Radio World 1323 - June 16th, 2026

Technology & news for radio decision makers

Simplification Jeremy Preece has ideas for optimizing your air chain.

Workbench

Jerry Whitaker helps give a Texas broadcast museum a facelift.

Pushback

MusicFirst and FMC scoff at claims about radio program diversity.

enco.com

radioworld.com | June 17 2026 | $5.00

Towers of Brotherly Love

Roxborough is synonymous with broadcasting in Philly.

Elevate your radio automation with aiTrack

Vol. 50 No. 13 | June 17 2026 www.radioworld.com FOLLOW US www.twitter.com/radioworld_news www.facebook.com/RadioWorldMagazine www.linkedin.com/company/radio-world-futureplc CONTENT Managing Director, Content & Editor in Chief Paul J. McLane, paul.mclane@futurenet.com, 845-414-6105 Content Producer Nick Langan, nicholas.langan@futurenet.com Technical Advisors W.C. “Cris” Alexander, Thomas R. McGinley, Doug Irwin Contributors: Michael Baldauf, David Bialik, John Bisset, Edwin Bukont, James Careless, Ken Deutsch, Todd Dixon, Mark Durenberger, Charles Fitch, Donna Halper, William Harrison, Alan Jurison, Paul Kaminski, John Kean, Mark Lapidus, James O’Neal, Jim Peck, Mark Persons, Jeremy Preece, John Schneider, Gregg Skall, Dan Slentz, Randy Stine, Tom Vernon, Chris Wygal Production Manager Nicole Schilling Senior Design Director Lisa McIntosh Senior Art Editor Will Shum ADVERTISING SALES Senior Business Director & Publisher, Radio World John Casey, john.casey@futurenet.com, 845-678-3839 Advertising EMEA Raffaella Calabrese, raffaella.calabrese@futurenet.com, +39 348 229 3293 SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, go to www.radioworld.com and click on Subscribe, email futureplc@computerfulfillment.com, call 888-266-5828, or write P.O. Box 254, Lowell, MA 01853.

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Put a lock on it The FCC wants broadcasters to tighten up their EAS cyber hygiene

I

mportant changes are coming to the Emergency Alert System, changes that will affect your station.

For one thing, the FCC is exasperated by cyberattacks on EAS equipment that “continue to occur with disturbing frequency.” So as I write this, it is getting ready to issue several new Paul requirements.

McLane At its June 25 meeting the commission is expected Editor in Chief to mandate that radio stations, TV stations and other Emergency Alert System participants install network firewalls on EAS equipment as well as other potential weak links like STLs that carry EAS content.

If this order is approved (as I fully expect), stations also will be required to change default passwords on their EAS systems, and to test and install security patches and upgrades from equipment manufacturers promptly.

Maybe you already follow all of these practices. But it’s clear that many stations do not.

In its draft, the FCC writes that for years it has been urging EAS participants to implement basic cybersecurity hygiene but that some have still not done so.

It notes that bad actors have gained control of radio station systems “by exploiting improperly secured, remotely accessible equipment in the broadcast signal processing system to transmit unauthorized audio that included EAS alert tones, an offensive song that included racial slurs and promotional content.”

The expected order will require that “default passwords for EAS equipment, studio transmitter link equipment and any remotely managed equipment that routes, processes or inserts content into the EAS participant’s programming stream be changed prior to any use to broadcast to the public.”

Passwords would have to have a minimum of 15 characters, not use dictionary words and not be reused elsewhere (though the plan would also allow stations to use certain alternative authentication measures as highlighted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology).

The order will require prompt installation of factory updates, and it will require stations and other EAS participants “to use a network firewall or comparable network segmentation practices to limit remote management access to authorized devices and authorized users, which will secure EAS and other vulnerable equipment on a private network inaccessible to the public internet.”

It said that REC Networks had identified 730 EAS participant servers through which the password screen for Sage Alerting Systems’ ENDEC EAS device was directly exposed. Many of them operated on the default port for HTTP web services, making it “easy and cheap” for bad actors to find EAS equipment.

Stations would need to ensure that their EAS equipment is secured behind a firewall or other segmentation mechanism, “such as a dedicated Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), demilitarized zone or physically isolated management network,” with access restricted to the internal systems and

Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images

THIS ISSUE NEWS 3

From the Editor

5

Public radio engineering feels the cuts

8

Christian News Radio Network provides free alternative

FEATURES 10

Marketplace

12

Kilgore museum gets a facelift

16

In Philadelphia, broadcasting begins in Roxborough

27

He has a passion for simplification

OPINION 29

Caps aren’t to blame for radio homogenization

On the cover A view from the KYW(DT) tower, in January 2023, looking toward the rest of the Roxborough towers. Courtesy Rob Ekund

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From the Editor ports that are necessary for EAS operations.

EAS participants would have to either “deploy a hardware or software firewall with appropriate filters, reconfigure existing routers to block inbound public internet connectivity to EAS devices, or otherwise isolate EAS equipment from general-purpose business networks so that unauthorized external access is not possible.”

The FCC emphasized that these changes go beyond your EAS box. It said unprotected studio transmitter link equipment and remotely managed equipment that “routes, processes or inserts content into the EAS participant’s programming stream” also create opportunities to transmit false alerts or disrupt alerts.

Watch your daily Radio World SmartBrief for coverage of the expected FCC vote in late June. If you’re not already getting it, sign up at http://radioworld.com by clicking on Subscribe.

Separately the commission is exploring several other important changes to EAS and to Wireless Emergency Alerts. It’s doing so in a further notice of proposed rulemaking that it is expected to launch at the meeting in June.

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

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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,” the draft FNPRM states.

The National Association of Broadcasters has pressed the FCC to offer this option, and the idea has been a focus of much discussion among the broadcast alerting community. Now the FCC is taking the issue up officially, along with several other changes to EAS. If the notice is approved, it will take public comment on a host of specific questions about how it all would work. We’ll be covering this in more detail soon.

Clarification

A reader noted a point of possible confusion in Gregg Skall’s article in our May 20 issue about the requirements for a station’s log.

You are required to make regular observations of tower lights (at least once every 24 hours, unless a compliant automatic monitoring system is used). However you are not required to log these observations unless the lights are extinguished or malfunctioning. In that case the log must note the nature of the problem, the date and time of extinguishment or improper operation, and the date, time and nature of adjustments, repairs or replacements.

