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.

Scott treated us to an inspiring video (click to view) 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.

Underrated. Underestimated. Unstoppable. LPTV