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Neumann University Center for Leadership to Host Panel Discussion on Pennsylvania’s Open Record / Right-to-Know Law Event will feature panel discussions featuring former Governor Ed Rendell, former Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Harrisburg and Philadelphia news reporters ASTON, PA – Neumann University’s Center for Leadership will host a program tomorrow, Wednesday June 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. exploring the impact of Pennsylvania’s groundbreaking Right to Know Law, which is marking its 10 th Anniversary this year.  The program will feature panel discussions by former Governor Ed Rendell and former Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Harrisburg and Philadelphia news reporters, and representatives of local government associations, as well as presentations Erik Arneson, Executive Director of the Office of Open Records, and staff from the Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee.  CLE and CPE credits are available.   The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Meagher Theatre located in the Thomas A. Bruder, Jr. Life Center on the Neumann University campus.  The address for the campus is 1 Neumann Drive, Aston, PA, 19014.   Rendell and Pileggi, now a judge on the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, will discuss the history of the law, which flipped the presumption that government documents were not public information on its head. Prior to the adoption of the law, the burden was on the requester to establish why a government record should be public. Under the Open Records law, the burden is now on state and local agencies to establish why a record should not be released.   A media panel will provide views from the fourth estate on the positive impacts of the right to know law. This panel will be moderated by John Baer, political columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. Panelists will include Philip Heron, editor of the Delaware County Daily Times; Kristen Johanson, reporter for KYW Newsradio; Joe Conti, President of the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters; and Melissa Melewsky, legal counsel for the Pennsylvania News Media Association.   Staff members for the Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee, Executive Director Patricia Berger and Analyst Louis Day, will provide an overview of a recent state report examining the financial impact of the law.   An additional panel of representatives of local governmental entities will share information on their experience with the law, including possible misuse of the law. Panelists will include Doug Hill, Executive Director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania; Elam Herr, Assistant Executive Director of the PA State Association of Township Supervisors, and Frank Catania, Esq., who has served as a solicitor for local governments and school districts. The panel will be moderated by Danielle McNichol, General Counsel for Neumann University and director of the Center for Community Leadership Development & Entrepreneurship.   Finally, Erik Arneson, Executive Director of the Office of Open Records, will provide information on some of the key rulings from the Pennsylvania Open Records Office, as well as an update on foreseen improvements to the state’s open records law.   CLE and CPE credits will be available for this free program.  Individuals are asked to kindly RSVP at http://neumannpublicsafety.com/. WHO:                   Former Governor Ed Rendell & Judge Dominic Pileggi, journalists, the Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records and other experts WHAT:                 A program looking at the Commonwealth's right-to-know law, which is marking its 10 year anniversary this year. WHERE:               Neumann University, Thomas A. Bruder Life Center (Building #3 on Campus Map: https://www.neumann.edu/about/images/maps/campus_map.pdf) 1 Neumann Drive, Aston, PA 19014 WHEN: Wednesday, June 13 th from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Inside Radio May 22, 2018   The Federal Communications Commission has announced the next broadcast license renewal process will begin June 1, 2019. While it’s just a little more than one year away for the states first in line, the Media Bureau is advising stations to make good use of the time since this renewal cycle will be like no other. That’s because as of March 1 all stations have been required to have online public files. That new wrinkle means it will no longer take a visit to a station to uncover missing paperwork or other violations. Instead, Bureau staffers can review each station’s public inspection from their desks in Washington. And that’s a message that the FCC wants stations to receive loud and clear. “Broadcasters may have noticed we’re looking closely at rule violations and non-compliance issues and I would encourage stations to start making sure their paperwork is in order and correct any non-compliance issues,” Audio Division chief Al Shuldiner said on a recent podcast produced by the National Association of Broadcasters. The Federal Communications Commission began transitioning radio and television to online public files in 2012 with the first group of radio stations, which included commercial stations in the top 50 markets, required to make the move by June 2016. All other stations were required to make the digital leap by March 1, 2018 with all public file materials, with the exception of existing political file paperwork, placed in the online file. Shuldiner acknowledged that the new online public files have made it easier for the FCC to catch public file problems, such as missing documents. “I think that might come out in the renewal process,” he said, adding, “I would hope stations would focus on these types of problems now while they have time so it doesn’t have an impact on renewals and we can make that as streamlined as possible.” Broadcasters will have a better idea how the FCC intends to use its new resource when it processes renewal applications for stations in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia—the region that’s required to file the first set of renewals next June. After that new deadlines will be set for other states every other month for the following three years through August 2022.