Public Radio Writer

Public radio engineering feels the cuts The phrases we hear include “clawbacks,” “maintenance mode” and “pivot”

Randy J. Stine Radio World’s lead news contributor profiled award-winning engineer Bert Goldman in April.

Left to right Joe Tymecki of Vermont Public, Jeff Soderberg of StreamGuys, Stacey Decker of Nebraska Public Media, Rob Bertrand of Inrush

P

ublic radio engineering departments are operating in a new reality since federal funding for the sector dried up in 2025.

The loss of money means tighter cap-ex budgets and fewer technology projects, according to multiple sources.

Engineering and technology departments are also seeing lower staffing levels in some cases, though widespread cuts haven’t been evident. Local fundraising has made up for some of the loss after the Corporation for Public Broadcasting closed, though not all.

CPB provided grants to many public stations, though generally not specifically for public radio engineering.

In this new era, technical budgets are coming under more scrutiny.

One engineer in a major market told Radio World that his department has being asked whether “there is any money left over from projects that can be clawed back for other purposes.”

The cuts have left public engineers seeking to “strike a balance between operational efficiencies and being deliberate on how they allocate resources,” one source said.

Attendance at this spring’s Public Radio Engineering Conference in Las Vegas was “solid and up slightly,” according to the Association of Public Radio Engineers, when virtual attendance was counted in.

Yet Scott Hanley, president of APRE, said there were indications that the funding cuts are hitting hard.

“We heard from a number of stations, vendors and networks that did not send engineering and tech talent to PREC or the NAB Show this year. Many stations and

Photo by Jim Peck

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

universities, which a lot of stations are licensed to, have drastically cut their travel budgets.”

He said more PREC attendees chose the half-priced virtual option — of 109 registrations, more than 30 participated remotely.

Vermont Public Radio lost about $2 million in federal funding as a result of the federal cuts, though Joe Tymecki, its SVP of engineering & technology, says the loss has been mitigated by successful statewide fundraising campaigns.

Despite more local support, Vermont Public has cut staff positions and left others unfilled, including one in the technology department, Tymecki said.

“We have pulled back on things to concentrate on delivering the important stuff like being reliable and staying on the air. We are the state relay for EAS, which we take very seriously. It’s about making sure we maintain our systems,” he said. “I’d say we are in maintenance mode right now.”

Despite the federal rescission, Tymecki says his cap-ex funding “was level from last year to this year.”

This spring Vermont Public Media has been focused on adding a video product to a daily talk show, which will allow it to take content and turn around the video for posting to its digital platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and websites.

Tymecki said the loss of CPB has also created a vacuum of leadership on technical issues within public media.

“CPB made it possible for the rollout of HD Radio in a lot of markets where it wouldn’t have otherwise. They put a lot of money behind it and made it affordable for public broadcasters,” he noted.

Photo by Jim Peck

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Public Radio

Helping Hand

The Public Media Bridge Fund is intended to help keep public media companies on the air and develop new operating models. Info is at www. publicmedia bridgefund.org.

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“CPB provided a strategic and philosophical direction for public radio. That leadership on breakout technology has been lost now.”

The organization was also a good sounding board for questions about various technologies and governance, he said.

Stacey Decker, general manager and CEO of Nebraska Public Media (NPM), said it hasn’t eliminated engineering positions as a result of federal cuts, but its priority is to remain nimble while continuing to support people and services that are core to its mission.

He said NPM continues to invest in key areas.

“On the radio side, that includes expanding our service to Omaha in June 2026, with the launch of a new signal on 101.9 FM. We are also making targeted investments in equipment and workflows to strengthen the reliability and long-term sustainability of our radio service,” he said.

As of this spring NPM has not scaled back any major radio buildout initiatives, Decker said.

“ ” CPB provided a strategic and philosophical direction for public radio.

That leadership on breakout technology has been lost now.

However, as one prominent DOE for a public radio group put it, stations are looking to “stretch every dime, and making careful calculations about what can be cut, and where. We are now seeing a reduction in maintenance of HVAC, generator and UPS systems, not to mention transmitters and even towers. Pushing out anything in hopes that there might be money for it later isn’t really a long-term strategy.”

This observer said that having a broadcast signal off the air for an extended time — once unthinkable — now may be acceptable in certain circumstances, given the upswing in digital consumption.

“Work that would only be scheduled at night normally is now being scheduled for the middle of the day, impacting drive time, because it is less expensive,” this source told Radio World.

Another public engineer in the field, who also requested not to be named, told Radio World the loss of CPB funding

has hit small, rural public media broadcasters hardest. This person cited the rise of contract engineering groups and said these “can be a salvation for a small station with little to no engineering or technology department left in the building.”

Meanwhile, several broadcast equipment suppliers told us they are seeing a “more cautious approach” to spending by public broadcasters.

Media projects have slowed a bit, said Jeff Soderberg, enterprise solutions engineer with StreamGuys, which specializes in live and on-demand streaming tools for broadcasters.

“We’re seeing a conservative approach in public radio engineering spend. It hasn’t stopped, but stations are trying to manage budgets wisely and make each dollar go further.

“That said, most stations have recognized that digital distribution and digital revenue are important to their longterm sustainability. For that reason, we’re seeing caution more than a downturn,” Soderberg told Radio World in an email.

He said the reaction by public media broadcasters to the new reality varies.

“The smallest rural stations seem to be struggling the most, since they received larger portions of revenue from the CPB. Larger stations were receiving a smaller portion of revenue from the CPB and often had a stronger donor-base to make up the gap for now,” he said.

For the most part, Soderberg said there appears to be a consensus among broadcasters that digital is a key part of their future.

“They’re expecting to innovate, find new ways to collaborate with other stations, and new ways to generate revenue.”

Rob Bertrand is CEO of Inrush Broadcast Services and a former public radio engineer. He said the funding pressures faced by pubmedia have created opportunities for his company, which provides consulting, installation and maintenance services.

“There are organizations who are well-poised to pivot in this moment and change the way they operate or potentially not backfill full-time roles that face vacancy due to retirement or general attrition. In some cases this opens the opportunity to execute a project using external resources like Inrush,” Bertrand said.

In addition, public broadcasters are collaborating with other public media organizations in new ways, he said, or “at least they are trying to stabilize their legacy radio operations so they can pay more attention to future-growth areas such as digital expansion.”

He said at least some public media organizations are taking a business-as-usual approach.

