Blog

We are pleased to offer Associate Memberships to support the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.  The Board recognizes the importance of Associate Members as evidenced by the availability of two Associate Member positions on the PAB Board of Directors. Please review our Associate Member packet and membership categories and dues, below: 2018 PAB Associate Member Packet

Hershey Lodge March 12-14, 2018 50% off registration for first-time attendees!  Click HERE for more information Located within hours of the nation’s largest newspapers and news media organizations, the America East Media Business and Technology Conference is the industry’s leading regional event, taking place in Hershey, Pennsylvania each year.  Administered by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, America East offers attendees and vendors the chance to engage through a variety of educational sessions, awards presentations, networking functions and more. Each year, more than 250 news media companies are represented, attracting attendees from 20+ states. Programming is designed to meet the needs of all areas of the business, including those in production, sales and marketing, circulation, editorial, advertising and management. The 2018 America East conference is transforming to meet the changing needs of our attendees and supporting organizations. With a redesigned exhibit hall layout that allows for increased traffic flow and attendee/vendor interaction, unique sponsorship and networking opportunities, and unopposed exhibit hall hours, we think this is the right mix for a positive return on investment for all of our participants!

A Crazy Idea for Funding Local News: Charge People for It Farhad Manjoo New York Times STATE OF THE ART FEB. 7, 2018 Image Credit Doug Chayka You could almost hear the trumpets blaring in the background of Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement last week that Facebook would now promote local news stories in its news feed. “People who know what’s happening around them are more likely to get involved and help make a difference,” the Facebook chief wrote, espousing an eat-your-vegetables view of local news that jibes with his new effort to turn Facebook into a force for global good. There’s little reason to doubt Mr. Zuckerberg’s noble-sounding intentions. The internet has decimated the business model for large and small metropolitan newspapers, and Facebook, like other tech giants before it, just wants to help. Still, when it comes to the news business, hasn’t Facebook already done enough? Just last month, the social network said it would play down national news in its feed. Considering all that has gone wrong with Facebook’s half-decade dalliance with news — the rise of filter bubbles, clickbait, rampant misinformation and propaganda, and in some places the very unmooring of democratic society — the new embrace of local news arouses instant suspicion. Picture Godzilla, having thoroughly savaged Tokyo and New York, now turning a hungry eye toward Peoria and Palo Alto. There may be another way to save local news. Over the last few weeks, I chatted with Jessica Lessin of The Information and Ben Thompson of Stratechery, two of my favorite sites for understanding what’s going on in the technology business. In different ways, both talked through a new way of thinking about local news, and a novel business model for funding it, one that doesn’t depend on the beneficence of Facebook or Google (which also has a new plan for local coverage). Read the entire article HERE

1/14/2018 Phildelphia Inquirer Stepping Up PHL17, TV home to the Mummers, is part of a mega deal by the conservative Sinclair group. By Bob Fernandez STAFF WRITER It’s the Rocky Balboa of Philly television stations. PHL17, based in a fenced-in, former A&P supermarket beside train tracks in West Philadelphia, punches above its weight against network biggies 6ABC, NBC10, Fox29, and CBS3 with a mix of locally produced morning news, daytime talk shows, and syndicated reruns in the early evening. “Comfort food,” says general manager Vince Giannini of PHL17 offerings, which include The Gold-bergs and The Big Bang Theory. Giannini recently struck a deal for the Philadelphia TV rights to 25 Union soccer games a year, an attempt to stay relevant to sports fans after Com-cast took the Phillies games. And for more than two decades, “the great entertainer” — as the station branded itself in the past — has aired the Mummers Parade: an extravaganza of live footage, Facebook live streams, and video clips produced by the 50-person PHL17 staff, reaching about 200,000 Philadelphia-area homes every 15 minutes on Jan. 1. “You do the most with what you can,” Giannini said. But today PHL17 is at a crossroads. Parent company Tribune Media has reached a $6.6 billion deal, including debt, to sell itself to the conservative Sinclair Broadcast Group, potentially creating an owner with more than 200 television stations. Read the whole story HERE

Inside Radio January 10, 2018   In what would be the most aggressive attack on requirements that broadcasters submit paper copies of certain documents to the Federal Communications Commission, agency chief Ajit Pai is proposing it do away the dictate. He says the demand is “unnecessary” now that the FCC has imposed online public file requirements. Pai has scheduled a vote for this month’s Commission meeting that, if approved, would launch a formal rulemaking to scale back the station filing demands. “Since the late 1930s, the FCC has required broadcast stations that hold FCC licenses or permits to submit paper copies of certain contracts and other documents relating to ownership and control of those stations to the Commission,” Pai said in a blog post. “I’m proposing to eliminate this requirement.” Read the entire article HERE

