Trump Goes With Brendan Carr To Be FCC Chairman

President-elect Donald J. Trump on Sunday chose Brendan Carr to be chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, naming a veteran Republican regulator who has publicly agreed with the incoming administration’s promises to slash regulation, go after Big Tech and punish TV networks for political bias.

Brendan Carr

The NY Times reports Carr, who currently sits on the commission, is expected to shake up a quiet agency that licenses airwaves for radio and TV, regulates phone costs, and promotes the spread of home internet. Before the election, Mr. Trump indicated he wanted the agency to strip broadcasters like NBC and CBS of their licensing for unfair coverage.

Carr, 45, was the author of a chapter on the FCC. in the conservative Project 2025 planning document, in which he argued that the agency should also regulate the largest tech companies, such as Apple, Meta, Google and Microsoft.

Carr could drastically reshape the independent agency, expanding its mandate and wielding it as a political weapon for the right, telecommunications attorneys and analysts said. They predicted Carr would test the legal limits of the agency’s power by pushing to oversee companies like Meta and Google, setting up a fierce battle with Silicon Valley.

“Commissioner Carr is a warrior for free speech, and has fought against the regulatory lawfare that has stifled Americans’ freedoms, and held back our economy,” Mr. Trump said in a statement.

Congress oversees the FCC’s budget, and it would likely take new legislation to expand the agency’s regulatory oversight over companies like Google and Meta, which are not defined as communications services, legal experts said. The commission under the Trump administration would comprise three Republicans and two Democrats.

The FCC is also prohibited from punishing television and radio stations for editorial decisions, except for uses of obscenities and violations of children’s television rules.

Carr, a career telecommunications attorney, received a law degree from the Catholic University in Washington. He joined the FCC as a legal adviser in 2012 and became general counsel five years later.

Here's What To Know About Trump's Pick For Press Secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Karoline Leavitt to be his White House press secretary, meaning the longtime Trump advocate will soon be the youngest White House press secretary in history, and potentially one of the administration’s most visible figures.

As national press secretary, Leavitt, 27, spent much of the 2024 race as the public-facing spokesperson for the Trump campaign.

⮞She’s been critical of the media since her college years

She has long been critical of what she calls “the liberal media” and ran for Congress in New Hampshire in 2022 after beating more established opponents in the Republican primaries.

Leavitt was born and grew up in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, attending a Catholic high school in Massachusetts and working at her family’s ice cream shop during the summer holidays.

She studied at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire on a softball scholarship. There, she was one of a small number of conservatives, The Washington Post previously reported. She wrote for the student paper, and also penned letters to the editor, accusing her professors of bringing liberal bias into the classroom and criticizing the media for what she described as unfair treatment of then-candidate Trump during the 2016 election.

“Say what you want about Donald Trump,” she wrote at the time. “He is certainly not perfect, but he is without question running against not only a crooked candidate but the crooked and biased media as well. The liberal media is unjust, unfair, and sometimes just plain old false.”

➤She has embraced Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen

At the beginning of her campaign for Congress, Leavitt fully backed Trump’s claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. She also tweeted at one point that “Joe Biden absolutely did NOT legitimately win.”

Later, she said in an interview that Biden was the “legitimate” president — though when pressed if she would have voted to certify the election had she been in office on Jan. 6, 2021, Leavitt said “probably not,” after reiterating her belief that “fraud and irregularities” occurred.

➤She took on a combative role with the media during the 2024 campaign

As the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, Leavitt accompanied Trump to rallies, campaign events and his court appearances in Manhattan, and went on conservative and national media to echo many of Trump’s talking points, calling the criminal cases against Trump a “witch hunt that comes from the top, comes from Joe Biden" and decrying the Democrats in office

She shared Trump’s combative approach to the press, saying during a warm-up speech at one of his rallies: “I have the great pleasure of fighting the fake news media all day, every day.” CNN ended a live interview with her in June when she accused Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, who the network chose to moderate the first presidential debate of the 2024 election, of bias.

CNN: Pete Hegseth Settled With Alleged Victim

Secretary of Defense Nominee Pete Hegseth

President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault in a settlement agreement that included a confidentiality clause, according to Hegseth’s attorney.

CNN reports attorney Timothy Parlatore said Hegseth denies assaulting the woman and has characterized the October 2017 incident in Monterey, California as a “consensual sexual encounter.”

Monterey city officials last week confirmed that local police had investigated “an alleged sexual assault” involving Hegseth. The city declined to release information about the victim and said it would not release the full police report or comment further on the investigation, citing state public records law.

Hegseth has not been charged in any criminal case or named as a defendant in any civil lawsuit in connection with the incident.

