As many Americans expected/feared, the FCC just voted to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules, in a contentious decision that will likely be challenged in court. As Variety reports, Internet providers will no longer be prohibited from blocking or throttling content, or dividing the web into paid 'fast-lanes' in which content companies can get speedier access to consumers. More than 100 protesters had gathered outside of the FCC's headquarters ahead of the motion, which predictably followed a 3-2 party line vote, lead by Chairman Ajit Pai and the two other Republican commissioners, Michael O'Rielly and Brendan Carr.

According to The Washington Post, "The move to deregulate the telecom and cable industry is a major setback for tech companies, consumer groups and Democrats who lobbied heavily against the decision. And it marks a significant victory for Republicans who vowed to roll back the efforts of the prior administration, despite a recent survey showing that 83 percent of Americans -- including 3 out of 4 Republicans -- opposed the plan." As a special bonus, the FCC's vote also prohibits states and localities from enacting their own net neutrality rules, as they would be superseded by the feds.

For his part, Pai (left) insists that this action would lead to greater innovation, with companies freed from heavy regulation. "It's time for the Internet once again to be driven by engineers and entrepreneurs and consumers, rather than lawyers and accountants and bureaucrats," Pai said. "It's time for us to act to bring faster, better and cheaper Internet access to all Americans." Just as Pai was delivering his comments, security personnel briefly cleared the room for about 15 minutes due to a security issue.

FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, both Democrats, opposed the vote. During the meeting, Clyburn said, "The public can plainly see, that a soon-to-be-toothless FCC, is handing the keys to the Internet -- one of the most remarkable, empowering, enabling inventions of our lifetime -- over to a handful of multi-billion dollar corporations. And if past is prologue, those very same broadband internet service providers, that the majority says you should trust to do right by you, will put profits and shareholder returns above what is best for you."

On a slightly brighter note, Clyburn said the concept of net neutrality is "about internet equality," adding that, in the long run, "We will be victorious." 

Johnson said, "I love the energy of Cumulus New York. The people and resources are the best in the business. I look forward to being back there and with Chad Lopez and Mike McVay supporting me, it makes being 'Focused, Responsible, Collaborative and Empowered' easy."

• Johnson's transfer back to New York City now creates a fantastic "Happy 2018!" programming opportunity at WUHT (Hot 107.7)/Birmingham, AL. You will be responsible for growing and operating this strong brands and must have a strong background and passion for R&B music. Energy, enthusiasm and experience within the genre are a must. The position also requires a daily airshift, along with a weekend voice-track shift.

To apply online for this EOE position, please visit the Cumulus Careers Portal of Destiny™.

After a remarkable (and colorful) 42-year career in the music industry, the last 16 with United Stations Radio Networks, Inc., the lovely and multi-talented Ms. Roxy Myzal announced she would be downshifting into relaxation mode and relinquishing her existing duties, effective December 31. The announcement came from USRN EVP of Programming Andy Denemark, with whom Myzal has worked closely since early 2001 at the company's New York offices.

Roxy (pictured here with the elusive Maynard James Keenan of Tool and A Perfect Circle) got her start in 1975 as the Director of the Boston Record Pool. She later achieved some level of notoriety as the Music Director of the late WXLO (99X)/New York, before going on to high-profile promotion gigs at Atlantic and Chrysalis Records, and then to Rolling Stone, where she worked on the syndicated rock radio show, Rolling Stone's Continuous History of Rock and Roll.

In the mid-'80s, after a stint with DIR Broadcasting, the late Rick Sklar suggested Roxy for a job as Music Director for a burgeoning UHF TV station in Boston, "V66," owned by a couple of local radio giants, John Garabedian and Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg. In 1987, when V66 was sold to the Home Shopping Network, Myzal moved to Los Angeles and worked with Robert Kardashian at the short-lived MCA Radio Network. In the mid-'90s Roxy created the influential weekend program, hardDrive, hosted by Lou Brutus, and she later expanded the hardDrive brand by creating the nightly five-hour version of the show, hardDrive XL, as well as the annual hardDrive Live rock tour ... and the rest is rock and roll.

Denemark said, "Everyone in the United Stations family wishes Roxy the best as she embarks on her next chapter with her partner, Dwight Douglas. Life at the New York offices of USRN will not be the same without her." In 2018 and beyond you can reach Roxy via email at roxillator@gmail.com.

There's a promotion party in the lobby of Tribune News-Talk WGN-AM/Chicago as it was announced that VP of Content & Programming Todd Manley is adding the title of "Station Manager" to his business card. In his newly expanded role, Manley (left) will now oversee the long-term strategy and day-to-day management of WGN Radio on all platforms. Manley will now report to Paul Rennie, President/GM of WGN-TV and CLTV, who adds WGN Radio to his oversight. Rennie continues to report to Tribune Broadcasting President Larry Wert.