“Their on-air fundraising pitches have changed, but in some cases they continue to delay the inevitable need to start operating in a new way. Change is hard for everyone, and there’s a full spectrum of reaction to meeting this moment,” Bertrand said in an email.

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Supply Side Writer

Paul McLane Editor in Chief

Christian News Radio Network provides free alternative Three 3-minute daily newscasts are noncom-compliant

S

upply Side is a series of occasional articles about companies in the broadcast supply ecosystem.

Fletcher Pride is owner and executive producer at the Christian News Radio Network.

What is it?

Fletcher Pride: Christian News Radio Network is a radio news provider that produces newscasts for a Christian audience. These newscasts cover national and worldwide headlines in an unbiased manner. We currently produce three 3-minute reports daily and plan to add four 1-minute reports in the future.

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Below Fletcher Pride

How did it come about, and how is it different from other network options?

Pride: I started the network back at the beginning of April following the abrupt end of World Radio News from World Magazine. They did something similar to what my network is doing and were carried by a radio network I work with. Their closing created a need for this kind of content, so I worked with a few other people to launch this.

Our product has two major differences. First, our content is free and fully noncommercial-compliant. We believe this is needed because many Christian stations and networks either lack the budget for a paid news service or simply don’t want to spend the money but still want quality news content for their listeners.

Second, we are not branded to a specific network. Two other main options for news in the Christian space are Salem Radio News and American Family Radio News. Both of these are branded to their parent networks.

Stations we spoke with during development of our product expressed worries that carrying these products might confuse listeners about who actually operates the station. This has the potential to hurt support for listenersupported stations.

Who creates the content, and where is the operation based?

Pride: Our news director and producer, Jim Miller, creates and produces our content. Jim is an industry veteran who has worked in radio news for over 25 years. He has worked in a number of major markets such as Chicago, St. Louis and Oklahoma City.

Our network is based in Missouri, though most of our work is remote. Content is distributed via FTP. What commitment is required by a station to carry the programming?

Pride: We have a standard affiliate agreement that must be signed prior to carriage. After that, you must carry the programming at the times indicated by the station in that contract. The station can drop the program and terminate the contract at any time for any reason, provided we are alerted.

What is your business model?

Pride: Our business model funds our programs through organizations or companies that embed 15-second noncommercial-compliant messages within our newscasts.

Our current newscasts lack these messages, but we will be adding them soon.

When we launch our 1-minute newscasts, we will have a shorter announcement to the same effect. These messages are reviewed by a broadcast attorney prior to broadcast to ensure that they are noncommercial-compliant.

How many affiliates do you have?

Pride: We currently have between 50 and 75 affiliates. This number is fluid as we are actively signing more stations.

What else should we know?

Pride: You can hear our latest news reports, along with archived reports, at www.christiannewsradio.org.

Stations interested in signing on as an affiliate can email fletcher@christiannewsradio.org or call (573) 507-0542. They can also sign up on our website by clicking the “Station Signup” button in the navbar.

We are also looking for companies and organizations interested in sponsoring this program. Any such interested party can contact us via the email and phone number.

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Marketplace ENCO Launches Video Creative Tool ENCO offers a new platform called SPOTai, a creative production tool that allows teams to generate professional video content from their desks.

It expands on its SPECai technology, but while SPECai serves primarily as a sales tool, SPOTai provides a workflow for creating video advertisements tailored for TV, digital media, social platforms, podcasts and streaming environments.

Similar to SPECai, the platform uses generative AI and large language models to convert text descriptions into visual content.

The process starts with a brand setup stage, where users define elements like a business name, logo and contact information.

In the following new commercial stage, users input a description of their desired ad.

The platform then generates a 1080p video ready for use across television, websites and social media platforms.

Info: www.enco.com

WorldCast Expands MC6 Feature Set 10

WorldCast Systems has released a software update for its flagship FM/DAB+ test and measurement platform.

“This new version significantly strengthens DAB mobile measurements while expanding laboratory and automation capabilities,” the company said.

Version 1.4 of the Audemat MC6 introduces improvements to DAB and DAB+ field analysis, particularly for mobile measurement campaigns. It integrates enriched embedded data for advanced Single-Frequency Network analysis; the company says this provides deeper visibility into transmitter contribution and network synchronization under driving conditions.

Also, its GoldenEar FM audio quality analysis technology is now available for mobile DAB measurements.

“It delivers a simple and objective reception quality score alongside RF and modulation parameters, enabling more accurate and actionable network optimization,” WorldCast stated.

Version 1.4 also expands the MC6’s role in lab and manufacturing environments.

It integrates analog audio, AES audio and MPX signal

generation, providing reference signals for calibration and equipment alignment and reducing dependence on external generators.

A new Automatic Lab Measurements module adds distortion analysis.

Remote control via Telnet enables seamless integration into automated test benches, site or factory acceptance testing workflows.

The upgrade is available now and is included for customers with an active service contract. New software modules can be purchased and activated through a license key.

Info: www.worldcastsystems.com

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Marketplace BDI Puts SNMP to Work Broadcast Devices Inc. introduced the IOX-24S SNMP Remote Control and Channel Expander at the NAB Show.

It is a flexible I/O platform to simplify remote monitoring and control in broadcast transmission and studio environments.

“The IOX-24S can operate either as a standalone SNMP remote control system or as a channel expansion panel for any SNMP-compatible remote-control platform,” it said.

“This dual-purpose design allows broadcasters to deploy the IOX-24S as a primary control solution for smaller facilities or use it to add control, status and analog metering capacity to existing remote-control systems without replacing installed infrastructure.”

In a single rack-mount chassis, the IOX-24S provides 24 Form C control relays, 24 status inputs and eight analog inputs to support a range of broadcast control and monitoring applications.

“The unit operates as an SNMPv2 agent and is supplied with an SNMP MIB, enabling straightforward integration with modern network-based remote control and monitoring systems.”

For local operation, BDI supplies a Windows-based graphical user interface that allows control and status monitoring over standard IP networks.

The IOX-24S supports power from standard AC mains or Power over Ethernet (PoE). The Windows application can manage multiple IOX-24S panels simultaneously; BDI says this makes it practical for distributed facilities with multiple transmitter or studio locations.

The IOX-24S is plug-and-play compatible with BDI SWP-200 Series switch controllers and SWP-300 remote control products via a serial connection, expanding their available control, status, and metering channels.

