Friday, April 24, 2026

THANK YOU! 
THE LPTVBA ANNUAL MEETING WAS 🥇🔥


GEN Z'S PASSION FOR LPTV!

DIELECTRIC & LOWCOUNTRY 34 MEDIA BACK LPTV EXPANSION

FCC APRIL OPEN MEETING

BROADCASTERS PREPARE FOR AMERICA'S 250TH ANNIVERSARY

 💡MEMBER SPOTLIGHT 💡
SPECTRUM SOLUTIONS

UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS

SUPPORT OUR WORK!

A Heartfelt Thank You!

What a difference five years makes!

Our LPTVBA Day at NAB was an absolute triumph. The room was packed, the energy was electric, and you could have heard a pin drop during the sessions, except, of course, for the occasional chuckle and enthusiastic applause. Even the food was genuinely good this year. Miracles really do happen at trade shows!

A huge thank you to our outstanding panelists, our special guest FCC Media Bureau Deputy Chief Evan Morris, and most of all, to every LPTVBA member and sponsor who showed up with such strong support. Your passion, engagement, and generosity made the day unforgettable and truly special.

The full session videos will be available next week in the LPTVBA members portal, so you can relive (or catch up on) all the insightful discussions.

5G Broadcast Momentum is Building Fast

The excitement around 5G Broadcast was impossible to miss. We heard compelling conversations about using an ATSC 3.0 bootstrap with 5G Broadcast riding on top.

Castanet turned heads with a live demonstration in their booth that proved it works beautifully in the real world. Meanwhile, HC2 ran a pure 5G Broadcast signal throughout not only the NAB show but all of Las Vegas. impressive stuff!

Closer to home, WCRN in Boston made waves by launching on air using an XGN 5G Broadcast Exciter paired with an Anywave transmitter. The entire installation was up and running flawlessly in just four hours, and it’s been rock-solid for over a week with zero glitches. We’re already planning to launch WWOO in Boston shortly using ATSC 3.0 and 5G Broadcast side-by-side so we can run some exciting head-to-head trials.

There’s clearly so much more to explore with 5G Broadcast technology, and we’ll dive deeper into it next month. Stay tuned, this story is just getting started.

🏆 Celebrating Excellence: Mike Gravino LPTVBA Hall of Fame Awards 🏆

This year’s awards were extra special. Congratulations to the well-deserved inductees:



• Dr. Byron St. Clair 
• Scott Centers

Background and acceptances are best said live, so we will post the videos of the Awards ceremony on the LPTVBA site next week.

Gen Z's passion for LPTV!

Scott treated us to an inspiring video showcasing what local news can look like when powered by a talented Gen Z team. It was fresh, energetic, and a powerful reminder of what we as LPTV operators are capable of when we embrace the right path. The message was clear: Gen Z is genuinely interested in linear broadcast television. We just need to open the door and invite them in.

Stunned but grateful and honored!

And then came the surprise of the day… a special Mike Gravino LPTVBA Hall of Fame Award presented to yours truly, me. I’ll be honest, I had absolutely no idea it was coming.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to the Board and to every member for this tremendous honor. Starting and growing the LPTV Broadcast Association into the respected voice it is today has been one of the greatest privileges of my career. None of this would have been possible without your belief, your support, and your shared vision.

Here’s to a bright future for LPTV! Together we’re building something truly special in local broadcasting.

Dielectric Backs LPTV Expansion Wave Following FCC Rule Changes

Dielectric, a provider of antennas and RF systems, is supporting a surge in low-power television expansion after the FCC’s first major LPTV rule revisions in more than 40 years, opening opportunities to relocate facilities, resolve interference and expand service coverage across the U.S.

Jeffrey Winemiller, owner of Lowcountry 34 Media, has filed more than 250 applications to modify and grow LPTV station footprints and is using Dielectric antennas, filters and RF systems for many deployments.

“These rule changes have completely transformed what’s possible for low-power TV,” Winemiller said. “We’ve gone from serving small, rural populations to potentially reaching hundreds of millions of viewers. Dielectric’s antennas and RF systems give us the flexibility to solve interference challenges, combine signals efficiently and build cost-effective transmission sites quickly.”

Read the full article here. 

FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for April Open Meeting

The April 2026 Open Meeting is scheduled for 10:30 am ET on April 30, 2026, and will be held in the Commission Meeting Room, 45 L Street N.E., Washington, D.C. 20554. The FCC meeting is also streamed live at www.fcc.gov/live. 

The FCC at its Open Meeting will consider, among other items, a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) regarding an accessible emergency information requirement. In particular, the FNPRM would propose to modify the rule that television broadcasters provide an aural representation of visual, non-textual emergency information (such as radar maps or other graphics) on the secondary audio stream of video broadcasts. 

Although the compliance deadline for this rule was May 26, 2015, the FCC has continued to waive the rule since then. 

The FNPRM’s proposed revision would clarify that the accessibility requirement would be satisfied when a textual crawl provides emergency information duplicative of or equivalent to the visual but non-textual emergency information, so long as the textual crawl is also conveyed aurally. For general information about the FCC’s television emergency information requirements, visit: https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/accessibility-emergency-information-television/.

Link to Announcement of the April Open Meeting Agenda.

Broadcasters Prepare for America's 250th Anniversary

Broadcasters across the country are rolling out a range of America 250 initiatives designed to engage audiences in unique and meaningful ways for the nation's 250th anniversary.

Salem Media is organizing a Times Square celebration and a faith-focused concert in Washington, D.C., while also launching campaigns such as "Voices of Freedom," which encourage listener participation through audio and video messages. Beasley Media Group and Inner Banks Media are also contributing, with dedicated public service campaigns and local history interviews, respectively.

Meanwhile, Sinclair and NBCUniversal are planning major on-air specials and live broadcasts, all reflecting a commitment to commemorating this historic milestone with both national and local flavor.

Read the full story at Radio Ink.

NAB Provides Broadcasters with an "American 250" Toolkit

As our nation turns 250 years old, NAB is spotlighting the essential role broadcasters play in recording history and serving local communities. Air "We Are Broadcasters" TV and radio spots, explore our toolkit with ideas for celebrating America 250 in your community, and share your plans and stories at wearebroadcasters@nab.org so we can amplify them with policymakers.

💡Member Spotlight 💡 Spectrum Solutions


Thank you to our 2026 LPTVBA

Annual Sponsors!