In 2013, Manley was named VP of Content for WGN Radio to oversee the radio station's multi-media journalists, talk personalities, sports play-by-play and the on-demand audio platform, WGNplus. Under Manley's leadership, WGN Radio has been named Station of the Year by the Illinois Broadcasters Association for the last four straight years (for a total of ten consecutive years.)

Manley said, "This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I look forward to working with Paul Rennie to innovate and grow 'Chicago's Very Own, WGN Radio' everywhere." Rennie remarked, "Chicago's Very Own WGN Radio is truly an iconic station, and I'm thrilled to be working with Todd and the talented team at WGN Radio." Wert commented, "Both Paul and Todd have worked well together, and this structure will further the synergy and streamline the productivity of our Chicago brands." 

Industry pro Paul Williams has been named VP of Marketing/Artist Development of the Reviver Entertainment Group, effective Jan. 1. He will transition from his current role as Radio Editor for Country Aircheck. In making the announcement of Williams' return to the Reviver fold, Reviver Founder, President/CEO David Ross said, "Paul's diverse background gives Reviver and its artists an out-of-the-box thinker who has a deep understanding of the marketplace. He's a brilliant creative mind whose expertise and leadership will ultimately benefit not only our staff, but most importantly the artists with whom we work."

Williams moved to Nashville 13 years ago to work with the RCA Label Group as Sr. Director of Strategic Marketing. Before that he programmed Susquehanna's KPLX/Dallas and spent six years at Universal Studios in the Strategic Alliance Marketing Department. Williams' earlier radio career includes stops at KDWB/Minneapolis, WEGX/Philadelphia, WAPW/Atlanta, WBJW/Orlando and WSSX/Charleston, SC. Prior to joining Country Aircheck earlier this year Williams handled Northeast Radio Promotion for Zac Brown's Southern Ground Artists and Reviver.

In his new post Williams will report to Reviver EVP/GM Gator Michaels and immediately take the reins in supporting Reviver releases, including "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" from David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney, Michael Tyler's "Hey Mama" and LOCASH's upcoming single, "Don't Get Better Than That." After Jan. 1 Williams can be reached at 615-715-7884 or paul@revivermusic.com.

"We are extremely fortunate to have Sharon Friedlander join us at a time when insights and analytics have never been more important or more available for media, specifically, radio," said Erica Farber, President and CEO, RAB. "We're delighted for Sharon to represent RAB throughout the research community, partner with RAB's senior team, and to provide invaluable resources to RAB members."

Concurrent with Friedlander's news comes word that RAB's current Head of Insights, Annette Malave, will be departing to pursue other interests, effective January 11. "In her twelve years of service, Annette brought great media and advertising expertise to the RAB in both her Business Development and Insights roles," said Farber. "We are thankful for Annette's service over the years and willingness to delve into any initiative at any time and collaboration." 

• Cumulus Media has partnered with XAPPmedia to launch Amazon Alexa skills for its 300 local radio stations, its Westwood One brands, plus the leading dedicated Christmas Radio Skill, Christmas Radio. This is the largest collection of custom skills available with Amazon Alexa in the U.S. This week marks the kick-off of a national consumer marketing campaign designed to educate listeners on how to find and enable skills, fueled by local on-air, video and social promotion. 

"Voice-interactive technology is bringing radio listening back into the home and office, and will enable interactivity with our stations in the connected car," said Mike McVay, EVP, Programming and Content, Cumulus Media. "Our strategy is to create a custom skill for individual radio stations and programs, while educating consumers, is critical, as smart speakers have created an entirely new, and rapidly growing platform to consume audio content.” 

Suzanne Grimes, EVP, Corporate Marketing, Cumulus Media and President of Westwood One, said, "At an aggregated network level we will have access to valuable data and insights on this rapidly-evolving audio ecosystem. We are dedicated to educating, testing and learning to evolve the listening experience for our listeners and brand partners." Pat Higbie, CEO & co-Founder of XAPPmedia said, "Cumulus Media has a track record as media innovators. It is a pleasure working with executives with a long-term vision for how voice interaction will change radio."

Camila Cabello, Nick Jonas and Sugarland will perform live for over one million people in Times Square on the show that sports the longest name in showbiz -- Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2018, which will include 5 1/2 hours of special performances and reports on New Year's celebrations from around the globe.

dick clark productions and ABC have also loaded up the show's West Coast bookend -- the Hollywood Party in Los Angeles will be hosted by multi-platinum artist Ciara and feature performances by Kelly Clarkson, Kane Brown, BTS, Fitz and The Tantrums, Khalid, Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth, as well as Florida Georgia Line, Halsey, Portugal. The Man and Hailee Steinfeld. The evening will also feature collaborations from Alessia Cara and Zedd, G-Eazy and Halsey, Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line, and Hailee Steinfeld and Alesso featuring Florida Georgia Line and watt.