January 8, 2018 Inside Radio:   In colorful and direct language, the Radio Music License Committee is pushing back against an effort to derail its Philadelphia lawsuit against Global Music Rights. RMLC has in effect accused the performance rights organization of lying to Judge Darnell Jones who must decide whether or not to accept a federal magistrate’s recommendation to toss the suit and instead allow a Los Angeles case filed by GMR to move forward. “GMR has misled this court,” RMLC said in a filing, which accuses the music licensing company of falsely claiming it never refused to allow Pennsylvania radio stations to obtain an interim license agreement allowing them to play music its repertoire. The RMLC said GMR’s own website said as much during the period, citing the pending litigation. “The evidence proving that the Pennsylvania-specific boycott happened from at least May to August 2017 could not be clearer,” the radio industry group tells the court. The filing comes in response to one made by GMR with the court earlier this month which called such allegations “fiction.” “There was no boycott, and GMR extended the interim licenses, including to Pennsylvania companies,” it said, adding that it was “willing to enter licensing agreements with Pennsylvania stations” as long as the radio industry didn’t try to use those agreements to argue for why the dispute should play out in a Philadelphia courtroom. To that, the RMLC accuses GMR of “talking out of the other side of its mouth” insisting that was never an issue since last June the radio group repeatedly committed it would use any extensions to argue for jurisdiction. “But that was not good enough for GMR so the boycott endured for over five more weeks until after RMLC was forced to seek relief from this court,” the RMLC told Jones. It also contends while GMR was in private negotiations with the RMLC, the performance rights organization refused to publicly change the “unconditional boycott” language on its website. “GMR never once publicly stated that it was willing to do business with Pennsylvania stations under any terms, much less under certain specific terms,” the Radio Music License Committee said. It’s not known whether the arguments made by the RMLC will be enough for Jones to overrule federal Magistrate Judge Lynne Sitarski, who recommended in November that GMR’s antitrust case against RMLC in Los Angeles should instead be allowed to move forward. “There is no basis in fact or law to assert personal jurisdiction over GMR in Pennsylvania and therefore, venue in this judicial district is improper,” Sitarski wrote in her 42-page recommendation to Jones. GMR has also urged Jones to dismiss the RMLC’s lawsuit outright rather than simply transfer it to California where it would be merged into the pending L.A. case. The RMLC has said doing so would save each side legal expenses but GMR thinks the radio industry should be forced to file a fresh counterclaim in California, arguing a “substantial record” hasn’t been built so far in the Philadelphia court. But in an effort to keep its Philadelphia case alive, RMLC said last month that Sitarski’s recommendation to close the Philly case was premature since it never had an opportunity to do a legal discovery that it believes would have helped prove why the case against GMR should be heard there. It asked to allow that process to move forward before he makes any final determination as to which case should be advanced. Antitrust Allegations Still Untouched For more than a year the RMLC and GMR have faced-off over which jurisdiction should play host to their legal battle. In the meantime that has left the issues at the heart of the case yet to be aired. The RMLC filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court in Philadelphia in Nov. 2016 alleging GMR violated federal law when it allegedly created an “ artificial monopoly” to squeeze higher rates from stations as it demanded radio stations begin paying the performance rights organization for music in its repertoire in Jan. 2017 or pull the songs off the air. Two weeks later GMR replied with an antitrust lawsuit of its own which contended the RMLC is essentially an “ illegal cartel.” The California case has been on hold while a final outcome is made in the Philadelphia case. The delay in reaching any sort of a resolution to the competing lawsuits has meant broadcasters have been required to sign interim deals with GMR to license music in its 75-songwriter repertoire through March 31, 2018. So far two companies—iHeartMedia and Townsquare Media—have voluntarily signed rights agreements with GMR.   http://www.insideradio.com/free/rmlc-to-judge-gmr-s-pennsylvania-boycott-wasn-t-fiction/article_2a32fa4a-f51b-11e7-887f-37cc084ca3fc.html

As the new year rings in, the Pennsylvania General Assembly is gearing up for the second half of their legislative session. While few expect controversial legislation or broad-based taxes to get serious consideration in an election year, there are many hot button issues expected to take the spotlight in 2018. Domestic violence, opioid prescriptions and pain management clinics, sexual harassment, Marcellus shale tax, redistricting, and reducing the size of the state legislature are all topics that have percolated to the top of the legislative docket. In a positive move in the waning days of 2017, after several iterations and a successful lobbying effort, the General Assembly placed HB 411, which allows for unrestricted advertising of Bingo games, on the Governor’s desk where he promptly signed it. This amended law will now allow for advertisement of Bingo games and their monetary prizes beginning February 20 th, 2017. Ben Dannels | Greenlee Partners, LLC

Team PAB filmed and produced our first video outreach message this week!  Based on the behind the scenes photographs below, it is clear that while the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters HQ is lacking cutting edge technology in our broadcast studio, our razor sharp editing hid our cardboard box teleprompter and PC stick webcam quite well! Look for improvements and "easter eggs" in each and every episode!  We can only get better from here!

