Radio News Weekly: Sept. 21–25, 2026

Radio broadcasting this week mixed Washington pressure, station-group dealmaking, sports-rights consolidation, and fresh audience data that again put young in-car listening at the center of the industry argument.

🗼Policy and Regulation. The AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act remained the top Capitol Hill story. The House passed the bill last week; this week Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO) told broadcasters to keep calling senators so the Senate companion (S. 315) reaches the floor before the midterm recess window closes. 

🗼Stations Faced Hard Thursday Deadline: FCC FY 2026 regulatory fees were due by 11:59 p.m. ET, with late payments triggering a 25% penalty after two years of fee relief for AM and FM stations ended. 

🗼Court Fight Ends:  The Trump administration’s attempt to cut NPR and PBS funding quietly ended, leaving in place a First Amendment ruling that blocked key parts of the order—even as Congress had already rescinded CPB appropriations and the corporation moved toward dissolution. Measurement and legal fights. 

🗼SCOTUS Appeal: Nielsen asked the Supreme Court to review the Second Circuit ruling that kept an antitrust injunction in place in its ratings dispute with Cumulus Media. A related enforcement fight continues, with Nielsen’s next brief due Sept. 30. Nielsen also postponed a planned Sept. 25 reissue of three ratings reports, now expected by the end of next week. Cumulus stations remain absent from public PPM lists while the contract fight continues. 

🗼Audience Research: Edison Research’s latest Share of Ear cut landed as a warning shot: among 13- to 34-year-olds in the car, smartphones now account for 46% of listening time versus 43% for a radio receiver, the first time mobile has led that demo. Radio still dominates ad-supported in-car time in the same age group, which is why sellers and skeptics both claimed the data. 

🗼Political advertising:  Kinetiq said radio has already booked about $73.5 million, nearly double its 2024 pace, with a large pool of October linear dollars still uncommitted. 

🗼Deals and Sports Rights: Station trading stayed active at smaller price tags. Riverfront Broadcasting closed on six South Dakota stations from Connoisseur Media. Magnum Communications agreed to buy four western Wisconsin outlets...Civic Media’s Cedar Basin Media moved to acquire NRG Media stations in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, including news/talk KXEL...K-Love adding a second Toledo FM, Connoisseur spinning Minnesota stations...3 Towers buying an Indiana AM...On the sports side, the Cleveland Cavaliers went all-iHeartMedia on a 19-station network with WTAM and WMMS remaining flagships, while the Chicago Bulls kept Audacy’s WSCR as radio flagship. 

Race Taylor

🗼Programming and People: Race Taylor exited mornings at Audacy New York’s WCBS-FM (101.1) after about a year, leaving the shift open...iHeart named Ben Marcotte PD of Rock 105.3 KIOZ and heritage KGB in San Diego...K-Love appointed Debashree “Dee” Sethmajhi CTO...Zack Bennett became permanent host of syndicated Pure American Country...Premiere Networks president Julie Talbott was named a 2026 Gracies Leadership honoree...The 16th iHeartRadio Music Festival wrapped in Las Vegas on Sept. 18–19...In Baltimore, iHeart’s Black Information Network outlet was flipped to FOX Sports...NRB’s Troy Miller used the week to argue that Christian radio’s analog, human voice still matters in an AI era of deepfakes and chatbot trust.

In Week ahead, Watch for... (Sept. 27–Oct. 3)

• Senate clock on AM in cars. Leadership has a short window before October recess. If S. 315 does not move, the bill likely sits until after the Nov. 3 midterms.
• Ratings and court paper. Watch for Nielsen’s delayed reissued books and the Sept. 30 Nielsen brief in the Cumulus enforcement appeal. Fall survey changes (including South Bend-Elkhart becoming a two-book average market) start to matter for sellers.
• Political inventory and deal filings. October is the heavy political-buy month. FCC applications tied to this week’s Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and Indiana deals should surface. Stations also need to prep ETRS Form One (due Oct. 30) for the Nov. 17 nationwide EAS test, the first since 2023.

On the calendar: NABA’s Cyber University 2.0 is Oct. 20 in New York; NAB Show New York follows Oct. 21–22 at the Javits Center. Forecast 2027, focused on the post-election “political cliff,” is Nov. 12 in New York.