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- What to Know About the Overtime Pay Exemption
Credit: Getty Images In today’s environment of streaming competition, digital advertising pressure and escalating music licensing costs, every expense dollar matters. Broadcasters are often told that the answer is to “keep it local,” but local service and local content can increase staffing demands and operating costs. Congress apparently recognized this tension decades ago when it created a narrow overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or Act) for certain employees of small-market radio and television stations. While the Congressional floor debate on this particular provision was relatively brief compared with the broader 1961 FLSA amendments, the discussions repeatedly referenced: The economic fragility of small local stations; The need for employees to wear multiple hats; and The importance of preserving local broadcasting service in rural areas. The exemption emerged from negotiations over expanding FLSA coverage generally while avoiding disproportionate burdens on small community broadcasters. The exemption may allow a qualifying small-market broadcaster to require certain employees to work overtime without paying overtime compensation. However, this is a narrow exemption that applies only if both the station and employee satisfy very specific requirements. Part 793 of the U.S. Department of Labor’s regulations implements Section 13(b)(9) of the FLSA by exempting certain radio and television station employees from the Act’s overtime pay requirements. However, the exemption is subject to strict conditions that limit its application to small-market broadcasters and specific categories of employees. Notably, the exemption applies only to the Act’s overtime provisions and does not exempt employers from complying with minimum wage requirements. Covered job categories To be eligible for the exemption, an employee must be employed by a radio or television station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission and fall within one of three enumerated job categories. In small-market stations, employees often perform multiple duties. However, to qualify for the exemption, one of these listed occupations must be the employee’s primary duty. As a practical matter, the employee generally must spend more than half of the workweek performing the covered duties. The test is fact-specific and depends on what the employee actually does, not simply the job title. The exemption applies to the following three job categories: Announcer — “An announcer is an employee who appears before the microphone or camera to introduce programs, read news announcements, present commercial messages, give station identification and time signals” and perform similar routine on-air functions. At a… [TheTopNews] Read More.3 hours ago - iHeart scores distribution via giant phone service TextNow
In a collaboration of two giants, TextNow -- the largest ad-supported mobile phone service in the U.S. -- will carry iHeartRadio’s full catalog over TextNow’s national 5G network. Users (10 million strong) will not pay. Click for more. Continue Reading → [TheTopNews] Read More.3 hours ago - Read the June 3, 2026 Issue of Radio World
Learn which new products earned “Best of Show” honors from Radio World at the 2026 spring NAB Show. Buyer’s Guide presents AI tools for radio sales teams from Adthos, CreativeReady, ENCO, Futuri and Radio Creator. Donna Halper talks to radio DJs and programmers whose enthusiasm for radio goes against today’s conventional wisdom. And Eivind Engberg writes from Norway that the U.S. radio industry might do well to adopt more of a Euro mindset in how it promotes itself. Read it here. The post Read the June 3, 2026 Issue of Radio World appeared first on Radio World. [TheTopNews] Read More.4 hours ago - ‘Hold On!’ CNN’s Abby Phillip Drops Fact-Check on Pro-Trump Host in Brawl ...
CNN anchor Abby Phillip dropped an instant fact-check on pro-Trump radio host Jason Rantz during a brawl over President Donald Trump’s pick for acting Director of National Intelligence. Trump announced on Tuesday morning that Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte would be his pick for acting DNI, replacing the ousted Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte is the architect of several failed revenge cases against Trump opponents and has no experience in intelligence. On Tuesday night’s election edition of CNN NewsNight, Phillip hosted a panel that included Rantz, Van Jones, Xochitl Hinojosa, Brad Todd, and Ana Navarro to talk election results and news of the day. During a discussion of Pulte’s selection, Rantz accused Democrats of concocting the idea that Trump would “cancel the election,” at which point Phillip stepped in to remind him that Trump has repeatedly made that suggestion himself: HINOJOSA: Well, and it’s also, yes, our national security, but the reason why Trump wants him in this role is because we have an election coming up, and he knows that Democrats are likely going to sweep the House and potentially the Senate. And he needs a DNI director there that will potentially cast doubt on the election, whether it is foreign interference. He can use any tool at his disposal to potentially not only cast doubt but to question the results of the election. And he doesn’t need to have him there for a year. All he needs to do is have him in that position from now until the end of the year or until the new Congress is certified to potentially stop certification, and this is what people are worried about. And when I say people, this is what outside groups and others are worried about when it comes to this. TODD: Are you already pre-selling post-election chaos? HINOJOSA: I am telling you what the president has his eye on. The president doesn’t have his eye on the national- (CROSSTALK) TODD: How do know (inaudible) has his eye on? (CROSSTALK) HINOJOSA: Because we already had Tulsi Gabbard go in and look at boxes in Georgia — TODD: From six years ago. HINOJOSA: — when that is not the role of the DNI director. We know that the President likes to cast doubt on elections as he has done before. TODD: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Let’s don’t project that forward. Let’s presume — let’s presume everybody’s going to… [TheTopNews] Read More.5 hours ago - Bari Weiss Addresses CBS Staff After Firing of Scott Pelley: ‘The Path He Chos...