In 2020, Hegseth learned the woman was considering filing a lawsuit, Parlatore said in statement provided to CNN.

Parlatore said the payment to the married woman was of “a significantly reduced amount” and that Hegseth, a veteran turned Fox News host, settled because it was during the “Me Too” movement and he didn’t want to lose his job at the network if the accusation became public. The attorney’s statement did not say how much Hegseth’s accuser was paid in the settlement.

Parlatore said Hegseth felt that he was the victim of blackmail.

Latinos Turned to YouTube, WhatsApp for Election Information

As Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump increasingly bypassed mainstream news organizations this election cycle, so too did many Latino voters. The growing demographic group turns to social media for news more than other demographic groups, research shows.

The Boston Globe reports there are many reasons for the trend. Latinos in the United States tend to be younger and more online than the population at large. And while a majority of Latinos consume their news in English, many — particularly immigrants who primarily speak Spanish — often turn to social outlets where they can easily get information in their native language.

The messages conveyed by Spanish-language political creators on social media are varied, and many legacy outlets such as Telemundo and Univision also have large audiences there. But Spanish-speaking voters who spoke to the Globe said Trump’s economic message came through clearly in the videos they watched — perhaps because issues such as inflation were top-of-mind this year.

Despite Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, he made gains with Latinos — a traditionally Democratic-leaning demographic — in large part because of his message about improving the economy.

Roberta Braga, executive director of the D.C.-based Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas, said disinformation coincides with a broader increase in polarization and decline in trust in institutions. Braga’s organization conducted two Latino-focused polls this year and found that only scientists and neighbors were seen by both liberals and conservatives as the closest to being trustworthy.

“Latinos who believe disinformation the most tend to consume podcasts, they use Twitter/X and YouTube, they engage a lot with ideological, hyperpartisan media, they tend to identify as first-generation Latinos and as Republicans, and they watch cable news outlets like Fox News,” Braga said.

The Most Important Platform For Viewing Podcasts: YouTube

The site best known as a place to watch videos is now the biggest platform for podcasts. 

Yes, podcasts. Not Spotify. Not Apple. YouTube! Because these days, we don’t just listen to podcasts. Now we watch podcasts.  

The Wall Street Journal reports it’s a profound shift that suddenly has the world’s audio giants battling for supremacy in the increasingly valuable world of video podcasts. 

The most improbable thing about how YouTube made the podcast market all about video is how swiftly it happened. 

Only four years ago, when it was less popular for podcasts than both Spotify and Apple, YouTube becoming a podcasting colossus sounded about as realistic as Martin Scorsese releasing his next movie on TikTok. 

But this year, YouTube passed the competition and became the most popular service for podcasts in the U.S., with 31% of weekly podcast listeners saying it’s now the platform they use the most, according to Edison Research. 

And the rise of YouTube comes at a time when Americans have become completely obsessed with podcasts. 

WSJ Graphic

In the final stretch of his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump appeared on more than a dozen shows that collectively drew more than 100 million views on YouTube, including a sit-down with Joe Rogan that was the biggest podcaster’s single biggest podcast in years. They were not the reason he won. But when many of those podcasters and YouTubers got a shout out from his victory party at Mar-a-Lago, it became clear that they were the other winners of this election. 

It also became clear that a site whose core product used to be cat videos might just be the most influential company in all of media right now. 

Boston Radio: What's Up With A Morning Show On WZLX?

When iHeartMedia, the parent company of Classic Rock 100.7 FM WZLX, abruptly dropped “The Rich Shertenlieb Show” on Nov. 4 as part of sweeping budget cuts at its stations nationwide, the show’s host was let go. Frequent third host Ted Johnson was also part of the downsizing.

However, according to Chan Finn at The Boston Globe, the status of co-host Michael Hurley and another frequent third voice, Emerson Lotzia, was less clear — and remains so, two weeks later.

On the stunning morning when the show was spiked before even reaching six months on the air, Hurley and Lotzia were asked by management whether they would be interested in sticking around and playing a role on the new show, expected to be a more traditional rock-radio morning program.

Both were open to the idea, but they’re in a weird sort of limbo, uncertain of what is to come next or whether they will be a part of it.

WZLX has been airing music in the morning, with Kenny Young — who had been the program director for Shertenlieb’s show — occasionally chiming in as the de facto host.

Hurley has not been on the air, but has still been showing up to work, writing occasional articles for the station’s website. Lotzia, whose primary job is as a host and personality on the Draft Kings Network, has not heard from management since the initial conversation about being part of whatever comes next for WZLX in morning drive.