Typical applications include transmitter sites, studio technical operations centers, remote radar or weather sites, and auxiliary broadcast facilities.

Info: https://broadcast-devices.com

NextKast Launches StudioLink NextKast StudioLink is a web-based interface for the NextKast OnAir platform that brings key automation workflows into the browser without separating them from the core system.

“StudioLink gives broadcasters remote access to essential day-to-day functions such as voice tracking, playlist review, music library interaction and management, asset uploading, live assist workflows, and operational oversight through a streamlined browser-based interface,” the company says, adding that it is not a standalone web utility added onto a fragmented broadcast chain.

“It is part of the broader NextKast OnAir platform, which combines automation, scheduling, traffic integration, streaming and related station functions in one system. That architecture allows stations to gain browser-based flexibility while avoiding the additional complexity, support burden and deployment overhead that often come with multi-vendor workflows.”

GoLive multi-party support allows multiple participants to contribute to a live remote broadcast workflow.

NextKast said StudioLink is the new web interface replacing MobileVT, “underscoring that it is a significant platform advancement rather than a minor add-on.”

Info: www.nextkast.com/onAir

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

11

Workbench

John Bisset CPBE The author is a longtime radio engineer, contract engineer and technology account executive. He is a past recipient of the SBE Educator of the Year Award.

Tips Please

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Workbench submissions are encouraged and qualify for SBE recertification credit. Email johnpbisset@ gmail.com.

Above This retro collection at the Texas Broadcast Museum in Kilgore has been collected and assembled by engineer Jerry Whitaker.

Kilgore museum gets a facelift How many of these products do you recognize?

T

he Texas Broadcast Museum in Kilgore, Texas, has a spiffy new studio setup, the work of retired broadcast engineer Jerry Whitaker.

Jerry gathered reconditioned equipment of late 1970s and early 1980s vintage and he assembled and installed it to provide a functional studio.

East Texas television station KLTV ran a feature about it recently that you can watch at https://tinyurl.com/ rw-kilgore.

“What I have here is a working radio station, including the ability to put a signal on the air at very low power,” Whitaker told the reporter.

Thanks to the Texas Association of Broadcasters for providing the photos here.

If you’ve been in this business for a while, you’ll probably recognize some old friends in these pix. How many products can you identify from these pix and the TV interview? Drop me an email to johnpbisset@gmail.com.

Smith chart

Looking to brush up on your knowledge of Smith Charts?

Sim Smith is a useful program. Find it at www.ae6ty.com/ Smith_Charts.html.

A Smith Chart “enables the computation of complicated equations related to transmission lines and circuits for matching,” according to the website Lightning Chart, which adds that the Smith Chart was named after inventor Phillip Smith, who developed it at Bell Telephone’s Radio Research Lab in the 1930s. Mizuhashi Tosaku, a contemporary, is credited with a similar innovation.

Insect-proof your site

Warmer weather is a good time get a jump on potential autumn insect trouble spots, says contract engineer George Spence. For instance, he suggests you spray under your building eaves to guard against nesting insects, as well as around AM antenna tuning units.

Our Editor in Chief Paul McLane points out that common pesticides cause great damage to local bees, pollinators and other important components of your natural ecosystem, so before you proceed, do a little online searching and you’ll find useful information about lower-impact pesticides, alternative treatments and best practices.

Also fill any small empty screw-holes or bolt-holes with silicon sealant. For larger holes that could permit vermin

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Workbench to get in, try a combination of copper wool and sealant. Remember, mice can squeeze through very small spaces, so don’t overlook crevices.

In buildings or outdoor enclosures, scatter moth balls or rodent repellent pouches liberally. Such deterrents also work with snakes.

Do you keep snacks handy at your site? Rodents have a keen sense of smell. Make sure your food is sealed in metal, heavy plastic or glass containers with screw-on tops.

What else can an engineer do to limit problems with insects and rodents? Email me at johnpbisset@ gmail.com.

And if you don’t already keep a space blanket, a spare set of clothing and some sealed bottles of water at each of your remote sites, stock up now, don’t wait for winter.

Crystals and the war 14

History buff and engineering consultant Frank Hertel writes that in 1941, America had no radio crystals, so engineers cut 30 million from Brazilian quartz mines.

You can watch an interesting 40-minute video about this topic on YouTube. Search “America Had No Radio Crystals in 1941.”

Freeze spray

Above Another view of Whitaker’s work.

Below Jon Bennett hasn’t lost his touch.

And speaking of retirement …

After nearly 17 years with Telos Alliance, I have retired as of May 31. My customers are being placed in the capable hands of Jeff Williams, formerly of Yellowtek. I appreciate the leadership of Scott, Tom, Marty, Cam and Jim — great people leading a great company.

I plan on continuing to bring you the Workbench column, which remains one of Radio World’s most popular features thanks to you and your ideas and tips. Keep them coming!

Thermal cameras and tools like the FLIR One can be a real boon for troubleshooting, but not everyone has the budget.

Matt Aaron, former technical director at Ramsey Solutions, suggests you try a can of freeze spray and spritz it on intermittent or questionable parts. A blast of cold can help you diagnose faulty or failing components quickly.

Keeping at it

After serving Cox Radio in Richmond, Va., for decades, Jon Bennett turned in his retirement papers a while back. So as he gets older, is he considering hanging up the ol’ soldering gun? Nope.

While physical limitations prevent him from practicing his craft as a chief engineer or contract engineer, they don’t stop him from building and troubleshooting gear.

Many engineers set up shops in their basements and continue to tinker. Retired engineers also represent a base of institutional and legacy knowledge, so if you find yourself facing issues with older gear, check in with the retired members of your local SBE chapter.

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Radio Towers Writer

Nick Langan The author profiled the Sutro Tower last year.

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Courtesy Rob Ekund

In Philadelphia, broadcasting begins in Roxborough The tower farm that serves the Delaware Valley is situated at the perfect spot

“ Above Looking toward Center City Philadelphia, from Roxborough, in 2020.

F

rom a new tower standing almost 910 feet above sea level and located in the population center of the greater Philadelphia area in a region clear of the obstacles encountered in mid-city sites …”

In a full-page ad in the Philadelphia Inquirer the morning of Oct. 4, 1949, TV Channel 6, then WFIL(TV), had begun transmitting from a tower at the corner of Umbria Avenue and Domino Lane in the city’s Roxborough section.

The Inquirer cited a series of “extensive tests” to determine the population center of the area and the probable quality of reception.

