Black Information Network (BIN) is a

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...

and content brand owned by

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

. Launched on June 30, 2020, it is an

all-news radio All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and radio syndication, syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news sta ...

network of stations targeting

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

communities, carrying mostly important national news headline stories as well as current events and special interest features. Some stations also incorporate local news, traffic, weather and sports updates into the network feed. Tony Coles is the network's president and Tanita Myers is the news director.

History

On June 29, 2020, 15 iHeartMedia radio stations in markets with large

populations (including AM, FM, and

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. HD radio generally simulcast, simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD R ...

subchannel stations) ceased their regular programming, and began stunting with clips of speeches by prominent African Americans, such as

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...

's "

The Ballot or the Bullet "The Ballot or the Bullet" is the title of a public speech by human rights activist Malcolm X. In the speech, which was delivered on two occasions the first being April 3, 1964, at the Cory Methodist Church in Cleveland, Ohio, and the second bein ...

" address, interspersed with messages stating that "our side of the story is about to be told", and promoting a major change in their programming at 12:00 p.m. EDT the next day. On June 30, 2020, at 12:00 p.m. EDT, iHeartMedia officially launched the Black Information Network (BIN) on the 15 stunting stations, carrying national news coverage catered to African American communities. The service draws from other iHeartMedia services for local traffic and weather updates, and promotes

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

s oriented towards the audience. The network will be carried by additional stations over time, and is also being distributed on the

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

streaming platform. BIN also serves as the provider of news content for iHeartMedia stations carrying

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

s that predominantly target African-Americans, including

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, R&B, and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

. Stations not owned by iHeart may also subscribe to the service, with newscasts available at the :00 and :30 mark each hour. Alongside traditional advertising, BIN is also being backed by a group of "national founding partners", including

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

CVS Health CVS Health Corporation is an American healthcare company that owns CVS Pharmacy, a retail pharmacy chain; CVS Caremark, a pharmacy benefits manager; and Aetna, a health insurance provider, among many other brands. The company is the worl ...

GEICO The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO ) is an American vehicle insurance company headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In addition to auto insurance, GEICO provides motorcycle, ATV, RV, boat, snowmobile, travel, pet, event, hom ...

Lowe's Lowe's Companies, Inc. ( ) is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States. As of October 28, 2022, Lowe's and i ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

23andMe 23andMe Holding Co. is an American personal genomics and biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, California. It is best known for providing a direct-to-consumer genetic testing service in which customers provide a saliva testing, sali ...

, and

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

which will air

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

towards African-American communities on the network. Currently, the number of minutes each hour devoted to commercials is considerably lower than most radio networks. On September 10, 2020, iHeartMedia announced that it would acquire

WWRL WWRL (1600 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to New York, New York, owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The station airs an all-news radio format as an network affiliate, affiliate of the Black Information Network (BIN). Founded in 1926, WW ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, a station that had historically carried formats serving the African American community, to carry BIN beginning November 2. BIN programming was previously available in the New York

radio market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

via 105.1

WWPR-FM WWPR-FM (105.1 FM) is an urban contemporary music radio station licensed to New York, New York. The station is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios located at 125 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, while its transmitter is loc ...

's third

subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compressi ...

. On December 2, 2020, iHeartMedia announced that it would acquire Fort Worth's

KHVN KHVN (970 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. It airs an African American targeted all-news radio format, simulcast with ...

and its simulcast partner

KKGM KKGM (1630 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The station simulcasts an African American-targeted news format along with sister station KHVN 970 AM. KKGM and KHV ...

, with an intent for them to be BIN's stations in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, replacing their existing Black Gospel format. The network currently has 60 affiliates in 49 markets across the United States.

Stations

* Asterisk (*) indicates

broadcast. * Gray background indicates low-power FM

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

References

External links

* {{American broadcast radio IHeartRadio digital channels Radio stations established in 2020 African-American radio 2020 establishments in the United States