As of Wednesday, December 13 th, the Pennsylvania legislature has gaveled out of town until the new year. Amid the flurry of activity that has surrounded the end of the year, the Pennsylvania Senate touts over twenty bills that have been sent to the Governor’s desk for signature or veto. Per their Constitutional requirement, the House and Senate will both officially reconvene on Tuesday, January 2 nd, but are not expected to pick up their legislative agenda until they return on the 22 nd of the month. The conversation will quickly turn toward the 2018-2019 fiscal year, as Governor Wolf delivers his budget address on Tuesday, February 6 th, and a referendum on Republican power in light of the impending 2018 midterm election. Ben Dannels | Greenlee Partners, LLC

From Inside Radio, December 4, 2017 Nat’l Guard Pumps $15 Mil Into State Broadcast Associations. In a major financial boost to state broadcaster associations, the Army National Guard has committed $15 million in funding under a “Non-Commercial Sustaining Announcements” (NCSA) program. The renewed partnership ends a three-year radio and television hiatus for the Guard, which provides essential underwriting for the state associations, helping them deliver crucial services to member stations. The Guard awarded the NCSA to Laurel, MD-based ad agency LMD. Each state broadcaster association negotiated individually with LMD, which now has a subcontractor relationship with all 50 associations. The federal grant was secured through a public process and followed an RFP issued by the Guard. The money each association receives varies from state to state, with some of it used to pay ad agency fees. The agreement, which helps provide financial stability to state broadcaster associations, marks a return to radio and TV for the Guard, which pressed pause on its longstanding relationship with the associations in 2014. That means that since then, such groups as the Georgia Association of Broadcasters and the Michigan Association of Broadcasters have had to operate with no funding from the Guard. The year-long NCSA campaign is designed to help the organization replenish its ranks of Citizen-Soldiers who serve part-time and are ready at a moment’s notice. “The Guard receives affordable advertising which yields key exposure and branding that is crucial among our competing services in the marketplace,” National Guard spokesman Kurt Rauschenberg tells Inside Radio. “The major success of this program has been the ability to build relationships and partnerships between the state broadcaster associations and the Army National Guard personnel in an effort to help the Guard reach its recruitment goals.” Radio stations in the 85 markets tracked by Media Monitors aired 8,039 spots for the Guard during the week of Nov. 20-26, making it radio’s No. 51 advertiser. The Guard has historically relied on voluntary airtime donated by local radio and TV stations to recruit new members. “The nature of the contract is that stations voluntarily provide run-of-schedule timeslots to the state broadcasters,” says Dave Donovan, president of the New York State Broadcasters Association (NYSBA). “State broadcasters take the ads that are produced by the Guard and distribute them to their members. There’s no hard contract with the stations.” The agreement isn’t structured like a typical time buy where the client gets a prescribed number of spots that run in specified dayparts on certain stations. Rather, the state associations aggregate airtime from participating stations. When the spots air is up to the individual participating stations. “We send them to the radio and television stations and ask them to run the spots as best they can,” says Vance Harrison, president of the Oklahoma State Broadcasters Association and head of the National Alliance of State Broadcasters, a loose confederation of state associations. “They run them pro-bono whenever they can and how they want to run them.” Of the roughly 150 and 22 television stations that are members of the Oklahoma State Broadcasters Association, Harrison estimates “well over two-thirds run some of our NCSA program spots.” The program is structured to give the Guard a bigger bang for its buck than a traditional ad buy. “The value provided in spots greatly exceeds the amount of money that the Guard spends on those spots,” Donovan says. “This program has been very important in sustaining recruitment for them, which is what it is all about.” Adds Harrison, “The Guard sees not only the reach but also the impact that a local radio and local TV station have.” While the Guard spots are uniform throughout the country, some state associations, including New York, provide additional support such as helping promote Guard activities and securing time for Guard reps on talk shows. “This is more than just your average commercial client,” Donovan says. “The National Guard is vitally important, not only for national defense but also during emergencies. These men and women are protecting our freedom and keeping us safe. There is an overall public interest aspect to this that transcends a commercial relationship.” From the Guard’s point of view, local stations that air its messages are a vital in helping meet recruitment goals. “We understand that of all the things Guardsmen do throughout the communities, that without station owners playing our advertisements and covering our stories people do not readily hear about our efforts,” Rauschenberg says. “By continued exposure of our brand through donated airtime, state broadcaster associations help communicate our message to those young people that are ready to answer the call to serve in the Army National Guard.”

Over the last two weeks of session, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives has held a spirited debate on HB 1401, legislation that would provide for a natural gas severance tax. The bill has yet to receive its second vote as the entire second consideration has been consumed with the debate of over 350 potential amendments to the legislation. On the weekend of 12/2, legislators, lobbyists and titans of industry converged on New York City for the fabled Pennsylvania Society Dinner and other related events.  All 2018 Gubernatorial candidates attended, gave speeches, and all but Laura Ellsworth hosted receptions. Both the House and Senate are slated to convene next week for one final week of session before the new year and the start of the impending budget debate. Ben Dannels | Greenlee Partners, LLC

In need of "Experts" for your News stories or Issues programming? The PAB has secured a contact list of Pennsylvania State Agency Communications professionals, at the ready - to provide insight, information, and a direct line to the goings-on in Harrisburg.   See the list below for access to qualified communications professionals from Pennsylvania's State Agencies. PA State Agency Communications Teams