health issues" over the summer and was doing fine.

Over her illustrious career, which was kick-started nationally at NPR in 1978, Roberts won three Emmys. Per her NPR obituary, "Roberts is one of NPR's most recognizable voices and considered one of a handful of pioneering women journalists-along with Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer, and Susan Stamberg-who helped shape the public broadcaster's sound and culture at a time when few women held prominent roles in journalism."

NPR President & CEO Jarl Mohn issued a statement saying: "We are saddened to hear that Cokie Roberts has passed away. Cokie was one of NPR's 'founding mothers,' since 1978 her signature voice and commentary have accompanied public radio listeners, provided context for news and been a familiar presence in their homes. Cokie has won almost every award in journalism; she has been the trusted voice that Americans count on when political news breaks.

Cokie was on the search committee that hired me and was a wonderful and strong supporter from day one and throughout my time at NPR. This is a huge loss for all of us. I am saddened beyond words.

The NPR and public radio family join Cokie's family, friends, and countless fans who will miss her so dearly."

Read the entire NPR obituary here.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting President/CEO Pat Harrison said in a statement, "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting mourns the passing of Cokie Roberts, a broadcasting legend and respected figure in American journalism. Cokie was a formative voice in the early years of NPR, when few women held high-profile positions in national journalism. For a decade, as NPR's Congressional correspondent, she offered fair, insightful coverage of the inner workings of Congress.

He continued, "Even after moving to ABC News, Cokie remained part of the public media family by contributing to NPR as a political commentator for decades. CPB awarded her the 1990 Edward R. Murrow Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to public radio. We will long remember with gratitude Cokie's pioneering work and commitment to civility. We share the sorrow of her family, public media and ABC at her passing."

NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith said, "NAB and our broadcast colleagues mourn the passing of ABC's Cokie Roberts, whose countless awards are testament to a glass-shattering career that inspired scores of professional women journalists.

"I was proud to have known Cokie, to have worked with her and to have called her a friend during my years in the Senate. Cokie brought class, intelligence and fairness to political journalism, whether as co-host of ABC's ‘This Week' or offering commentaries on public radio. Her contributions to politics and broadcasting will never be forgotten."

Cokie Roberts received the NAB Distinguished Service Award, the broadcast industry's highest honor, at the NAB Show in 2003.

Listen to the Benztown audio tribute to Cokie Roberts produced by Tom Baker and voiced & written by Bill Royal here.