The 1949 tower is still used by two Class B FM stations in Philadelphia. It was the first tower of what would grow into a “farm” of broadcast towers.

Today, Roxborough is home to approximately 16 Philadelphia FM stations and 21 TV stations, and it is unique.

Similar farms serving metropolitan areas like Minneapolis’ Shoreview, Dallas’ Cedar Hill and Los Angeles’ Mount Wilson might come to mind. But at Roxborough, 13 significant towers stand within approximately a half-mile span.

It’s not the highest spot in Philadelphia. Summit Street in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood takes that claim.

And it’s not where the city’s tall skyscrapers stand. Center City, as it’s known, is about seven miles to the southeast.

Roxborough has a much more suburban feel.

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Radio Towers But if you look at a map of the Philadelphia designated market area, Center City Philadelphia is not quite the geographic center. If you factor in satellite eastern Pennsylvania markets like Allentown–Bethlehem and Reading, Roxborough is.

“It just happened to fit as an ideal location,” engineer Mark Humphrey said.

Timing, typically, was everything.

Northwest Philly

Humphrey does not consider himself Roxborough’s resident historian and he is quick to defer to the long pipeline of engineers who have come through the City of Brotherly Love.

But the central New York native is an encyclopedia of knowledge for the farm.

In 1984, Humphrey moved south to become chief engineer of Temple University’s 90.1 WRTI(FM) and he was thereafter connected to this part of Philadelphia.

WRTI had its antenna mounted on the southeast side of the tower at 8200 Ridge Ave., about a mile to the northwest of the farm. The old 95.7 WFLN at its standalone Ridge Ave. tower, dating back also to October 1949, was technically the first FM station to call Roxborough home.

I connected with Humphrey on an unusually cloudy day to get the lowdown on the site’s history.

I’d been to Roxborough many times — I interned at the former 106.1 WJJZ(FM), which had its studios co-located with then-Clear Channel’s 98.9 WUSL(FM) at 440 Domino Lane in Roxborough, up until 2006. But I’d never gone just to check out the towers.

Below Ten of the 13 antenna structures of note in Roxborough with annotations.

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Courtesy Mike Littrell

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Radio Towers

Below The American Tower “Candelabra” at Roxborough, which was installed in 2002.

The master FM panel is in view, as is the WRTI antenna on the right-hand tine.

Driving around the winding neighborhoods in the northwest corner of Philadelphia, it’s easy to forget you’re within the sixth-most populous U.S. city.

Some areas, including where American Tower had desired to place its “candelabra” tower around the turn of the century before residents defeated the plan, aren’t very developed at all.

“It’s like you took a left turn on Spring Lane and landed in Potter County a mile down the road,” Humphrey said, referring to the county in Pennsylvania’s rural northern tier known as “God’s country.”

The towers’ proximity has, of course, caused some amusing observations from Roxborough’s nearly 30,000 residents over the years. A WHYY feature in 2013 profiled a

family on Harmon Road hearing music or voices originating from their basement pipes.

“Occasionally, they pick up what must sound like heavenly messengers — but is actually Christian programming that they receive through their rain spout,” Alan Jaffe wrote of the Brody family.

Despite these quirks, investigators, including Carl T. Jones Corp., have found no long-term health concerns.

Overall, Roxborough has a much more suburban feel than the rest of Philadelphia. In fact, the neighborhood proclaims itself as one of the “greenest sections of any city.”

But nearly everywhere you turn, the towers are impossible to miss.

“There wasn’t nearly as much development in this portion of Philadelphia in the 1950s and ’60s,” Humphrey said.

“You would have had a lot more opposition now, and I don’t think towers would have gone up nearly as easily.”

Dating back more than 75 years

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Courtesy Mike Littrell

Humphrey explained that an experimental station at Philco, the former major manufacturer of radio and TV equipment in northwest Philadelphia, W3XE, is where Philo Farnsworth did many of his experiments.

Two FM signals — 97.5 WPEN(FM) and 106.1 WUMR(FM) — transmit from Mermaid Lane, in the Wyndmoor section of Philadelphia, once the site of the city’s first TV station, the experimental W3XE. “That was the beginning of KYW TV,” Humphrey said.

That station, which received a commercial license as WPTZ in July 1941, was the first station outside New York City and the third one in the U.S. overall. Westinghouse purchased WPTZ from Philco in 1953 for a then-record $8.5 million.

Meanwhile, TV Channel 6, WFIL(TV) and owned by Walter Annenberg’s Triangle Publications, which also included the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, filed for a construction permit to move its transmitter location to Roxborough in 1948. Channel 6 had begun transmitting in 1947 from atop the Widener Building in Center City from a three-bay antenna on sister station WFIL(FM)’s tower.

Triangle’s license was granted for WFIL from Roxborough in 1949 and it began transmitting from a four-sided guyed tower on Umbria St., the original Roxborough tower.

The Oct. 5, 1949 edition of the Inquirer explained that the night prior, Channel 6 went live with a special program commemorating its move to a “super-turnstile” antenna that towered 909 feet above sea level.

“The station acknowledged a flood of calls from TV set owners reporting better reception,” the Inquirer said of Channel 6’s new Roxborough signal.

In 1954, the Philadelphia Bulletin’s TV Channel 10, WCAU(TV) and sister station 98.1 WCAU(FM) moved from the PSFS Building in Center City to Roxborough.

WCAU celebrated the occasion that summer by handing Philadelphia city officials a large plastic sheet containing

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Radio Towers signatures of the mayors of 10 cities the station claimed were now within its coverage area from its new 1,000-foot tower, according to the Broadcasting Yearbook.

Three years later, seeking improved tower height, Channel 6 and Channel 3 (then WRCV) joined forces to put up an 1,100-foot tower on land that Annenberg owned.

Channel 3 moved from Wyndmoor and Channel 6 moved to the higher structure.

That 1957 tower still stands, too, and it’s the home of Channel 6’s broadcast antenna today.

102.1, then WFIL(FM), had begun broadcasting in 1947 the Widener Building in Center City, where its AM side, 560 AM, had been for a decade. It had originally begun operating in 1942 at 45.3 MHz with the callsign W53PH. Also in 1957, 102.1 came over to Roxborough and began transmitting from the original Channel 6 tower.

