KBA'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Membership Newsletter

September 3, 2020

JOHNSON WINS DISTRICT 8 RADIO SEAT

The District 8 Radio election has concluded with Jamey Johnson winning the 2-year Board seat (2021 & 2022). Jamey began his career in 1997 and is Sales Manager and on-air personality for WMDJ in Martin, KY Jamey is a true small-market broadcaster; he does it all, from on-air, production, sales and broadcasts high school sports.

KEVIN CHRISTOPHER RETIRES FROM WLEX

Kevin Christopher signs off of LEX 18 for the last time

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) - Kevin Christopher did his best to keep his emotions together at the end of Friday's 6 p.m. newscast, but couldn't help but to choke up a bit as he mustered out his final words on-air.

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www.lex18.com

SAVE THE DATE: MONDAY, OCTOBER 12TH

Make plans now to gather your staff and watch KBA's Excellence In Broadcasting Awards on Monday, October 12, 2020 @ 2:00 PM ET. We look forward to celebrating the outstanding achievements of KBA member stations and individuals. Viewing instructions coming soon.

GRAY WINS SERVICE TO COMMUNITY AWARD FOR "MEASURE OF HATE" CAMPAIGN

Gray Television was honored with the Service To Community Award during the Celebration of Service to America for their “Measure of Hate” campaign. The campaign exposed significant flaws and omissions in the FBI’s annual hate crime report, ultimately leading the FBI to overhaul policy and ending the agency’s decades-long illegal practice. Through the investigation, Gray Television discovered that the FBI wasn’t accurately reporting its own hate crime cases and that national statistics were based on voluntary reports from local agencies. Throughout 2019, several “Measure of Hate” stories aired in newscasts on all 93 Gray Television stations. Gray also aired a 30-minute “Measure of Hate” documentary. Due to this investigation the FBI, public officials and law enforcers were required to change their reporting procedures and reevaluate the information and data available to accurately measure hate crimes across this country.

The annual Celebration of Service to America Awards, hosted by the NAB Leadership Foundation, highlight and honor exceptional community service exhibited by local radio and television stations across the U.S. The 2020 event, produced in partnership with Trailer Park Group, distributed by Disney Media Networks and measured by Nielsen, premiered August 22 as a one-hour televised program featuring high profile guests and award presentations in eight categories.

FCC MOVES FORWARD WITH PROPOSED REGULATORY FEES, SOME PROPOSALS ADOPTED

The FCC just released its Report and Order on 2020 Regulatory Fees, which can be found here: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-20-120A1.pdf

The good news is that the FCC adopted a number of the proposals made by the KBA and other state broadcast associations to assist individual broadcasters with regard to regulatory fees. These include:

Simplifying the filing requirements for stations seeking relief with regard to regulatory fees by allowing such requests to be filed by email, and waiving its rule requiring that fee waiver requests and fee deferral requests be separately filed.

Also allowing requests for extended payment terms to be made by email and waiving its rules to permit such requests to be combined with fee waiver, reduction, and deferral requests in a single filing.

Exercising the FCC’s discretion under the Debt Collection Improvement Act to reduce the interest rate charged by the FCC for installment payment plans to a “nominal” rate, and eliminating the current down payment requirement for those on an installment plan.

Granting flexibility in how stations can demonstrate financial hardship for seeking fee relief.

Waiving the FCC’s Red Light rule so that stations already owing money to the FCC aren’t be blocked from seeking regulatory fee relief.

The Report and Order indicates that the FCC will soon be releasing one or more public notices providing additional detail on these changes.

With regard to the regulatory fees themselves, the FCC stated that its hands are tied by statute as to the fees that it must collect each year and that it will continue calculating broadcast regulatory fees as it has in the past. As a result, there was a small reduction in radio fees over what was proposed because the FCC discovered that it had undercounted the number of radio stations by 2% (meaning there are 2% more stations to spread the radio industry regulatory fees across, reducing each individual station’s fee accordingly), but no fundamental change that would reduce the total fees paid by the radio and TV industries.