(Sipa via AP Images) CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss reportedly addressed the firing of longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley during a Wednesday morning call, saying it was the “path he chose.” Pelley was fired from 60 Minutes on Tuesday just hours after a heated meeting, where the correspondent aired his grievances with the network’s new leadership (Weiss took over in October of last year). Pelley blasted Weiss and new 60 Minutes executive producer Nick Bilton during the meeting, and reportedly “pointed out” that Bilton has “no relevant experience to helm television’s most prestigious news program.” The Guardian’s Jeremy Barr first reported on a Wednesday morning staff call in which Weiss addressed Pelley’s firing. “We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose,” Weiss said. NEW: Bari Weiss just addressed the termination of Scott Pelley on the network's morning call just now. Weiss: "I know I speak for myself, and I hope I speak for everyone here when I say that I'm only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect.… — Jeremy Barr (@jeremymbarr) June 3, 2026 Check out the full comments below: I know I speak for myself, and I hope I speak for everyone here when I say that I’m only interested in working in a newsroom that is built on trust and mutual respect. We cannot do our work without it. That foundation was broken on Monday, and despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so, and so we had to part ways. We did not want that to happen, but that’s the path that he chose. That unfortunate outcome does not discount from the amazing contributions and work that Scott Pelley has done for CBS and for 60 Minutes over the course of his career. According to Barr, Weiss also “listed” stories Pelley had been behind in the last season of the show, praising them as “unbelievable stories.” Pelley spent more than 20 years at 60 Minutes. Bari Weiss said that many of Scott Pelley's recent stories "typify 60 Minutes, and they're the kind of stories that Nick Bilton is going to put on the air come September in Season 59 with the amazing team that's still there and hopefully from some new people that are… [TheTopNews] Read More.5 hours ago - Dan Abrams Warns Trump’s ‘Downright Dangerous’ DNI Pick Will Get Him in â€...Dan Abrams warned President Donald Trump’s decision to tap housing official Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence, could be “downright dangerous” for the president. On Tuesday Trump announced Pulte, who currently leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, would replace outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte has been a polarizing figure in Trump’s administration, drawing attention for pursuing allegations of mortgage fraud against several of the president’s political opponents. Speaking on the Dan Abrams Show on SiriusXM after Trump announced the nomination, Abrams — the founder of Mediaite — said he doubted Pulte would win Senate confirmation but argued the more immediate concern was the power he could wield in the role. “Pulte has no intel experience, none,” Abrams said. “But the problem isn’t that he’s not qualified, right? There are a lot of people who get positions who are not qualified. This is one of these guys who is uniquely disqualified or disqualifying. And that’s why the president wants him in the role.” He continued: “The Director of National Intel oversees 18 agencies, all right? Has access to all of the nation’s greatest secrets. That’s why the president wants Bill Pulte there. So he can go after the president’s political enemies.” Abrams then pointed out that Pulte, who currently oversees government-backed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, had already “been using those databases” to access records of Trump’s political opponents, pointing to criminal referrals involving figures including former Rep. Eric Swalwell, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. “This isn’t just bad. It’s downright dangerous,” Abrams said. “I’m gonna go a step further and say I think this is gonna be really bad for President Trump,” he continued. “I think this guy is going to get him in trouble. What do I mean by that? The president clearly wants him to have access to as much information on his political opponents and enemies as possible, potentially to use it in improper ways is my theory. And that’s exactly the sort of stuff that got [Richard] Nixon in trouble, right?” He added: “Now we’re in a different world. In the world we live in today, in the media environment we live today, Nixon wouldn’t have resigned. But, even in the world we live in today, I think that Pulte is going to do things that cross… [TheTopNews] Read More.5 hours ago
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