The next major tower to be erected is what’s known as the “Banks” tower, which went up at the farm in 1965, and it also stands high at 1,095 feet. TV Channel 17 signed on in 1960, according to a history of the site by Scott Fybush. It was purchased by the Philadelphia Broadcasting Company four years later, then owned by Aaron Katz and Leonard Stevens.

In 1965, it moved to the new tower at 329 Domino Lane.

According to Fybush, Stevens was related to William and Dolly Banks, owners of 1340 WHAT(AM) and, at the time,

96.5 WHAT(FM). 96.5 would end up on the tower for a time, and they would ultimately change its call letters to their initials, WWDB(FM).

Down on Domino

I met Mark Humphrey, Travis Martin, the director of engineering at Radio One in Philadelphia, Jared Styles, the director of engineering at WXPN and Zach Maupin, assistant engineer at WXPN(FM), at Tony Roni’s, a pizza shop right at the corner of Domino Lane and Ridge Avenue in Roxborough.

The Ivy Ridge Shopping Center isn’t directly “under the towers.” But less than a half mile up a hill, the six towers that are north of 1,000 feet in height are easily in view.

“ ” The companies didn’t get along, but we engineers got along famously.

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Radio Towers

22 Above WXPN Assistant Engineer Zach Maupin, left, and Director of Engineering Jared Styles, with WXPN’s equipment rack inside the Gross Tower transmitter building at Roxborough.

Its Harris Z8HD transmitter was installed in 2007.

From where we ate lunch at the Ivy Ridge Shopping Center, just down the hill on Domino Lane is a building constructed for the one-time Philadelphia Bulletin newspaper, and it would be the home of 98.9 WPBS — Philadelphia Bulletin Station. It’s the same building that I spent a summer as an intern for WJJZ 20 years prior.

The station studios would stay on Domino Lane through multiple format changes — as soft adult contemporary, changing its calls to WUSL(FM), for the “U.S. 1” moniker in the late 1970s, country music briefly in the 1980s, and then its present-day hip hop format from 1982 onward — until owner Clear Channel moved it to the other side of the Schuylkill River in Bala Cynwyd in 2006.

To facilitate the transition from analog to digital TV, WUSL relocated its antenna in 1998 to the original Channel 6 tower site, where its transmitter is now diplexed with sister iHeartMedia station WIOQ(FM).

“There were approximately 1,500 five-watt wedge-base lamps in the matrix,” Humphrey said.

Along Interstate 95 near Penn’s Landing in the late 1990s, “Y-100” had a billboard with the artwork of a Denon car radio display that was linked to RDS. In the air studio was a PC running software Hartle had developed. Humphrey explained how he rigged its keyboard with an optocoupler across the Enter key. Each time a CD player started, the keyboard was pulsed to the next song title in the playlist copied onto a floppy disk; then, “Now Playing” data showed on RDS, as well as the Y-100 website.

Hartle deserved credit for the software, Humphrey said, but our table could not help but marvel at how ahead of its time this solution was.

Martin, the 100.3 engineer of today, led us out of Tony Roni’s to the first stop on our antenna farm tower.

100.3 FM, then and now

Stress-free management

As Humphrey explains the history, there is a natural synergy between him and Martin, the past and present Radio One chief engineers.

Humphrey recalls how 100.3 was the first station in the market to run RDS fulltime. Allen Hartle, founder of The Radio Experience (later sold to Broadcast Electronics), had designed a roadside billboard display for KZOK in Seattle.

We headed to the broadcast site of KYW(TV) and Radio One’s WRNB. Martin gave us a tour of WRNB’s equipment rack, including its water-cooled, GatesAir Flexiva analog and HD Radio transmitter, which Radio One installed in 2023.

His only concern at the moment was scheduled downtime at the KYW/WPVI tower to add a new antenna.

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Radio Towers

24

Courtesy Rob Ekund

Above Rob Ekund’s Train’s Towers performed installation of WRNB’s current antenna on the KYW(TV) tower in 2023. Ekund has taken thousands of photos while performing projects on the farm, both day and night.

WRNB would have to switch over to its Newtown Square auxiliary site for a day or two in the middle of the month.

“Will it be seamless?” I asked.

“Check with the site manager,” Martin deadpanned, looking at Humphrey.

Martin’s relatively stress-free management at Roxborough contrasts with the access issues at One Liberty Place, the home of sister station WPPZ(FM) in Center City.

A video of a YouTuber who climbed to the top of the building — and touched the active antenna spiral that Radio One’s WPPZ and WMMR use — can make simply getting up to equipment rooms a challenge.

“It went viral and we’re still paying for its security consequences,” Martin said.

Next, we moved to the Gross Tower transmitter building, the home to WXPN. The tower went up in 1979 to broadcast WWSG(TV), owned by William S. Gross, on Channel 57.

As we entered, Humphrey explained that a portion formerly housed “wireless cable” equipment transmitting in the Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) band.

Philadelphia was not fully wired for cable TV until sometime in the 1990s. “Without cable TV, there was

a market for pay television transmitted over the air,” he explained.

However, a special grid parabolic antenna was needed to receive the microwave transmission, the kind you still sometimes see on top of low houses, he said. Gross originated the service from the tower and had a transmit antenna installed.

“There’s been a lot of transition here,” Humphrey said of the Gross Tower.

He’s been part of it. After he became WRTI’s chief engineer, Gross offered Temple University antenna space at the 980-foot level of his TV tower. Humphrey helped orchestrate WRTI’s move.

Channel 57, now WPSG, no longer broadcasts from the site, as it moved to the tall Channel 3/Channel 6 tower.

For WXPN’s Styles and Maupin, meanwhile, they’re part of keeping the engine humming of a highly regarded operation in the Delaware Valley. It’s also heard on Class B1 outlets in Middletown, Pa., on 88.7 WXPH(FM) and Hackettstown, N.J., on 91.9 WXPJ(FM).

Operated by the University of Pennsylvania, XPN runs an adult album alternative format. It moved to the Gross Tower in 2007 from the former Channel 48 tower. WXPN runs 2.6 kW ERP as a Class B FM station. But its 1,198 ft. height above average terrain, using a 5-bay ERI antenna attached to WPSG’s analog pylon, is the second-highest

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Radio Towers Left In 1954, the Philadelphia Bulletin’s WCAU(TV/FM) moved to a new 1,000-foot tower at Roxborough.

It took out this ad in the 1954 Broadcasting Yearbook to celebrate the move.