To stop the bleed of viewers, network TV is looking to offer fewer advertiser spots. And charge more. By Lucas Shaw and Gerry Smith BLOOMBERG NEWS After years of jamming more advertisements into every hour of the day, TV networks say they’re adopting a new philosophy: Less is more. Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal and 21st Century Fox Inc. will reduce the number of ads they run in prime time, an effort to halt the stampede of viewers ditching live TV for the advertising-free environs of Netflix Inc. The hope is that by curbing the supply of advertising, networks will be able to charge higher prices. The plans will be touted this week at the annual event known as the upfronts, when TV chieftains and Hollywood stars gather in New York to pitch advertisers on their upcoming slate of shows. “We have to try something,” said Bruce Lefkowitz, Fox’s executive vice president of advertising sales. Viewership of live TV is in free fall, which contributed to a decline in ad sales in 2017, according to data from research firm Magna Global. Making matters worse, the revenue is projected to keep falling for years to come. The question is whether networks will follow through on their pledge to reduce ad time. They’ve been threatening to do so for years, but Lefkowitz says this time Fox is serious. Fox is mounting its big experiment on Sunday nights, when it will reduce the number of commercials by 40 percent some weeks. The network will run just two national advertisements in each commercial break, which it’s calling a “jazz pod” (as in just A and Z). Every advertisement will immediately precede or follow a TV show. Fox will announce some of the ways it plans to reduce the number of advertisements on Monday. Less commercial time will rob some shows of promotional slots, and will also force other shows to run longer. Pod prices Fox is charging as much as a 40 percent increase for the jazz pods, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who declined to be identified discussing ongoing negotiations. Fox declined to comment on the pricing, though it did say advertisers have expressed a lot of interest. “We’ve gotten more incoming calls about our jazz pods than any product I can remember in my last 17 years,” Lefkowitz said. Fox will also benefit from the addition of “Thursday Night Football” to a schedule that is the least-watched among the four major broadcast networks. Lefkowitz has worked at Fox long enough to remember when TV networks could rely on advertisers to spend more every year (save for the occasional recession). National TV advertising sales climbed from $4.2 billion in 1980 to $42.8 billion in 2016. During that period, TV networks lost viewers to upstart online outlets such as YouTube and Hulu, but they were able to boost sales by charging higher rates. Now, they’re no longer able to rely on that model because viewership has fallen more quickly than prices have risen. By shrinking the supply — the amount of commercial time available — they hope to boost demand, which will enable them to charge higher prices. Not ‘rosy’ The cost of a TV ad is expected to climb by 5 percent to 9 percent in the upfront marketplace, while advertisers are projecting a15 percent decline in ratings next season, according to David Cohen, president of North America at Magna Global. “It’s not a very rosy picture,” Cohen said. To make up for declining TV ratings, Time Warner Inc.’s Turner Broadcasting plans to require for the first time that advertisers buy commercials for a show across different platforms, including TV and streaming services. Doing so will boost Turner’s overall audience, creating a greater supply of advertising to sell, the network said. Turner has been in talks with a third-party company to verify those online viewers, just like Nielsen has done for years with television. “Our success metric can’t just be Nielsen ratings on linear television,” said Donna Speciale, Turner’s head of advertising sales. “If you’re just buying linear TV, you are missing millions of viewers on video-on-demand and apps and online video. The clients and agencies have to open up their minds and not think of just television on the traditional platform.” Sharing data Turner is also one of the f o u n d i n g p a r t n e r s i n OpenAP, aconsortium of media companies that have agreed to share data so they can offer advertisers the chance to put their advertisements in front of specific demographic groups. TV has long sold ads based on more general demographics, such as gender and age groups (people between the age of 18 and 49, for example). The internet has eclipsed TV as the top advertising medium in the U.S. by offering far more detailed profiles of its users’ likes, dislikes, and tendencies. Owners of TV networks have tried to coax advertisers to their side by questioning the veracity and trustworthiness of metrics used by Facebook, Twitter, and Google’s YouTube, claims buttressed by a series of scandals. And yet advertisers are spending more online, forcing TV networks to try to replicate the models of the internet.