SALLY A. BUCKMAN

ON YOUR SELECTION AS ONE OF RBR+TVBR’S TOP TEN COMMUNICATIONS ATTORNEYS FOR 2019. YOUR RECOGNITION IS WELL DESERVED. WE SALUTE YOUR HARD WORK, DEDICATION, AND THE IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTIONS YOU MAKE TO OUR CLIENTS AND THE MEDIA INDUSTRY.

well as regulatory matters before the FCC.

Kirby has been proud to advise a host of radio and television broadcasters over the years, including Emmis Communications, Alpha Media, iHeartMedia, Salem Media Group and Liberman Broadcasting.

Since she’d grown up as a junkie for the New York media market, it was only natural that Kirby’s main extracurricular activity at the University of Virginia was the radio station. After graduating, she honed her broadcast business skills with a number of companies in New York and Connecticut, including positions in news, programming and sales, and eventually married them to a law degree and a scholarship from Catholic University’s Communications Law Institute.

Kirby also serves as counsel to the Radio Television Digital News Association, through which she is involved in First Amendment policy and access decisions that impact the media every day.

Commenting on the present and future of broadcast radio, Kirby remarks, “I’ve been around the radio industry for many years, and have been amazed, but not surprised, at its resilience. There is something so unique and compelling about an audio service. The industry will need to address how to hold on to longtime listeners and advertisers while appealing to new ones, whether through digital offerings or otherwise.

“At the same time, the government should carefully consider allowing companies to reach the scale necessary to achieve a higher growth profile and foster an entrepreneurial culture, while maintaining the unique local community service that has been the hallmark of radio since I fell in love with it while listening on my AM transistor decades ago.”

ERWIN KRASNOW Of Counsel, Foster Garvey P.C.

On Sept. 1, Garvey Schubert Barer merged with Foster Pepper, becoming Foster Garvey. That hasn’t impacted one of Washington’s senior communications law experts and attorneys, Erwin Krasnow.

Krasnow counsels and represents radio and television broadcasters, tower owners, financial institutions and trade associations in administrative, legislative and transactional matters. He advises clients on a wide array of issues, ranging from new technologies to lobbying strategies. Krasnow concentrates on transactional matters and has represented sellers and buyers of broadcasting, cable, tower and telecommunications properties in transactions totaling in excess of $21 billion.

Krasnow formerly served as SVP and General Counsel of the NAB and as administrative assistant to the late Rep. Torbert H. Macdonald, a former chairman of the House Communications and Power Subcommittee.

The author of 23 books, Krasnow is a frequent contributor to RBR+TVBR. He was inducted into the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council’s Hall of Fame for “extraordinary service to the cause of diversity and inclusion in the media and telecommunications industries.” Additionally, the Broadcasters Foundation of America has named him the recipient of the Ward L. Quaal Pioneer Award for “excellence in broadcasting.”

“That’s a great question — and I do not have a succinct, convincing answer,” Krasnow responds when asked what one thing is most vital to the future success of radio. “Part of the reason is that the radio broadcast industry cannot be painted with a broad brush. Talk radio’s challenges and future are different than mainstream CHR’s or Country’s or Rock’s ... and ethnic formats (African American and Latino) have their own sets of bullet points.

“The one thing I do know is that audio has to be compelling and personal, but by definition broadcasting cannot target as narrowly as internet radio’s on-demand and specialty podcast content. Therein lies the rub.”

Francisco Montero

Managing Partner, Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth

“Wow! This is a huge honor. Thank you so much.”

Among the readers of RBR+TVBR, a big ¡Gracias! has been given to Frank Montero for his work in Washington, D.C., on behalf of radio and television companies across the mainland U.S. and in Puerto Rico.

Montero is a partner with respected communications law firm Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, specializing in telecommunications, broadcasting, media and technology. His practice includes FCC regulatory counseling, corporate finance, asset and securities acquisitions, intellectual property, and real estate and commercial transactions.

Montero is an appointed member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age and served as Director of the FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities during the Clinton Administration. While at the FCC, Montero worked extensively with industry, trade associations, financial institutions and governmental agencies to create business opportunities for entrepreneurs and technology and telecommunications start-ups. He was even recognized by the then-Chairman of the FCC for “dedication to bridging the digital divide.”

Montero is a regular presence at the annual Hispanic Radio Conference. That’s fitting, as among his many roles for the benefit of Spanish-language radio is as the Washington, D.C., legal representative for the Puerto Rico Broadcasters Association. Montero has been inducted into the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council’s Hall of Fame, too.

