Getting a waiver to go 100 mph has its costs...

The iHeart Story from June 26, 2026: iHeart Media is reportedly laying off dozens of on-air positions across its 860 stations in 160 markets, controlling over 21% of the U.S. radio market! The company has been in bankruptcy since 2019. With the current downturn in radio revenue due to shifts in listening behavior and reduced ad revenue amid increased competition from other audio sources, the company is struggling to meet its sales and profit goals.

It was in April that IHeart laid off many management and sales positions. Now, many well-known veteran air personalities have found themselves without a job. There have been reports that large portions of the air staff and other personnel at some stations have been affected by these layoffs.  The company calls them “job impacts.”

The Nexstar/Tegna Story from June 17, 2026:  In an

piece published in Fortune, Nexstar Chairman and CEO Perry Sook stated that the Nexstar/Tegna deal is "vital to the future of local television and local journalism," saying that "local broadcast news operations could collapse and disappear just as newspapers did if the deal is not allowed to go through."

​​In his piece, he went on to state that "outdated" TV station ownership rules have crippled local broadcasts and have allowed big tech to dominate the media landscape.

​He says that not changing the ownership rules would be "dire," and local voices would be diminished or eliminated.

My Comments from June 26, 2026: The FCC waivers on ownership rules are similar to me asking for a waiver to drive 100 mph to work each day, because without that exemption, I would be late.

These mega-owner wannabes think they should be allowed to break the FCC rules to increase profits in a competitive industry. They achieve that by combining operations in the same market or across many markets, eliminating careers in broadcasting, journalism, engineering, and sales, and ultimately reducing the quality of the “service” they are licensed to provide to the people they serve.

They leveraged a group of stations to continue purchasing more stations and paying increasing interest on what they borrowed.  So far, it’s been bad timing, as audio and video streaming services and satellite radio are capturing an increasing share of ad spending from radio (and television).  Plus, local control of business ad dollars has decreased in recent years.

To achieve the level of profitability they need, they cut overhead, which in broadcasting means they lay off people. Local radio personalities and sales staff members with years of tenure in their markets are being laid off. The companies combine news operations across multiple stations (if they offer a legitimate news operation at all). They are now eliminating many AM radio properties, choosing to sell off their real estate, which promises a higher financial return to the company that formerly housed their transmitters/towers. (The loss of AM radio stations is an ongoing issue, and one I’ll talk about in a later blog.)

That is the iHeart story when it comes to local radio. Meanwhile, a television mega owner, Nexstar, and its Chairman and CEO, Perry Sook, says that he should be given a waiver to “go 100 mph to work” and be granted permission to add even more stations to his company, with a merger of the TEGNA stations, well beyond the, what he calls “outdated” rules, to maintain competitiveness among other video outlets. He wants to become an even larger television version of iHeart Radio, which would maintain “local voices” and keep them from being “diminished or eliminated.”  He says that “local broadcast news operations could collapse and disappear….if the deal is not allowed to go through.”

Personally, I’ve experienced that with Sinclair, as the company eliminated the news operation at WICD, Champaign, first in 2015, then at WCCU, Urbana-Champaign, after I left, choosing to simulcast the newscasts of WICS, Channel 20, from Springfield, which also produced the FOX-Illinois station WRSP. Now, WCCU simulcasts that newscast for the Champaign-Urbana, Illinois area: four stations, one voice. (Sinclair no longer owns the stations) So much for multi-ownership eliminating the collapse of local news.

Don’t believe what he says. He’s “gaslighting.” That model has already been built. It’s called iHeart Media. Anyone involved with or employed at a local TV station should look to iHeart to see your future!