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 8, 2018 TRACIE MAURIELLO WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle is calling for an investigation into whether three top federal regulators violated a prohibition on political activity by executive branch employees. The three Republican members of the Federal Communications Commission attended a February conference of the Conservative Political Action Committee. At that convention FCC Chairman Ajit Pai received an award from the National Rifle Association. He later returned the award. Commissioners Michael O’Rielly and Brendan Carr also attended the convention. During remarks at the event, Mr. O’Rielly called for the re-election of President Donald Trump, according to U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Mr. Doyle, of Forest Hills, chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. The Office of Special Counsel, which investigates ethics violations, already had expressed concerns about the commissioners’ attendance and concluded that Mr. O’Reilly had violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal officials from promoting political candidates or parties in their official capacities. The commissioners did not respond to a request for comment but directed questions to an agency spokeswoman. “The FCC’s career ethics officials determined that it was permissible for the three Republican commissioners to speak at CPAC,” the spokeswoman said in a written statement. “Indeed, Cabinet members also spoke at CPAC, and the Democrats’ letter contains no explanation for why the commissioners’ participation should be treated any differently. Sadly, we are left to conclude that the Democrats are simply trying to stop FCC commissioners from speaking to right-of-center organizations while they have no problem with commissioners speaking to left-of-center groups.” The commissioners have refused to cooperate with the committee, the two congressmen told special counsel Henry Kerner in a letter Monday asking for him to open an investigation and to offer FCC employees training sessions on the Hatch Act. Rather than appear before the committee, which has jurisdiction over the agency, the commissioners responded through an attorney that they believed CPAC is not a partisan political group and that the Hatch Act doesn’t apply to their attendance at its conference. “This contention is simply not true,” Mr. Doyle and Mr. Pallone wrote in their letter. “The chairman’s likeness and official title were used in advertisements to encourage people to pay upwards of $5,000 to attend the event,” they noted. They said they had concerns about whether the commissioners knowingly violated ethical restrictions. Committee Democrats – Mr. Doyle in particular – have been at odds with the FCC since it repealed the Open Internet Order in December. The order had prohibited internet service providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing web traffic based on content. Mr. Pai has argued that the Open Internet Order discouraged innovation and that the market should dictate the evolution of the internet.

Soundboard Video Update! This month, Joe Conti catches up with the engine driving so many great services, PA Director of Member Services, Gail Ponti! Joe and Gail share many wonderful benefits of becoming a PAB member, and all that ways in which members can find great value by using the PAB website. Learn more about PAB Membership Recap of PAB Gold Medal & Awards This past weekend, hundreds of PA Broadcasters descended into Hershey, PA for the PAB Annual Meeting, Gold Medal Dinner and Awards Luncheon. The Gold Medal was awarded this year to ESPN anchor Suzy Kolber, and our Lew and Janet Klein “Making a Difference” Award was presented to NAB Education Foundation President Marcellus Alexander. 2018 Hall of Fame Inductees were Brian Lilly, owner of WICU/WSEE-TV in Erie, and Bob VanDerheyden of the Bold Gold Media group in Honesdale. Monday’s PAB Awards Luncheon brought over 150 guests together to celebrate the best in Pennsylvania Broadcasting. Congratulations to Sid Mark of WPHT 1210 in Philadelphia and Rob Vaughn of WFMZ in Allentown, who were honored as PA Broadcasters of the Year, and to all of our Award Winners Check out our recap of local news coverage from the Awards Full Photo Sets can be found on our Facebook Page Gold Medal Dinner Photos Awards Luncheon Photos

With the House of Representatives gearing up for next week’s session, budget pontification will quickly become budget reality, as the impending June 30 deadline edges closer than the turn of the new year.  Under the shadow of November elections, the chances of a protracted budget stalemate diminish, however as many have learned over the years, all is fair in love and Pennsylvania politics. Currently, the House still has 27 scheduled session days before the budget deadline, the Senate 23, with only five mutual session days before the start of June. Both chambers plan to stay in the district the week prior, and the week of the primary election, slated for May 15. Pundits and politicos alike will be keeping a close eye on the primary for indicators that may shed light on the temperature of the Pennsylvania electorate. Ben Dannels | Greenlee Partners, LLC

