Headlines
BIA Forecasts $12.3B In Local Radio Revenue For 2025.
Total local advertising spending is projected to reach $168.2 billion in 2025 (ex. political), with local radio as the fifth-largest media in terms of ad spending. That’s according to BIA’s latest forecast, which finds local radio will generate $12.3 billion in 2025, with $2.3 billion coming from Radio Digital.
Skepticism to Success: How Radio’s Top Sellers Build Digital Trust
For today’s sales managers, selling digital is about more than closing a deal. It means untangling client assumptions, building new trust, and reshaping how sales success in this industry is measured. Each challenge brings its own obstacles, but also opportunities.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Deal Digest: K-Love Fills In Prairie State Map
Atonn Muhammad’s Blacksun Private Equity has filed a $1.25 million deal to buy nine full-power stations and two FM translators from Monte Lee Spearman’s High Plains Radio Network.
Television
Disney's Next Move
Disney is in a standoff with Nexstar and Sinclair over their muzzling of Jimmy Kimmel, and insiders say Bob Iger and Dana Walden are waiting to see if the station owners blink before ratcheting up pressure.
NJ PBS shutting down next year after massive funding cuts to public television
NJ PBS will shut down next year after WNET was unable to reach an agreement with the state’s Public Broadcasting Authority to continue operating the public television station, it was announced Tuesday.
Radio
Houston Enters Top Five In Nielsen Fall 2025 Market Rank Revisions
With the start of the Fall book last week, Nielsen Audio has released its revised market rankings.
Edison Data Shows AM/FM Radio Remains Vital To Rural America
With Washington rallying around the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, data from Edison Research is showing that traditional radio remains essential and irreplaceable in rural America, even as mobile devices continue to expand their share of audio nationwide.
FCC
Subcap Showdown: FCC Review To Put AM/FM Limits Back On The Table
As the Federal Communications Commission prepares to open its latest ownership review, the decades-old limits on how many AM and FM stations a company can control in a market may emerge as one of the more contentious issues.
Soo Kim Moves Ahead With Appeal Of Racial Discrimination Case
In April 2024 he sued the FCC and its then-Chairwoman and Media Bureau Chief for a decision to put his proposed TEGNA deal in front of an Administrative Law Judge. Race discrimination on the part of the Commission was at the crux of his legal battle. One month ago, it appeared that the legal fight was over.