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 Joe Piscopo (2014 Recipient of Howard L. Green Humanitarian of the Year Award) and me! Photo: Gary Gellman/Gellman Images |
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 | Photo: Gary Gellman/Gellman Images
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 Here is Charlie Sislen, (Moderator) Erica Farber, Mary Beth Garber, Radha Subramanyam, and Jeff Warshaw at our Opening Super Session.
Photo: Gary Gellman/Gellman Images
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Contact Us >> | |
New Jersey Broadcasters Assoc
348 Applegarth Road
Monroe Twp, New Jersey 08831
njba@njba.com
www.njba.com |
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Sandy Two Years Later: Thank You NJBA Broadcasters
This week, we mark the second anniversary of the worst storm to hit the Garden State in memory. Radio coverage of Sandy and the terror she caused was unprecedented, but as former NJBA Chairman Dan Finn observed then, "It was radio's finest hour." Paul Rotella remembers NJ broadcasters' herculean efforts to get vital information out to the public in a special broadcast announcement thanking his members for their superb public service: "As President of the NJBA, I have the honor of representing over one thousand dedicated broadcasters, including on-air talent, management, sales professionals, engineers, writers, producers, traffic professionals and support staff, along with the millions of listeners who comprise our diverse and growing audience around the Garden State. As we mark the second anniversary of Sandy, we remember all who lost, and all who gave, to bring our state back fro the brink--- and I'm especially grateful for all that our great New Jersey radio stations did to help our communities recover. Paul reminds us that New Jersey's broadcasters continue to serve the public in countless ways every day of the year, not just during emergencies, where our service is unparalleled, but always-that's our credo." He says: NJ Broadcasters-we're always on the air-no matter what...for you!
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Fall Back, Fall Back!
Yes, it's that time of year again! NJBA Pal Larry Keene from TDGA reminds broadcasters that your Program Log for Sunday, November 2nd should be 25 hours long. Of course, if you're not on the air overnight, you can disregard this reminder. But your log should reflect the fact that beginning at 2:00am Local time, your Station changes from Daylight Savings to Standard Time. Obviously, check to see that your automated playback automation equipment is modern enough to automatically change its internal clocks to reflect this repeated hour. And, while you're at it, don't forget your car, home, bedroom, microwaves, ovens, auto coffee-makers at home. A friendly reminder from TDGA... and enjoy the added hour of sleep, because the day after, Monday, November 3rd is Traffic Professional's Day...We hope all traffic professionals will get a full share of thank you(s) and recognition from your colleagues, the sales staff and of course- the Managers. (Hat Tip to Larry and TDGA.)
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Sun Broadcast and Gow Strike Deal in Hispanic Sports Arena
Sun Broadcast Group and Gow Media have entered into a new partnership that will provide Spanish-language sports updates to stations across the country. The new offering is called Yahoo! Deportes Radio. Sun Broadcast's Hispanic division, Sun Latino, will handle advertising and affiliate sales. Gow Media, owner of Yahoo! Sports Radio, will handle production and distribution from its facilities in Houston. Sun Broadcast Group CEO and NJBA pal Jason Bailey said, "I'm so impressed by what David Gow, Craig Larson, and their team have accomplished over the last few years. Gow Media's Yahoo! Sports Radio has been a huge success by every measure. I'm thrilled to be working with them to bring the same quality of local, interactive sports reports to the Hispanic community." Gow Media CEO David Gow said, "The Hispanic market represents a new, big opportunity for us. Jason Bailey and his team at Sun Latino have significant relationships and expertise in the Hispanic market, and we are confident that Sun can make Yahoo! Deportes Radio a market leader." Congratulations to Sun and Gow on this innovative strategic initiative. (Hat Tip Radio Ink.)
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Accidental EAS Activation Shows Caution Must Be Used in Playing Clips
Last Friday's accidental EAS alert came not from the White House, but from Bobby Bones. What happened Friday morning was that Bones, based at iHeart's "Big 98" WSIX Nashville, played a YouTube video of the November 9, 2011 national EAS test - and many services down the line detected the out-of-date time stamp and didn't run it, which was good. But AT&T's U-verse failed to spot the time-stamp and ran it. That meant you probably got your TV channel changed. There was apparently pickup in the Emergency Alert System daisy chain beyond there, too - and the feds are investigating. "Eclectic Engineer" Barry Mishkind has the audio that Bones used here.
FEMA is tightening up the system. (Hat Tip Tom Taylor NOW.)