Soundboard Video Update! PAB President Joe Conti caught up with our Director of Sales, Carter Wyckoff, to talk about the Non Commercial Sustaining Announcement/Public Education Program (NCSA/PEP), and how our partners use this program to share important news and public information/awareness campaigns with residents across the Commonwealth. Learn more about our PEP/NCSA Program Visit the PAB Website: After several months of continued refinement, our new website is ready for active use by you and your station’s staff! Useful information for all broadcasters, station staff, and the public include: Job Postings – FREE for PAB Member stations Recent Broadcast News PAB Awards – Excellence in Broadcasting Awards – winners found in the “ABOUT” tab Station Spotlight – currently featuring productions recognized with an Excellence in Broadcasting Award NCSA/PEP Traffic Instructions and Creative available to download In addition to these public pages, member stations have access to many services “behind the member wall” after logging in. Visit our website Capitol Update Our friends at Greenlee Partners provide this month’s legislative update: With the House of Representatives gearing up for next week’s session, budget pontification will quickly become budget reality, as the impending June 30 deadline edges closer than the turn of the new year. Under the shadow of November elections, the chances of a protracted budget stalemate diminish, however as many have learned over the years, all is fair in love and Pennsylvania politics. Read More

This legislation represents a tremendous win for broadcasters!   To recap, the bill: - Appropriates $1 billion in additional repack funds over two fiscal years - $600 million in the current fiscal year (FY18), which runs through September 30, 2018; and $400 million in the upcoming fiscal year (FY19), which begins on October 1, 2018. These funds do not expire until 2023. - Expands the categories of entities eligible for these funds. In addition to addressing the funding needs of full power broadcasters beyond the current $1.75 billion fund, the bill makes FM radio stations (including FM translators), low power TV stations, and TV translators eligible to recoup repack-related costs from these additional appropriations. - Sets aside $50 million to bolster FCC consumer education efforts relating to channel moves. - Includes provisions from the SANDy Act, which designates both tv and radio broadcasters as “essential service providers” during times of emergency. This prevents a federal agency from impeding access to your facilities to enable repair or restoration of service during an emergency or major disaster.   In terms of specifics, the legislation directs the FCC to allocate the $600 million in FY18 funds across all four categories of eligible recipients, however it includes the following limitations: no more than $350 million to full power television, no more than $50 million to FM radio, no more than $150 million to low power television / translators, and $50 million to fund consumer education efforts. The FCC has discretion as to how to allocate the $400 million in FY19 funds.

A deal is said to be close for the station owner Entercom to leave Bala Cynwyd for the Schuylkill waterfront. By Bob Fernandez STAFF WRITER - Philadelphia Inquirer 3/15/2018 Entercom Communications Corp., the nation’s No. 2 radio station group owner, plans to relocate its corporate headquarters from suburban Bala Cynwyd to a refurbished and modernized industrial building on the Schuylkill waterfront, according to multiple sources in radio and real estate. The company is expected to take space at the new Aramark headquarters at 2400 Market St. Aramark announced in 2016 its plans to relocate there from 1101 Market. Entercom is expected to take a floor in the office building, or about 60,000 square feet, sources say. They describe the lease signing as close but not completed. They did not want to be identified, for business reasons. Entercom spokeswoman Esther-Mireya Tejeda declined to comment. If Entercom makes the move into Philadelphia, the city will be the headquarters for the nation’s second-largest radio group and the nation’s largest cable-TV and residential-internet provider, Comcast Corp. Entercom now leases 14,000 square feet in Bala Cynwyd, according to private industry data. The company also operates six former CBS Radio stations in Philadelphia: KYW, WPHT-AM, WXTU, WOGL-FM, WTDY-FM (Today’s 96.5), and WIP-FM. It was unclear whether the six stations would locate to 2400 Market. Entercom closed on its deal to merge with CBS Radio in November, vastly expanding its national radio reach to more than 100 million