HAAT of any of the Roxborough FMs, just behind fellow noncom WRTI. “A huge improvement with half the power,” Styles said.

Its Harris Z8HD transmitter was installed in 2007.

Many days and nights

As many towers as there are in Roxborough, there is not one to each station.

That means engineers from competing organizations have to work together to ensure each other’s stations operate efficiently.

Ben Hill worked more than four decades as a broadcast engineer in Philadelphia, from the late 1970s until he retired as chief engineer at 94.1 WIP(FM) in 2022.

He knows the engineering scene, and by association, Roxborough, as well as anyone.

Hill was also chief engineer of Roxborough tenants WIOQ from 1989–1999 and WDAS(FM) from 1999–2004, and worked for years at KYW(AM) and the former WSNI(FM) before that.

“I spent many days and many nights at that farm,” Hill recalled rather affectionately.

Filled with chain-link fences that separate dirt roads from the streets like Domino, Umbria and Paoli, just getting to the base of the towers could sometimes be treacherous.

World Radio History/David Eduardo

25

Radio Towers

Great Views

Watch a cool video of a TV antenna being installed at Roxborough in 2020 with the help of a specialized helicopter.

At YouTube, type this in the search field: itLXcsfVKU4

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Below The nine Roxborough towers of significance plotted on a map, as of December 2025, with their respective stations.

But with engineering being a tight-knit community to begin with, particularly in Philly, there was a sense of community.

“It got to the point where we each had our own transmitter-room door,” Hill said.

He also remembered the help from vendors. So many of Roxborough’s stations use ERI antennas, and Tom Silliman, the company’s president and CEO, would often come down for hands-on assistance.

If equipment needed to be swapped out or added, there was a common courtesy among the parties who frequented Roxborough.

“The companies didn’t get along, but we engineers got along fabulously,” Hill said.

Hill said that a particularly memorable moment for him at Roxborough was directing a successful deployment of a Shively antenna atop WIOQ’s tower — the Channel 6 original. The side-mounted antenna improved the station’s signal right down the Atlantic City Expressway, toward the Shore, Hill recalled.

But there were also some long days where even going home was no escape.

The intersection of Domino Lane and Umbria Avenue was the site of Philadelphia’s northwest trash incinerator that opened in 1960.

Families on social media recall going down to the incinerator site to toss in bags of waste.

Philadelphia’s Public Interest Law Center’s website wrote that there were numerous complaints from Roxborough and Manayunk residents about smoke, odors and ash.

Hill experienced this firsthand.

“I’d go out to my car and it would be covered in soot,” Hill said.

If engineers were working outside, silica-like dust might cover their clothes after a few hours, depending on incinerator activity.

The site closed in 1989 following a consent decree with the city of Philadelphia.

More recently the city opened the Northwest Transfer Station, a modernized facility for solid waste and recycling.

Across the Delaware Valley

We’re not talking about thousands of feet of elevation anywhere close to the river valley that runs up and down the Delaware River, which separates Pennsylvania from New Jersey.

But the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line, where the Piedmont and Atlantic coastal plain meet, falls smackdab right through the city of Philadelphia.

The elevation of Center City Philadelphia is not much above sea level. Roxborough, to the west of the fall line, is approximately 250 ft. above sea level.

That slight boost, plus its central location to Philly’s western suburbs and the Lehigh Valley, make it the logical location for broadcast stations to begin setting up shop.

As I rode home that July evening, a drive out the Schuylkill Expressway and over the Ben Franklin Bridge into South Jersey that I’ve made numerous times, I thought about the placement of the Philadelphia FMs. Much of the four southern New Jersey counties within the Nielsen radio market of Philadelphia are line-of-sight to the towers, even being 10 miles northwest of the river in Roxborough.

For millions of listeners and viewers today, those signals from the farm are indeed at the perfect spot.

Comment on this or any story. Email radioworld@futurenet. com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

Nick Langan

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

Radio Engineering

He has a passion for simplification “New technologies and the demands from our audiences require us engineers to think in a much more strategic manner when both planning and working with the modern air chain,” said Jeremy Preece, CPBE, DRB. In your latest free ebook, we asked the president of Wavelength Technical Solutions to explore ways to optimize and improve the efficiency of radio air chains. He responded with an essay about simplification.

“That goes back to the basics in radio: delivering audio to the listeners. Everything else is anchored to this foundation,” he wrote.

Preece is a believer in removing all unnecessary appliances from the on-air path. He described how he applied this in a real-world project.

“Eventually this got down to audio source, EAS and processing.

It was literally a couple boxes in a rack that kept stations on the air, with all other systems wired in a way that prevented them from taking out FM audio. Auxiliary sites were built around same barebones equipment necessary to keep the music playing.”

From this core K.I.S.S. foundation, he said, you can begin adding features.

“For example, RDS is inserted into the processor, and if it fails, no one will die. Diversity delay equipment, if required, is in the HD path,

not the FM path, because, while important, if HD1 goes down fewer people will miss it than if FM is silent.

“Inline audio switchers are removed in favor of multiple discrete paths. And so on.”

In his essay Preece explores how to simplify primary and backup chains while retaining robust backup. He explains why an old-school approach to backing up AoIP systems might be preferable. And he helps you to assess whether the infrastructure at your transmitter site is as efficient as it could be.

Find his essay plus advice from 11 other radio technical experts in “Optimize Your Air Chain” at radioworld.com/ebooks.

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Put Your Product or Service in Front of the Right Audience Looking for a smart way to promote your product?

Partner with us and reach an engaged, tageted audience that’s ready to discover what you offer.

For more information contact John Casey at 1-845-678-3839 or email john.casey@futurenet.com

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radioworld.com | June 17 2026

5/20/26 5:17 PM

Radio Regulation

smartboy10/Getty Images

Caps aren’t to blame for radio homogenization MusicFirst and FMC say diversity in music and viewpoints has decreased since 1996

T

he MusicFirst Coalition and Future of Music Coalition say assertions about program diversity by the National Association of Broadcasters do not support the conclusion that ownership caps should be loosened. They filed comments earlier this year in the FCC quadrennial rule review. They would retain limits on the number of FM stations that an entity can own per geographic market, “to protect and promote viewpoint diversity, localism and competition between local AM/FM radio broadcasters.” These are excerpts: The NAB asks the commission to believe that there is a direct cause and effect relationship between AM/ FM ownership consolidation and increased “program variety.” The NAB cites a 2007 study … that indicated that “more concentrated markets have fewer stations with the same format categories, and therefore more format diversity; that ‘large national radio owners offer more formats’; and that ‘common ownership results in more diversity in actual programs aired.’”

