KBA WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

JUNE 27, 2024

CONGRATULATIONS!

KBA'S 2024 LEGACY AWARDS RECIPIENTS

The Kentucky Broadcasters Association congratulates the 2024 class of Legacy Awards Recipients. The following broadcasters were nominated by their peers, carefully vetted and ultimately selected by KBA's Legacy Awards Committee.

Kentucky Mic Hall of Fame:

Gene Birk - WBKO-TV, Bowling Green
Bill Bryant - WKYT-TV, Lexington
Tom Leach - Voice of the Kentucky Wildcats
Dave Shuffett - Kentucky Educational Television (retired)
Tim Smith - WWKY/WKYN, Winchester

Ralph Gabbard Distinguished Kentuckian:

Jim Host - Host Communications

J.T. Whitlock Life Service Award:

Roger Chesser - WEKU, Richmond
Bill Evans - WQXE/WULF, Skytower Communications, Elizabethtown

Legacy Awards will be presented on Monday, September 30, 2024, in conjunction with KBA's Annual Conference at Central Bank Center in Lexington.

Click HERE for the official press release to learn more about each award recipient.

LET'S AIR IT OUT!

NEW SPOTS ENCOURAGE PASSAGE OF AM BILL

The NAB has released new radio spots to convey a sense of urgency to Congress that the time to pass the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act is now. KBA is encouraging all radio members to air the new spots as often as possible through Labor Day weekend.

It's crucial that we get as many listeners as possible to contact Congress before the start of the August congressional recess, and we would ask that you air these spots for the foreseeable future.

The new spots ask listeners to contact Congress by texting AM to 52886, urging them to bring the AM For Every Vehicle Act to the House and Senate floor for a vote now.

Thus far, your participation has led to listeners sending more than 489,000 emails and 67,000 tweets to Congress. Let’s keep the momentum going to ensure this critical bill becomes law!

Thank you for your engagement in this campaign – the time is now to make our voices heard on this critical issue.

DOWNLOAD SPOTS AND SCRIPTS

FCC RELEASES DECISION ON BROADCASTER'S OBLIGATIONS TO IDENTIFY FOREIGN GOVERNMENT SPONSORED PROGRAMMING

Last week, the FCC released its long-expected decision on foreign government sponsored programming. As you will recall, in 2022, the FCC adopted rules that required enhanced sponsorship identifications when program time bought (or, in the FCC’s words, “leased”) on broadcast stations was sponsored by a foreign government or an agent of a foreign government. In addition, it required broadcasters to verify whether program buyers were agents of foreign governments, both by getting certifications from program buyers as to whether they represented foreign governments and by checking a Department of Justice database (compiled under the Foreign Agents Registration Act) to see if the buyer was registered as a foreign agent. Read More

BE PREPARED

NEW OVERTIME RULE SET TO TAKE EFFECT 7/1

The first increase in the DOL Overtime Final Rule is scheduled to take effect next week, July 1.

The Final Rule increases the salary threshold to determine whether employees are exempt from overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Lawsuits seeking to invalidate and set aside the Final Rule are pending, potentially impacting its implementation. A court hearing was held in Texas on June 24 on the rule, but a decision has not be rendered.

Overview of the Final Rule

The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Final Rule that includes the following provisions:

Standard Salary Threshold Increase: Effective July 1, 2024, the standard salary threshold will increase to $844 per week ($43,888 annually). It will rise again on January 1, 2025, to $1,128 weekly ($58,656 annually).
Highly Compensated Employee (HCE) Threshold Increase: The salary threshold for HCEs will be $132,964 annually starting July 1, 2024, and will increase to $151,164 on January 1, 2025.
Automatic Updates: Starting July 1, 2027, the earnings thresholds will be automatically updated every three years based on wage data.

What Members Should Do to Prepare for Compliance

Stations should review their salaries and classification policies to determine what is necessary to comply with the Final Rule if and when it becomes effective. This decision can be complex and should be made with the guidance of experienced counsel. Given the legal challenges, employers may wish to plan for the implementation of the Final Rule but hold off on taking decisive action for as long as practicable. In 2016, a similar rule was struck down only days before it was scheduled to become effective, causing many employers to adjust plans accordingly.

P1+ SELLER SUCCESS PROGRAM

ONLY 2 SPOTS REMAIN FOR JULY 8TH COURSE

Continuing education is a vital part of keeping our industry moving forward, and the Kentucky Broadcasters Association is proud to introduce a new education program available to your sales teams!

P1 Plus is a seller success program from our partner, P1 Learning. This course has been around for over 15 years, boasting hundreds of successful graduates nationwide. The next session of this course begins July 8th and only two spots remain available.

ENROLL TODAY

THIS WEEKS MEMBER PIC

THROW BACK

For those of you who are nostalgic, shown above is the KBA listing from the State Associations of Broadcasters page in the 1956-57 Broadcasting/Telecasting Yearbook. Click HERE to view the yearbook in its entirety, which includes some interesting market data by counties.

We want to promote YOU! Send us your staff additions, promotions and special events. Email Chris at chris@kba.org

P = M * V

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had conversations with managers who are excited about how they'll finish the quarter and feel great about the momentum going forward. I’ve also talked to managers who have had it so rough that they are having difficulty looking positively on tomorrow, let alone the rest of the year. Whether you had a great or horrible quarter, the momentum generated can help you keep winning or spin you into a full-on slump.

In Physics, momentum is represented by a P, so the equation is P = Mass times Velocity. Physicist Isaac Newton’s second law of motion is that the change of momentum is equal to the force acting upon the particle. This means momentum can be either forward or backward, depending on which way the forces are pushing. In life, business, and sales, we always want FORWARD momentum.

In his recent blog, Dan Rockwell, The Leadership Freak, describes how a series of small wins maximizes the forward momentum. He suggests that the keys to leveraging this positive momentum are:

Develop people – If it’s only about the numbers, people are tools
Where comes before how – Describe where you choose to go before how
Practice 5x encouragement – Encourage 5x more than you correct
Focus on learning – What are we learning, how can we do better?
Take Action quickly – Delay kills momentum
Keep spinning after winning – Momentum is a series of successful endings that enable beginning again.

As a new manager, I unintentionally killed my team's momentum with a simple question: What did you sell today? I wasn’t celebrating the little victories with them; I was seemingly only interested in the result – the sale. As a more mature manager, I recognized that to restore momentum and confidence, I had to ask the right question: What success did you enjoy today? This allowed my team to brag about little victories along the way to making sales rather than fearing seeing me in the hallway for the dreaded question.

What resonates with me from Rockwell’s blog is the 5x encouragement. As managers and leaders, we have precious resources in our care – our people. I’ve never heard anyone on my team say, “Jeff, if you praise me one more time, I’m going to leave!”

If your quarter didn’t end where you wanted, you could start with Rockwell’s six momentum builders to turn things around. Helping sellers find the little victories that lead to a sale is a necessary part of building that forward momentum. It’s typical to have sales meetings on Monday. Today, as you meet with your most important resources, make sure they leave feeling encouraged and empowered rather than chewed up and spit out. They get enough of that on the streets.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development at the Radio Advertising Bureau. You can also connect with him by email JSchmidt@rab.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.