listeners. The company has been consolidating CBS Radio operations around the country, even selling a parcel of land in Chicago for $46 million. It has changed station formats at former CBS Radio stations to boost ratings and replaced general mangers in many of its radio clusters. Entercom and other companies based their operations in Bala Cynwyd over the years to avoid the city wage tax. Entercom has been located at 401 E. City Ave., Bala Cynwyd. But in recent years there has been some migration by companies with suburban operations back into the city to tap into the region’s younger labor pool and the urban vibe. Comcast will relocate the NBC10 and Telemundo 62 studios on Monument Road in Bala Cynwyd to its new tower under construction near the Comcast Center in Center City. Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler said that its 1,200 employees are expected to relocate to the Schuylkill waterfront later this year. The building will be topped with the Aramark logo. Aramark is expected to occupy about 300,000 square feet on the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth floors of the building, which has unusually large floors. Aramark announced in September 2016 that it would relocate to the 1920s Hudson Car Co. building. Gov. Wolf and Mayor Kenney participated in the news conference announcing Aramark’s cross-town relocation. Aramark was enticed with $20.5 million in state incentives to stay in Philadelphia, according to published reports. bob.fernandez@phillynews.com 215-854-5897

PAB President Joe Conti on Comcast Newsmakers! Joe Conti visited with Comcast Newsmakers for a conversation with host Jill Horner about the future of broadcasting and why local news matters now more than ever. Click the video link above to watch. PAB Award Winners Announced! PAB Awards Luncheon is set for May 7 at the Hotel Hershey We received more than 300 entries this year, the most ever for the PAB Awards of Excellence! Thank you to all who entered, as well as our extremely dedicated judges, for working tirelessly to advance and recognize outstanding news talent in our Commonwealth. We hope to see you at the Awards Luncheon in May. View TV Winnners List View Radio Winners List For more information about the PAB Awards Ceremony on May 7, please contact Gail Ponti at gponti@pab.org or 717-482-4820. PAB Goes to Washington This past month, an 18 member strong delegation of Pennsylvania broadcasters, one of the largest state contingents, attended the two day National Association of Broadcasters State Leadership Conference Day on Capitol Hill. The Tuesday evening reception brought together over 1000 members of Congress, staff and broadcasters from all 50 states. On Wednesday, members of the PAB Legislative Committee visited 14 Congressional offices to advocate legislation important to broadcast stations and regulation relief from the FCC. The main issues presented were: The need for additional federal funding for stations moving frequencies on the broadcast spectrum as a result of the broadband auction and subsequent repack Broadcasters continued opposition to any proposed performance tax on radio airplay Reauthorization by the FCC of the retransmission consent that allows broadcasters to continue to negotiate, unfettered, in the free market. As a result of this broadcast advocacy, led by the NAB, a resolution against the radio performance tax has gathered over 220 House sponsors to effectively defeat the tax for this session. And this week, the House passed and sent to the Senate legislation authorizing additional funding for the repack initiative. The NAB/SLC Day on Capitol Hill is representative of the value of your PAB membership dues invested for the benefit of broadcast stations throughout Pennsylvania. Please consider membership by visiting PAB.org and joining on line

PAB President Joe Conti joins Jill Horner on Comcast Newsmakers Joe Conti is a Penn state grad and a former member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Governor Tom Wolf announced his budget proposal for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The Governor’s proposal includes a 3.7% spend increase of $1.1 billion dollars that would be funded through a severance tax and a $300 million special fund transfer. Currently, the $40 million revenue surplus stands in contrast to last year’s $1.5 billion shortfall, and Senate Majority Appropriations Chairman Pat Browne noted that the General Assembly would prefer to see a smaller spend increase of 1-2% to keep from slipping back towards a deficit. In political news, State Senator Scott Wagner and Lieutenant Governor candidate Jeff Bartos were endorsed last Saturday by the Republican State Committee, just after Speaker Mike Turzai suspended his campaign. Governor Tom Wolf was endorsed by the Democratic State Committee for his reelection, however they decided not to endorse a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, leaving the primary wide open. Ben Dannels | Greenlee Partners, LLC