RADIO WORLD – News | Radio-TV Industry News

In this letter to the editor, the author responds to the story “Expanded-Band AM Stations Ask for FCC Certainty.” Radio World welcomes letters to the editor on this or any story. Email radioworld@futurenet.com. Good morning! Hope you are well. I really take issue with this expanded-band situation. I was around when it came to be and well remember the whole situation. The idea was to offer licensees of lesser quality stations an opportunity to be on the air 24/7 with a solid signal. The recipient of the expanded-band license would operate both stations for a FIVE YEAR term, then turn in the license they didn’t want. One other benefit would be a slight cleaning up of the band, should the licensee turn in the license of that lesser quality station. Another BIG mistake was allowing these stations to not simulcast, creating new formats and revenue streams. Then, there were extensions… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

The FCC has dismissed another LPFM hopeful east of Los Angeles after the applicant failed to meet the commission’s localism requirements. Fontana-based Heme Aqui Church and San Dimas-based MENA Coalition Inc. — alongside another previously-dismissed applicant — both filed applications for construction permits for new LPFM stations during the 2023 filing window. The dismissed applicant, Iglesia Ministerios Voz De Jubilo, was initially named the selectee of MX Group 12 through the FCC’s standard tiebreaking process for MX groups. Heme and MENA tied for second. However, in April, MENA subsequently filed a petition to deny Iglesia’s application, which argued that Iglesia had misrepresented the address of its president, Roberto G. Melena, in its application. MENA also alleged that Iglesia’s voting structure violated California law, that its listed main studio address — a residential location — was not a viable site and that neither the board members’ residences nor the organization’s headquarters… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Kevin Martin “We may have lost this round, but the fight is far from over.” An email from Ideastream Public Media to its listeners and viewers on Thursday provides an example of how America’s public radio and TV organizations are responding to the looming loss of federal funding support. Ideastream serves northeast Ohio. It operates news and information station WKSU(FM), classical music station WCLV(FM), a full-time HD jazz station/streaming service and five public television stations. It also manages the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau on behalf of Ohio’s public broadcasting stations. Its President/CEO Kevin Martin told supporters in his email that if the rescission package on Capitol Hill becomes law this week as expected, every public media station in the nation will not receive Community Service Grant dollars for their fiscal years 2026 and 2027. [Read: “Senate Passes Cuts in Public Broadcast Funding”] “Ideastream’s FY2026 begins on… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

A side deal between a U.S. senator and the White House might be enough to save up to 35 tribal radio stations at risk of going off the air if the upper chamber votes to claw back $1.1 billion in funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  According to NOTUS, the last-minute agreement between South Dakota U.S. Senator Mike Rounds, a Republican, and the Trump administration salvages $10 million in fiscal year 2026 funding for 14 tribal radio station grants in rural areas across the country. South Dakota U.S. Senator Mike Rounds As a reminder, if the rescission package is passed, it would eliminate two years of pre-allocated federal funding for CPB, which helps support local public radio and television stations, especially in more rural areas. Sen. Rounds previously voiced dissent over the package that includes the slashing of funding for NPR and PBS. However, the report from NOTUS says… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.

Image credit: FCC Following up on his first major policy speech just two weeks ago, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is promising to buck the usual summer slowdown in the nation’s capital with a major push to advance his “Built America Agenda” and other policies. In a blog laying out some of the FCC’s summer plans, Carr emphasized network infrastructure issues, particularly a promise to “consider a proposal to curtail one of the biggest obstacles to building in America: needless and costly environmental reviews,” he said. The blog did not mention reconsideration of broadcast ownership rules, NextGen TV broadcasting and some other issues that are top of mind for TV and radio broadcasters. But Carr said that the FCC would be voting this month to “eliminate 98 obsolete broadcast rules and requirements — totaling 5,117 words and a little over 12 pages — like 1970s-era regulations dictating the kind of testing… ...[TheTopNews] Read More.