TAB Chairman Jason Hightower, owner of KMOO Mineola, is fighting a recurrence of brain cancer.

 

He underwent surgery in November to remove two tumors that had developed since the first round of surgery about four years ago.

 

Surgeons were intent on preventing the tumors from crossing lobes.

 

While the surgery was successful, Hightower has been undergoing extensive physical, occupational and speech therapy.

 

 

The radio industry renewed its fight against a performance tax this month with the introduction of HCR 49, the Local Radio Freedom Act, by Texas Reps. Gene Green, D-Houston and Mike Conaway, R-Midland.

 

 

The anti-performance tax resolution has garnered 110 co-sponsors, including 16 from Texas.  It’s identical to the resolution that garnered majority opposition of 218 co-sponsors last year.

 

 

Nearly 30 Texas TV stations in 15 DMAs went all-digital as scheduled on Feb. 17.

 

The remaining stations chose to wait until June 12, the new mandatory shut-off date adopted by Congress early this month. 

 

None of the stations reported any significant problems after the shut-off, including Lubbock and Waco-Temple-Bryan where all but one station in each DMA shut off.

 

Stations fielded calls individually, either personally or by voice mail. 

 

Most callers needed help rescanning TVs or converter boxes or installing converter boxes.

 

The analog shut-off delay legislation gave stations the option of terminating analog operations on Feb. 17 as scheduled or waiting until June 12 to do so.

 

 

Nearly half the Texas Legislature joined their local broadcasters for lunch at TAB’s 2009 Legislative Day Feb. 2 in Austin, making it one of the best-attended grassroots lobbying events held for lawmakers.

 

 

Broadcasters found legislators generally receptive to their case for passing a Free Flow of Information Act, preserving Open Government protections and keeping a steady hand on state fiscal and tax policy.

 

 

The Texas Association of Broadcasters will hold a Broadcast Career Expo Feb. 27 at the Mesquite campus of Texas A&M Commerce.

 

 

The Expo will be held in the Mesquite Metroplex Center, 2600 Motley Drive in Mesquite from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. in conjunction with the Texas Broadcast Education Foundation annual conference.

 

TAB Career Expos are always free to job seekers and open to the public.

 

Any station sending a person with hiring capability to interview job seekers can earn a quarter point toward their bi-annual EEO credit.

 

"If there is unanimity among FCC Commissioners in any regulatory area, it is equal employment opportunity,” said TAB legal counsel Richard Zaragoza of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

 

Booth space is still available!

 

Call TAB’s Teresa McAnally at (512) 322-9944 to reserve a spot today.

 

 

Exhibit booths for the 2009 TAB/SBE Convention & Trade Show are still available.

 

All booths are 8x10 and prices vary by membership level:

-Gold Patron Associate Member: $850

-Silver Star Associate Member: $900

-Associate Member: $950

-Non-Member: $1,525

 

The Trade Show is on Thursday, Aug. 20 at the Renaissance Austin Hotel.

 

Several sponsorship and advertising opportunities are also available.

 

The TAB Convention Committee will begin meeting in the next few weeks to start program planning.

 

Please contact Sydney Haisler or call (512) 322-9944 with any questions.

 

For the first time, TAB has combined the Station and Associate Directories.

 

The 2009 Texas Broadcast Directory includes:

• Key contacts at Texas’ 1,300+ radio and television stations

• Contact information for all of our Associate Members including descriptions of products and/or services for each member

• Summaries of TAB member services and benefits

 

TAB also offers the information online at www.tab.org.

 

Stations can now fill out the NCSA pledge or affidavit forms online and submit them with the click of a button.

 

To ease the reporting job for stations airing TAB’s NCSA campaigns, new, interactive forms are available on the TAB website - go to NCSA page.

 

They don’t require station personnel to complete them by hand and fax them to TAB.  Calculating the spot rate times the number of spots aired is figured automatically.

 

TAB wants to make it as easy as possible for stations to participate in the NCSA program and report their airtime.

 

The first NCSAs sponsors to use the new interactive forms are the Texas National Guard and the Texas State Securities Board.

 

New campaigns 

New NCSA campaigns soon to be delivered to Texas stations include:

• “Teens In the Driver Seat” from the Texas Department of Transportation, to air from 2/23/09 through 5/24/09

• “School Breakfast” from the Texas Department of Agriculture, to air from 2/23/09 through 5/31/09

 

 

For years EEO1Source has helped Texas broadcasters comply with the FCC’s EEO regulations. 

 

EEO1Source was a web portal which held member stations’ recruiting contacts and provided job-search record-keeping. 

 

EEO1Source has evolved into Broadcast1Source which expands on these basic functions and now allows job templates, “blind ad” job posting, alerts to inform users of EEO Public File deadlines, self audits to assess the station’s level of compliance and new, updated FCC forms.

 

Stations can subscribe to Electronic Public Inspection File (ePIF) through Broadcast1Source to upload these EEO Public Files to a web server and link to the files from the station’s website.

 

The annual fee to member stations has risen to $720 (from $600) per SEU.

 

TAB covers any member station’s $100 registration fee when signing up for Broadcast1Source and does not receive any compensation for stations' participation.

 

Watch an online training video to learn more about the new features of Broadcast1Source or visit the website.

 

It has been brought to our attention that the first three months of the 2009 Texas Broadcast Calendar are incorrect. After March 2009 the calendar does correct itself.

Download corrected 2009 Texas Broadcast Calendar