And there's more -- in a special Central time zone celebration, Imagine Dragons and Walk The Moon will perform from the Allstate® Fan Fest in New Orleans in advance of the annual Allstate® Sugar Bowl®. Actress Lucy Hale returns to host the live celebration from the Crescent City. To the surprise of no one, Ryan Seacrest will host the primetime festivities and lead the traditional countdown to midnight from Times Square, as he has for the last 12 years, with live onsite reporting from Jenny McCarthy. The action begins at 8pm ET on Sunday, December 31 on ABC. 

In what may be the single largest group of broadcasters to ever join forces to buy one radio station in a tropical paradise, the newly formed Kauai Broadcast Partners LLC has filed an application with the FCC to buy KZZV-FM in Hanapepe, Hawai'i, on the beautiful island of Kaua'i. Kauai Broadcast Partners LLC is the brainchild of Larry Fuss, who, in 1999, launched KKHJ-FM on the island of Pago Pago in American Samoa. "At the time, it was widely thought I was crazy," Fuss said. "Building a radio station on a small, isolated island 8,000 miles from my home base seemed like an insane idea to many. But, it has been immensely successful, and now, 18 years later, has grown to a two-station cluster, a cable TV channel and an LPTV. When the opportunity to buy a station in Hawai'i came along, I reached out to a bunch of friends and everyone agreed that owning a radio station in Hawai'i would be a fun project. As a result, Kauai Broadcast Partners LLC was born."

Fuss has assembled a list of nearly two dozen partners in the new venture, including Rob Sidney, former PD of WLYF/Miami; syndication pro Scotty Meyers of John Tesh fame; Julie Koehn of WLEN-FM/Adrian, MI; Paul Tinkle of Thunderbolt Broadcasting, Martin, TN; Paul Gardner of KELK & KLKO/Elko, NV; imaging v/o talent Mark McKay; Greg Tacher of Tacher & Associates in Bellevue, WA and many, many others. That's Fuss (right), with partner Paul Tinkle (left) bookending the aforementioned Mr. Tesh a few years back. "This deal went from 'crazy idea' to reality in less than 30 days," said Fuss, adding, "The biggest challenge so far has been listing the broadcast interests of all the partners on the FCC transfer application."

KZZV has been dark since August, and the partners are now working on a new format and call letters with a launch date tentatively scheduled for Summer 2018. Fuss said, "This will be an incredibly fun project... Plus, those who are involved can take business trip to Hawaii!" You are advised to "stay tuned!"

Entercom Miami continues to bask in the reflected glow of the success of its second annual Riptide Music Festival Powered by Ford, which drew 37,000 happy people to Fort Lauderdale Beach to experience two days of epic artists, amazing global cuisine and wine along with picture-perfect weather that even included a rare SuperMoon™!

"This year's Riptide was a magical experience that even blew away our highest expectations," said Von Freeman, Marketing Director of Entercom Miami and the Executive Producer of Riptide, who added, "To increase our audience attendance by 12,000 people in one year is truly a testament to the incredible performers that participated and the expanded experience we created for our patrons. We are excited to get planning our third Riptide!" Riptide is produced by the dedicated crew of Entercom Miami Alternative WSFS (104.3 The Shark), Classic Hits WMXJ (102.7 The Beach), AC WLYF (101.5 Lite FM) and Sports-Talk WAXY (790 The Ticket). [Photo by Ron Elkman/Entercom]

And so ends our regularly scheduled issue of RAMP for 2017. And boy, are my arms tired... On behalf of my longtime friend and partner Steve Resnik, we want to sincerely express our gratitude to our thousands of loyal readers and our incredibly supportive advertising partners, who have generously chosen to overlook my seriously unattractive two-fingered typing style and helped make 2017 RAMP's most successful year since we lit the fuse on this firecracker in 2009.

Special thanks, as always, to our unsung hero -- Graphics Goddess Sonia Horne, who designs our ads and works the same crazy hours as we do.

If all goes according to the plans we have yet to finalize, the next regularly scheduled issue of RAMP is expected to arrive sometime during the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, January 2, 2018, and if anything of note happens between now and then, we will send out a Breaking News bulletin as needed, and update our Facebook and Twitter feeds and our relatively new website, RAMP247.com. Check it out when you have a few minutes.

Until then, we wish you and your family a safe, happy and healthy holiday season and we look forward to seeing you in 2018! -- Kevin & Steve