Black Information Network

Black Information Network (BIN) is a radio network and content brand owned by iHeartMedia. Launched on June 30, 2020, it is an all-news radio network of stations targeting the African American community, carrying mostly national stories and features. Some stations are slated to incorporate local news, traffic and weather into the network feed.
History.
On June 29, 2020, 15 iHeartMedia radio stations in markets with large African American populations (including AM, FM, and HD Radio subchannel stations) ceased their regular programming, and began stunting with clips of speeches by prominent African Americans, such as Malcolm X's "The Ballot or the Bullet" 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 podcasts oriented towards the audience. The network will be carried by additional stations over time, and is also being distributed on the iHeartRadio streaming platform. 
BIN also serves as a provider of news content for iHeartMedia's stations targeting the black community, including those carrying hip hop, R&B, and gospel-oriented radio formats. 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, CVS Health, GEICO, Lowe's, McDonald's, Sony, 23andMe, and Verizon Communications which will air outreach towards African-American communities on the network. Currently, the number of minutes each hour devoted to commercials is considerably lower than most radio networks. 
Tony Coles is the network's president and Tanita Myers is the news director.
On September 10, 2020, iHeartMedia announced that it would acquire [[WWRL]] [[1600 AM]] in [[New York City]], a station that had historically carried formats serving the African American community, to be its new [[network affiliate]] for BIN beginning November 2. BIN programming currently is available in the New York [[media market|radio market]] via 105.1 [[WWPR-FM]]'s third [[HD Radio]] [[Digital subchannel|subchannel]].
On December 2, 2020, iHeartMedia announced their intent to acquire Gospel-formatted [[KHVN]] [[970 AM]] and [[KKGM]] [[1630 AM]] in the [[Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex]] to be the new affiliates joining BIN. KHVN historically carried formats serving the African American community, while KKGM directly involves KHVN as in 1994, it signed on as KHVN’s simulcast partner, as part of a plan to shift KHVN to the expanded band and exit the 970 kHz signal. As of this year, this hadn't happen. But because both stations are still under common ownership, the move could still feasibly happen.
External links.
[[Category:IHeartRadio digital channels]]
[[Category:Radio stations established in 2020]]
[[Category:African-American radio]]
[[Category:2020 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Black Information Network stations| ]]