Skyview Announces Affiliate and Listener Update, RAB’s Erica Farber Addresses COVID-19 Effects on Radio, and ABC Audio’s Stacia Deshishku Lays Out 2021 Initiatives

July 27, 2020 – Skyview Networks’ much-anticipated annual sales conference launched today, virtually, with addresses by top industry leaders and network executives, including Erica Farber, CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and Stacia Deshishku, Vice President and General Manager of ABC Audio. Skyview Networks’ CEO, Ken Thiele, President and COO, Steve Jones and Executive Vice President and General Manager, Jeanne-Marie Condo also spoke to the strength of Skyview Networks through the impact of COVID-19 and the confidence that the company will emerge stronger than before, through network audience acquisition.

Condo proudly announced that Skyview Networks has crested 6,000 network affiliates and increased its reach to 115 million weekly listeners, stating, “We have experienced tremendous growth, even during this very difficult period. We made quick and smart decisions in anticipation of COVID-19, have healthy and evolving partnerships with our networks, and our work hard to deliver for advertisers no matter the circumstance. This conference will set the foundation for our sales strategy as we prepare for our 2021 Upfront and a strong sales year ahead.”

New network partnerships will be announced this week, which will expand Skyview’s business further through the acquisition of the audiences that advertisers desire and, in doing so, create greater financial benefit for its partner networks. “Jeanne-Marie has architected a platform-based approach, so the advertising community can clearly and simply buy their music audience, news audience and sports audience to meet different client objectives,” said Jones  “With our expanded music programming in adult hits, country, urban and rhythmic-CHR, we offer a strategic cross-section of the audiences that advertisers demand.” Through its new partnerships with JackFM, Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40 with Fitz, Nick Cannon Radio, B-Dub Radio Saturday Night, The Dana Cortez Show and the LRN 24/7 formats, Skyview Networks has now become a leader in syndicated music programming. “Skyview has created an incredibly strong music audience lineup that indexes very competitively in age, gender, income, geography and station ranking,” added Condo.

Skyview Networks was honored to have Erica Farber, CEO of RAB, as the keynote speaker of the conference as she provided analytics and commentary on the strength of radio’s reach and authenticity to listeners, especially during COVID-19. Farber explained, “Listenership habits have changed with the COVID-19 period, and this needs to affect how advertisers communicate with their listeners through radio. A listener may not be able to go into a store, but they still want to connect with the brand, purchase an item and have something new, so creative is a real opportunity. I think there are going to be new categories and new ways to do business that we have not thought of before and the audio platform will be positioned to reach and connect.”

Farber continued, “The way we position radio to national advertisers is that we are trusted with great reach and united, we drive results for brands. During this unusual time, this has resonated even more with advertisers, even through stretching ad dollars. There are amazing things radio is doing in their communities, like providing resources, education, and support. No one connects to listeners the way radio does, because it doesn’t make them feel like they have to perform this responsibility–they do it because they are part of the community.”

ABC Audio also presented to Skyview Sales, with Deshishku sharing ABC News’ 2021 initiatives which include election coverage, increased programming on ABC News Live, the building of a strong race & culture news gathering vertical, more streaming and E-commerce opportunities. Building on the success of multiple COVID-19 specials and America in Pain: What Comes Next?, in response to the killing of George Floyd, long-form specials are also anticipated to increase, starting with Rules for Back to School and ABC’s annual 3-hour Labor Day show. “ABC Audio is known for its straightforward, down-the-middle reporting, which runs through the fabric of the entire news division including television, radio and streaming platforms,” Deshishku said.  Scott Goldberg, ABC Audio’s Director of News Programming, added, “Though we do not know what will unfold, we will be heavily focused on the election and delivering robust, textured coverage to listeners.”

To close the day, Dana Cortez of The Dana Cortez Show defined LatinX in America, laying out that to reach this demographic today, “Advertisers need to be airing on English programming that speaks to Gen Z and millennial Latinos. Otherwise, they are missing the larger slice of the pie, which are listeners from today’s LatinX culture that have English as their first language.”

Additional speakers included Déjà vu of The Déjà vu Show; Stephen Hubbard, Producer of Front and Center; and Dana Cortez, DJ Automatic and Anthony A., the hosts of The Dana Cortez Show.

For more information on Skyview Networks, please visit skyviewnetworks.com.

About Skyview Networks

Skyview Networks is a broadcast technology, syndication and national network sales solution company serving over 6,000 radio stations reaching 115 million listeners weekly. Skyview Networks provides services to ABC Audio, CBS Audio, Local Radio Networks, Alpha Media USA, JackFM, The Dana Cortez Show, Nick Cannon Radio, Bob Kingsley’s Country Top 40 with Fitz, B-Dub Radio Saturday Night, VSiN’s The BetR Network, professional and collegiate sports organizations and two state news networks. Founded in 1995, Skyview Networks is based in Scottsdale, Arizona and focuses on providing best-in-class services that include satellite and IP distribution, full network automation, inventory management systems and network audio sales. For more information, visit skyviewnetworks.com and follow @SkyviewNetworks.

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