CONFUSED ABOUT C-BAND REIMBURSMENTS? DAVE OXENFORD EXPLAINS...

Many broadcasters who receive satellite-delivered programming do so through satellite dishes picking up transmissions from spectrum referred to as the C-band. Part of that spectrum is to be auctioned to wireless users for 5G service starting in December. Because of that auction, those using the band to receive satellite-delivered programs will be compressed into a smaller swath of spectrum which will require the reconfiguration of their technical facilities. Those broadcasters who timely registered their dishes are entitled to reimbursement for the costs of the changes in their technical facilities necessitated by this repacking – but they have a choice to make by September 14 as to how to receive that reimbursement. That choice was explained in a helpful webinar hosted by the NAB which can be ordered on the NAB website here for free.

As explained in far more detail in the webinar, those affected by the shrinking of the C-band can choose a traditional method of reimbursement, where the satellite carrier will take care of most of the transition costs (for which it will receive reimbursement) and the broadcaster would be able to file with the FCC and be reimbursed for certain costs set forth in the FCC’s Cost Catalog. However, the FCC has offered an alternative reimbursement methodology, where the broadcaster gets a lump-sum payment and it is then responsible for the purchase and installation of all required equipment, repositioning, and other changes that are necessary to communicate in the upper portion of the C-band. For some broadcasters planning to adopt alternate delivery methods for their programming, such as by fiber or Internet, that lump sum payment may be an attractive alternative. For others, a careful analysis of the costs of buying and installing new equipment on their own needs to be weighed against what might be the simpler and more cost-effective option of allowing the satellite company to quarterback the technical changes.

If a broadcaster wants to accept the lump-sum payment, that election needs to be made by September 14. Carefully review the FCC notices on this election (here and here), listen to the webinar, and consult your legal and engineering advisors for full details on the information required for the election and to assess which option best suits your needs.

P1 PLUS CLASSES START SEPTEMBER 14TH

On Monday, September 14th, P1 Learning will host a 7-week training program designed to build the confidence and know-how of your new sales employees (two-year experience or less). Here are five reasons that we think you should register one of your sellers.

1. 1-on-1 Training – P1 Learning’s Speed Marriott and Katey Woolam have both been in the industry for 30+ years and have trained hundreds of up and coming sales professionals... with many of them getting their first sales during the P1 Plus program.

2. Access To 40+ Online Videos – The online training is state of the art as P1 Learning is constantly revising content to ensure the program is up to date with today’s events.

3. Real World Assignments – Forget the busy work as the program includes real world sales assignments such as building prospect list and crafting qualified questions for a customer needs assessment. This way, once your sellers have completed the program, they can hit the ground running with usable information.

4. Mobile Friendly – With many employees working remote these days having access to training content from a phone, tablet or laptop is essential.

5. It’s FREE! – The KBA has taken care of the bill. All you have to do is register!

Our final P1 Plus session for 2020 starts on Monday, September 14th.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR P1 CLASSES

NEWSLETTER QUICK NOTES...

If you missed the Diversity and Inclusion Webinar last week, sponsored by the Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio Broadcasters Associations, please click here to access an archived recording of the session.

Last week, NAB unveiled the Broadcast Resource Hub, which makes it even easier for you to access the tools, spots and information you need to be effective.

A highlight of the Hub is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Resource Center, recently launched by the NAB Leadership Foundation, to help stations create and sustain a diverse and inclusive workplace that embraces the unique perspectives and voices within their organization.

The Broadcast Resource Hub allows you to access critical tools like the new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Resource Center, the 2020 Election Toolkit, advocacy tools and messaging, the Coronavirus Toolkit, public service spots and more.

Please don't hesitate to let us know if you need additional masks for your staff. They are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please email your request to Amber at amber@kba.org