60M Households Worldwide Tuned-in for Paul-Tyson Match

Netflix said on Saturday that 60 million households worldwide had tuned in for the highly anticipated boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, and the event peaked at 65 million streams, according to a statement.

The bout between the 27-year-old social media influencer-turned-prize fighter Paul and the 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Tyson, which Paul won, was streamed live on Netflix.

Nearly 50 million households tuned in for the co-main event between Ireland's lightweight champion Katie Taylor and Puerto Rico's featherweight champion Amanda Serrano, according to Netflix.

"The bout is likely to be the most watched professional women's sporting event in US history," Netflix said in its statement.

There were some hiccups during the live-stream of the match, with over 90,000 users reporting problems on Netflix at its peak, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.

However, the streaming platform was back up on Saturday after the outage that lasted roughly 6 hours in the United States.

Bluesky Attracts Millions As Users Leave Musk's X

Social media platform Bluesky is adding millions of users as people flee X after Donald Trump was elected U.S. President and as an upcoming change to the terms of service threatens to complicate legal challenges for the Elon Musk-owned platform.

According to Reuters, Bluesky has gained about 2.5 million new users in the past week, raising its total users to more than 16 million, it said on Thursday. It is among a slew of apps looking to replace the platform formerly known as Twitter after Musk's takeover.

"We're seeing record-high activity levels across all different forms of engagement: likes, follows, new accounts, etc, and we're on track to add 1 million new users in one day alone," Bluesky said in a statement.

Several well-known organizations and personalities, including the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate, British news publisher the Guardian and former CNN anchor Don Lemon have said they were leaving X due to concerns about the platform's content and the looming terms change.

X was called out by misinformation experts during the election for playing a central role in enabling the spread of false information about the critical battleground states.

On Nov. 6, as news broke that Musk ally Trump won the presidency, X attracted 46.5 million visits in the U.S. - more than any day in the past year and 38% higher than an average day in recent months, according to analytics firm SimilarWeb.

But more than 115,000 U.S. web visitors deactivated their X accounts – the most since Musk bought the platform, SimilarWeb data showed.

Bluesky's website, meanwhile, attracted around 1.2 million visitors on Nov.6, more than Meta Platforms-owned (META.O), opens new tab Threads, which had around 950,000 visitors. But Threads app had more visitors than that of Bluesky.

Report: WBD Settles Media Rights Battle With NBA

 

Warner Bros. Discovery has settled its breach of contract lawsuit against the National Basketball Association, an agreement that will keep the company in business with the league for at least the next decade, reports The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter.

The accord gives Warner Bros. Discovery the ability to develop new shows with NBA content in the U.S. and abroad, and international NBA rights in parts of Northern Europe and Latin America excluding Mexico and Brazil. 

The deal is expected to be announced early this week. 

While Warner Bros. Discovery is losing rights to regular and postseason games for its TNT network after this season, the settlement will give it rights to a significant amount of NBA content domestically and abroad, the people said, and the league will avoid a continued legal battle in court. 

Warner Bros. Discovery’s efforts to retain some NBA content even after losing its grip on a long-held rights package underscores how valuable live sporting events are and the lengths media companies will go to keep a piece of the action for their cable and streaming customers.

The company sued the NBA in July after the league signed new rights deals with Disney’s ESPN, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Amazon.com valued at nearly $80 billion over 11 years. Warner Bros. Discovery alleged that the league violated a matching-rights clause with its TNT cable network by making a deal to put games on Amazon’s Prime Video.

Radio History: Nov 18

➦In 1951…Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly  launched one of the most highly-praised TV productions in history. The newsmagazine, documentary "See It Now' debuted on CBS. The aired for more than six years. On that first program, which evolved out of Murrow’s radio (and Columbia Records) series Hear It Now, we saw a live camera shot of the Atlantic Ocean, followed by a live shot of the Pacific, then Murrow said, “We are impressed by a medium through which a man sitting in his living room has been able to look at two oceans at once.”  In April of 1952, See It Now moved into an evening time slot.

➦In 1954...ABC radio and TV banned “Mambo Italiano,” a hit by Rosemary Clooney for so-called “offensive lyrics,” most likely due to the exaggerated Italian vernacular, including the words “goombah” and “gidrool.”

➦In 1963…The Beatles got their first exposure on U-S TV in a feature story on NBC-TV's "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" it included a film clip of the band performing in England.

➦In 1985...Howard Stern returned to the New York radio scene (after his firing by WNBC660 AM). He debuted on WXRK 92.3 FM in the afternoon, but made a permanent switch to mornings 3 months later.

➦In 1987...CBS Inc. announced that it had agreed to sell its record division to Sony Corp. for approximately $2 billion.