Cameron Coats

make newsroom buyouts in the wake of a projected $15 million drop in member station fees, NPR is cutting roughly 36 content division positions, as the network works to mitigate Congress’s elimination of federal public media subsidies.

Algorithms are tuned to exploit it. Platforms are built to hijack it. And somewhere in the noise, radio is still holding the attention that every brand, creator, and media company is desperately trying to manufacture from scratch.

“No broadcaster has a ‘right’ to use the public spectrum,” is the blunt message that the FCC Media Bureau delivered on Thursday in a public notice that has only inflamed the ongoing debate over public interest that has defined the FCC under Chairman Brendan Carr.

Frank Montero, Felipe Chavez, Grisella Martinez, and Tregg White FCC policy shifts, Nielsen audience data, and firsthand revenue case studies made a compelling case on Day Two of Hispanic Radio Conference 2026 that the structural problems threatening Hispanic radio are most certainly not product problems.

The deal that would have reshaped the American audio landscape is, at least for now, off the table. The widely-rumored talks between iHeartMedia and SiriusXM over a potential merger have reportedly stalled after the two sides were unable to reach terms, per new information from The New York Times.

Katz Media Group data shows radio reaches 85 to 86 percent of multicultural registered voters; a finding that comes as political advertisers map their future presidential election buys against a non-white population projected to hit 44 percent of the US by 2030.

Radio Ink wants to know who’s setting the pace in programming, and we’re taking nominations to find out. Click in to make your submission for our Best Program Directors in Radio honors for 2026 before Wednesday, June 22 at 8pm ET/5pm PT.

The NAB is pushing back on a proposed 46% fee hike from the FCC and calling on the Commission to make Big Tech pay its share, with the filing landing the same week several small radio station classes crossed the de minimis exemption threshold for the first time.

Stone Canyon Media has added former iHeartMedia SVP Lance Tidwell to its Northern Arizona leadership team. He joins the Flagstaff-based company as Associate General Manager, bringing his operations, programming, and sales experience aboard.

The NAB is pushing back on a proposed 46% fee hike from the FCC and calling on the Commission to make Big Tech pay its share, with the filing landing the same week several small radio station classes crossed the de minimis exemption threshold for the first time.