Radio World

06/07/2026

For a few hundred dollars worth of copper, a perpetrator can cause a station nearly $100,000 in damages and take it right off the air.

It was under that backdrop that Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Olivia Trusty confronted last week what she described as a growing and concerning challenge across all communications sectors: infrastructure vandalism.

She spoke at the fourth National Summit on Protection Critical Communications Infrastructure in Philadelphia on Thursday.

Speaking at the National Summit on Protection Critical Communications Infrastructure, FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty said copper thefts are only increasing.

06/07/2026

In a busy week, we featured stories from engineer David Bialik on why loudness and dialogue intelligibility are so important to your listener's experience, and how 93.7 The DAWG responded to a copper thief cutting its transmission line in the middle of its broadcast day.

What were you checking out most? It's Nick Langan with our weekly Radio World top five, ending June 5.

06/07/2026

How did we handle automation and FCC compliance before the PC era?

As Tom Vernon writes in this feature, in the mid-1970s, Boston stations WROR and WRKO were among the first to merge computing with analog RF.

IGM — International Good Music — was one of the big players in early broadcast automation, and in 1976, the company offered its 750 system with control via a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) PDP-8 minicomputer.

In Boston in the 1970s, Tom Vernon writes, a few early adopters in radio had envisioned many of the computer applications that we take for granted today.

06/06/2026

We all go through stages where it's easy to feel down about the industry. Donna Halper acknowledges there's more competition for new music than ever.

But in this feel good story, she speaks with members of stations of all market sizes who have a zeal for radio.

In Duluth, for example, Midwest Communications station 95 KQDS remains very popular, Halper writes, even with younger listeners.

“We know our listeners trust us," Jason Keller of 102.7 WEQX - The REAL Alternative in Vermont said. "People even tell us, ‘I feel like I know you.’ It’s like we’re an extended family."

It’s easy to find articles telling you “radio is dead.” The announcers and program directors Donna L. Halper has been talking to don’t agree.

06/06/2026

Seven radio and TV professionals have been named to the latest Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame class.

Jordan Rich of WBZ NewsRadio and Barbara Dacey, formerly of MVYRADIO, are this year's inductees on the radio side.

The honorees were recognized by the Massachusetts Broadcasters Association on Thursday.

Seven radio and TV professionals have been named to the latest Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame class.

06/06/2026

The Allied invasion of continental Europe 82 years ago today was a logistical tour de force, Mark Durenberger writes.

Its success hinged on an operative communications network unifying the invading armies and their support systems.

D-Day coverage was known by journalists as “The Biggest Beat,” and history records its success. But the valor and sacrifice of the soldiers landing on those beaches would be the biggest story and would far outstrip the work of the deskbound planners.

06/05/2026

This marked the 17th year that WBET Sturgis has partnered with the St. Joseph County, Mich., United Way for a radiothon.

Licensed to Sturgis, Mich., and operated by Swick Broadcasting, WBET serves the region around the Michigan/Indiana border.

Its radiothon, held from 6 a.m. to midnight on May 21, resulted in approximately $198,000 raised for charity. The previous high of $183,000 was set last year.

“Local radio works,” Tom Duke, Swick Broadcasting’s senior account executive and sports director, said.

WBET and the St. Joseph County United Way's radiothon, held from 6 a.m. to midnight on May 21, resulted in approximately $198,000 raised for charity.

06/05/2026

The MAB - Michigan Association of Broadcasters have named the recipients of its 2026 Carl E. Lee Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award.

The radio recipient is John S. Martin, retired transmitter maintenance engineer with WCMU Public Media. On the TV side the honoree is Richard Thomas II, telecom technician with WKAR - Public Media from Michigan State University.

The Michigan Association of Broadcasters have named the recipients of its 2026 Carl E. Lee Broadcast Engineering Excellence Award.

06/05/2026

The Federal Communications Commission plans to lay out several other important changes to the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts.

One notable change would allow the implementation of EAS capabilities via software instead of hardware, though not in the cloud.

“We believe that as the industry shifts toward IP‑centric architectures, it is important that the commission consider whether there is an opportunity to modernize EAS processing better to support public safety and to improve operational efficiency for EAS participants," it wrote in the NPRM.

The FCC is moving closer to allowing EAS capabilities in software, though not the cloud

06/05/2026

Noting that cyberattacks on EAS equipment “continue to occur with disturbing frequency,” the Federal Communications Commission appears ready to require that broadcast stations and other EAS participants practice better cyber hygiene.

“Despite our repeated efforts urging EAS participants to take basic steps to secure their networks … successful attacks have continued into 2026.”

The FCC emphasized that these proposed changes go beyond EAS hardware. “[U]nprotected studio transmitter link equipment and remotely managed equipment that routes, processes or inserts content into the EAS participant’s programming stream create similar opportunities to transmit false alerts or disrupt the transmission of real alerts.”

The FCC appears ready to require that EAS gear be protected behind firewalls and with unique passwords.