However, the Future of Music Coalition provided data in the commission’s 2006 Quadrennial Review that showed that programmatic diversity was greatest in station groups that were below their local ownership market caps. At that time, FMC found that among owners of smaller commercial radio clusters, religious format stations and Spanish-format

stations were more common, as were Classical and Smooth Jazz stations.

2010 comments by FMC explained: “It appears that a wider variety of programming comes from the relatively small station groups and not the large station groups that resulted from the FCC’s signal-contour market definition.

This finding casts doubt on any potential claims that larger station groups will offer the public a wider variety of programming” and supports the notion that the local radio ownership caps should not be loosened or eliminated.

The NAB commissioned a 2025 Radio Programming Study by BIA Advisory Systems that it cites to purportedly support its assertions: “[R]adio stations continue to provide more varied programming to their local communities than they did in 1996, prior to the increase in common ownership permitted by the 1996 Act. But BIA’s new study also shows that since 2006 increases in the variety of programming have slowed down substantially, flattened or even in some cases reversed, as the 1996 local radio ownership rules have not kept pace with profound changes in the marketplace.”

The NAB goes on to assert that the sole cause of a decrease in program diversity is the commission electing to maintain the Local Radio Ownership Rule: “These data reconfirm that the 1996 Act’s relaxation of the radio ownership restrictions and subsequent increases

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

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Radio Regulation

More Info

You can find the full text along with other public comments in the Quadrennial Review at www.fcc.gov/ ecfs, enter 22-459 in the Proceedings field.

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How to submit

Radio World welcomes comment on all relevant topics. Email radioworld@ futurenet.com with “Letter to the Editor” in the subject field.

in common ownership of stations benefitted consumers by leading to greater programming variety in local markets.

But radio broadcasters’ ability to grow any further under the three-decades old local ownership rules constrain them from continuing to expand their programming options.

This result impedes the ability of local radio broadcasters to compete for audiences and advertisers and to offer consumers more varied programming free over-the-air.”

We, as longtime observers of an AM/FM radio industry that relies heavily on recorded music as the content that it uses to draw audiences and advertisers, wholeheartedly object to the NAB’s assertion that post-2006 decreases in diversity of programming are solely attributable to the commission’s election to maintain the Local Radio Ownership Rule. …

NAB points to the commissioned BIA study showing that the number of radio formats (e.g. Adult Contemporary, Rock, Country, Contemporary Hit Radio/ Top 40, etc.) available to consumers increased from 1996–2006, but that there has been a slowdown of formats offered since that time, and somehow the cause is attributable to the FCC’s local radio ownership caps, while ignoring other possible explanations ... Certainly one contributing factor was that several conglomerates quickly bought up radio properties and markedly grew their holdings following 1996 deregulation, but overleveraged themselves with self-inflicted debt in their desire to expand, leading to subsequent contraction, layoffs and a significant reduction in the numbers of programming employees.

The only thing the NAB’s data shows is that there has been an increase in the number of labels for radio format categories as reported by station personnel. It does nothing to demonstrate that, in the wake of post-1996 consolidation, there were quantitative increases in the number and variety of distinct artists or songs played on commercial radio within those formats. Nor does the commissioned BIA study address anything having to do with promoting localism in either music or news/information, or promoting viewpoint diversity in the form of music lyrics and/or culture through either song or spoken word.

Music format labels can be useful — as the NAB states in their comments, Ranchero and Tejano are distinct genres of Mexican music. But how can we measure and articulate how different Adult Contemporary is from “Hot AC”? While certainly there are distinctions and outliers within each category, artists like Adele or Sam Smith could apply to multiple formats. Adjacent formats can have a great many artists and songs in common, and crossover of hit tracks between multiple formats is highly likely.

The NAB … asks the commission to leapfrog to the conclusion that a numerical increase in categories necessarily means more programming variety for radio listeners.

We submit that these are simply labels obscuring the fact that the diversity of music, viewpoints (through music and

spoken word), and local voices has decreased since 1996 radio ownership deregulation. …

A vast number of developments have transpired since 2006 to negatively affect what commercial radio listeners have the ability to hear on commercial radio airwaves. For example, in our 2023 joint comments in this docket, musicFIRST and FMC noted that several of the largest, most consolidated radio companies who had chosen to acquire high debt loads when acquiring a high volume of radio stations, namely iHeart, Audacy, Cumulus, Cox and Summit had collectively cut over 1,000 jobs in the preceding several years.

Recall that iHeart, the largest of those companies, has argued in the current and preceding Quadrennial Reviews that the local numeric caps on FM ownership should not be loosened and that such action is not the remedy that the radio industry needs in order to serve listeners with better programming.

To the extent that larger radio broadcast entities complain about their profit levels, it is important for the commission to recognize that several of these large companies with significant AM/FM holdings are spending much of their available cash servicing debt that they acquired in the wake of the last time that the ownership caps were loosened.

In the wake of the elimination of the Main Studio Rule in 2017, many stations that used to be staffed by local personnel are now, at least part-time, programmed and/ or voiced remotely in order to cut costs further, thereby further diminishing the local connection that AM/FM listeners appreciate. …

Recall that FMC had noted in its 2010 comments that, at that moment in history, religious format stations, Spanishformat stations, Classical stations and Smooth Jazz stations were more prevalent among owners of smaller commercial radio clusters rather than those that were maxed out under current ownership limits.

But since then, the noncommercial Educational Media Foundation, which now owns over 1,000 broadcast signals across all 50 states, has nearly monopolized, and homogenized on a nationwide basis, the Christian Music radio airwaves, including making it so that listeners of Christian music in any given city are likely listening to exactly the same playlists and shows as Christian music listeners in another city with completely different local needs. …

Moreover, because local radio ownership caps do not apply to noncommercial stations, EMF can own more stations than its commercial counterparts are allowed to own in several markets. For example, EMF acquired eight FM frequencies including translators in the San Jose area, which also blocks out other entities who would like to be on the air from acquiring signals. Meanwhile, the commercial radio industry voluntarily elected to virtually eliminate an entire music format from the FM airwaves, namely the Smooth Jazz format that had served diverse mature audiences in large, medium and small markets for several decades.

radioworld.com | June 17 2026

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