What is the one thing Montero believes is most vital to the future success of the radio broadcasting industry?

“The success of radio will hinge on a willingness to accept and adapt new technologies,” he says. “Audio entertainment is growing rapidly through podcasts, streaming services, mobile apps and satellitedelivered content. Traditional terrestrial radio should not feel threatened by these but should embrace them and diversify their delivery platforms. One radio executive I recently spoke to said to me, ‘We are not in the radio industry, we’re in the audio content business.’ I think that nailed it for me.”

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DAVID OXENFORD Partner, Wilkinson Barker Knauer

In a time when social and digital media presence matters more than ever before, David Oxenford is a thought leader and influencer with few peers. With a blog that’s read by many and public speaking appearances that regularly draw crowds, Oxenford’s place among The Top 10 Attorneys is hardly a surprise.

Oxenford has represented clients in Washington, D.C., for more than 35 years, advising them on regulatory matters and on transactions. He also works with digital media companies navigating music licensing, copyright and other content issues.

Oxenford’s interest in broadcasting began in college, where he managed The College of William and Mary’s student-run radio station and helped shepherd its application for a significant power increase through the FCC. After graduation, when many of his college friends went on to own and operate radio and TV stations, he became their lawyer.

Today, Oxenford works with everyone from mom-and-pop broadcasters to public companies, trade associations, financial institutions and other broadcasting and digital media organizations and individuals. Among his biggest clients of late is Educational Media Foundation, owner of the Christian Contemporary Music networks KLOVE and Air1.

implement new technology and innovations that become available in order to best position broadcasters with respect to their listeners, advertisers, vendors and the financial markets.”

That’s the quick take from Jessica Rosenthal on the biggest thing needed to secure the future success of radio broadcasting in the U.S. In her time at Wiley Rein, she’s served as the lead transactional counsel for a non-commercial broadcaster combining operations with another noncommercial broadcaster to establish a multi-platform public media organization. She has also been the lead transactional counsel representing various non-commercial broadcasters in their acquisitions and divestitures of radio stations, as well as in strategic combinations to enhance operations.

Rosenthal assists clients in asset acquisitions, dispositions and exchanges, debt and equity financing transactions, and other corporate matters, specializing in mass media/broadcast transactions. She has negotiated, drafted and closed hundreds of radio and television transactions, ranging in price and complexity. In addition, Rosenthal has broad experience in tower sales and leasing matters for a variety of clients. She has also drafted and negotiated a variety of agreements for noncommercial broadcasters to implement strategic combinations to better serve their communities.

Rosenthal has been with Wiley Rein since October 1999, joining the firm upon earning her Juris Doctor from the George Washington University Law School.

JESSICA ROSENTHAL Partner, Wiley Rein

“I think the industry’s future success will depend in large part on an ability to quickly adapt to and successfully utilize and

PETER TANNENWALD

Of Counsel, Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth

Peter Tannenwald became hooked on broadcasting as a fifth-grader after a year of on-air participation in a live instructional TV show broadcast by WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. After earning degrees from Brown University and Harvard Law School, he joined the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and then moved on to a law career that has continued for 52 years.

Tannenwald joined Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth in 2008, after 27 years with one of one of Washington’s 10 largest law firms and 12 years as a named principal of Irwin, Campbell &

Tannenwald. In addition to a broad range of radio and television broadcast station groups and individual station owners and common carrier and wireless clients in both regulatory and transactional matters, he has represented inventors and developers of new technologies and has helped implement several such technologies, including wireless auditory assistance devices for persons with hearing loss, the use of AM broadcast stations for power utility load management, visual captions on television broadcasts, construction of the first public television satellite distribution system and compatibility of cellphones.

Tannenwald also served for 44 years on the Board of Directors of a non-profit corporation that owned WBRU-FM in Providence, a former commercially licensed radio station managed by students at Brown University.

What does he see as the one thing that is most vital to the future success of the radio broadcasting industry?

“The continuation and preservation of intensely local service, relevant to the lives of listeners, provided by real people,” says Tannenwald. “Real people, who understand and know how to respond to the hopes, desires and needs of their audience, should be able to provide rewarding content that the online computers with which they now have to compete won’t be able to match.”

ABOUT RBR+TVBR’s TOP BROKERS AND ATTORNEYS: This inaugural Honor Roll is produced exclusively from RBR+TVBR reader nominations, which were gathered in July and early August 2019. Individuals are represented equally, in alphabetical order, rather than by ranking, to demonstrate each honoree’s contributions to the industry. © 2019 Streamline Publishing.

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