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FEMA and FCC Work on EAS Protocols
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it will be "working with the FCC and Emergency Alert System device manufacturers to identify improvements to the message validation schemes." While that's happening, FEMA's Chief of IPAWS Engineering Mark Lucero has some recommendations - "Short Term: #1, If possible, configure your EAS device to NOT FORWARD an EAS message with a header that does not match the current date and time, i.e. configure to enforce 'strict time.'" That presumably would've caught the stray alert that emanated from the Premiere-syndicated Bobby Bones show. Then FEMA's #2, "Socialize the implications of including EAS tones in the broadcast among the content providers and program directors. #3, Learn how to clear a 'locked up' EAS device. #4, Check your EAS device software version and ensure you are up to date with new patches. #5, Use strong passwords for any broadcast equipment that is accessible from the web. #6, Use firewalls to prevent unauthorized web-access to broadcast equipment." West Virginia broadcasters recently participated in a statewide test of the national EAS and that was to generate input about a sometime-in-2015 National EAS test - but that had no relation to Friday's bizarre system-trip. (Hat Tip Tom Taylor NOW.)
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IHeartmedia's Adkins New RAB Board Chair
The Radio Advertising Bureau has elected new officers and directors. iHeartMedia's EVP for major markets Hartley Adkins takes over as RAB board chair for Cromwell's Bud Walters. Hubbard's Ginny Morris is the new vice chair, Cox Radio EVP Kim Guthrie was elected finance chair, and Commonwealth CEO Steve Newberry takes over as RAB secretary. There were also three newly elected board members: Hubbard's President and COO Drew Horowitz, Alpha Media EVO Bill McElveen, and Journal EVP Steve Wexler. The NJBA thanks Bud for his outstanding leadership and advocacy to our industry and especially for his tenacious support of NextRadio and FM chip activation in cell phones, initiatives which the NJBA is strongly behind! (Hat Tip Radio Ink.)
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"P" Stands for "Punished"
Utter a phrase like "slowing growth" on your conference call, and your stock may be spanked to the tune of 13% and sink to its deepest levels in more than 13 months. Friday morning's NOW Newsletter led with Pandora's new positioning about profitability, and we joked that management wants the "P" stock symbol to stand partly for "profitable." But Wall Street mostly views Pandora as a tech stock or an Internet stock. That means it's all about the prospects for growth - and CEO Brian McAndrews wasn't singing the right lyrics, when he said that "driving monthly active user growth will be more challenging" because of Pandora's "already significant market position" and heightened competition. Not only was the punishment swift, it came on more than quadruple the usual trading volume. Pandora stock was pummeled (another "P" word) for a $3.12 one-day loss, trading intra-day as low as $19.35 and closing at an even $20 per share. (Hat Tip Tom Taylor NOW.)
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NJ Chamber 350 Gala Celebration a Huge Success!
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce knows how to throw a party and last Monday's
350 Anniversary Gala highlighted how NJ Thinkers have changed the World! NJBA President Paul Rotella represented the broadcast industry, along with NJBA Board Member and former Chairman Dan Finn from Greater Media, and many NJBA pals from Greater Media including WCTC 1450 morning host Bert Baron. "We celebrated the state's rich legacy of innovation, not the least of which was radio and TV!" said Rotella. Among the special guests were Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who was in great spirits as she recovers from a bicycle accident which shattered her wrist and elbow, along with the families of Thomas Edison and Selman Waksman (Rutgers' Nobel Prize-wining 'Father of Antibiotics'); the heads of the state's most prestigious R&D firms; and a delegation from the "Other Jersey" - the Isle of Jersey in the British Channel. (Needless to say, much has happened since June of 1664 when King Charles of England deeded this area of North America to two loyal subjects, and it officially became known as New Jersey - named after the Isle of Jersey.) Paul presented the delegation Leader, Mike King, with a special gift from the NJBA and Mike is now an official NJBA pal, sporting the coveted NJBA label pin as he went back to the land that is our namesake! For the past few months, the NJBA has been promoting the creativity and contributions of our native sons and daughters with a special PEP program sponsored by the NJ Chamber and the CPA firm of WithumSmith+Brown.
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New Jersey: The Innovation State!
The state of New Jersey has been at the forefront of economic and social progress, first as the Crossroads of the American Revolution, then as the Nation's Laboratory and more recently as the Nation's Medicine Chest. When it comes to innovation, New Jersey has contributed much to the world, ranging from air conditioning and antibiotics to the light bulb, radio and television. The state also gave birth to Band-Aids, bubble wrap, the chlorination process to purify drinking water, condensed soup, the drive-in theater, fiber optics, the ice cream cone, lead-free gasoline, motion pictures, motor oil, pork roll, radar, the TV dinner, salt-water taffy, solar panels, the transistor and Viagra, to name a few. "From Edison to Einstein," said Rotella, "From Bell Labs to the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. From Princeton to Rutgers to NJIT. We celebrate them all, and always remember that radio-is the original wireless!"
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We Interrupt This Broadcast...
"The War of the Worlds" was first performed as a Halloween episode of the Mercury Theater on the Air series on October 30, 1938, and aired over the CBS radio network. Orson Welles narrated and directed the radio event from an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds (1898). It became renowned for initiating mass panic. But, QuickNews doesn't want anyone to worry---although we just received a report of a series of explosions near Owing's Mills, New Jersey, NJBA pal Scott Herman said there is nothing at all to worry about.....
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