Radio News Summary: Week of October 12–17, 2026

The week featured major ownership and financial shifts, programming continuity, research affirming radio’s reach, industry honors, leadership changes, and several notable passings, alongside announcements of upcoming events.

Station and Ownership Developments

Radio History: Oct 18

➦In 1922…The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was established to monitor the development of the radio in Great Britain.

➦In 1928...Keith Max Jackson born in Roopville, GA.(Died at age 89 – January 12, 2018). Jackson was a sports commentator, journalist, author and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his career, he is best known for his coverage of college football from 1952 until 2006, and his distinctive voice, "a throwback voice, deep and operatic. A voice that was to college football what Edward R. Murrow's was to war. It was the voice of ultimate authority in his profession. His trademark expression?  “Whoa Nelly!”

Keith Jackson

The son of a dirt farmer, Jackson was born in Roopville, Georgia and grew up on a farm outside Carrollton, near the Alabama state line.  He was the only surviving child in a poor family and grew up listening to sports on the radio. After enlisting and serving as a mechanic in the United States Marine Corps, he attended Washington State University in Pullman under the G.I. Bill.[8] Jackson began as a political science major, but he became interested in broadcasting.He graduated in 1954 with a degree in speech communications.

Though best known for his college football broadcasts, Jackson announced numerous other sports for ABC throughout his career, including Major League Baseball, NBA basketball, boxing, auto racing, PGA Tour golf, the USFL, and the Olympic Games. He briefly worked college basketball with Dick Vitale. Jackson also served as the pregame, halftime, and postgame anchor for ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII in 1988. During his on-air tenure, he is credited with nicknaming the Rose Bowl as "The Grandaddy of them All" and Michigan Stadium as "The Big House".

Jackson began his career as a broadcaster in 1952, when he called on radio a game between Stanford and Washington State. He then worked for KOMO radio in Seattle, and later for KOMO-TV from 1954 to 1964 as co-anchor for their first news team.

Jackson became a radio news correspondent for ABC News Radio and sports director of ABC Radio West in 1964 before joining ABC Sports in 1966.

➦In 1931…Inventor Thomas Alva Edison died at age 84 (Born February 11, 1847). He has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world.  He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.

UPDATE: Susie Wiles ‘Offered Positive Reinforcement’ for Zacharia

Wiles and Zacharia

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report, including its headline, mischaracterized the role White House chief of staff Susie Wiles played in then-press secretary Katie Zacharia’s interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News. POLITICO’s follow-up reporting indicates she did not play a direct role in setting up the interview.


Correction: October 22, 2026...White House chief of staff Susie Wiles “offered positive reinforcement” for Katie Zacharia to appear on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show last week, according to a senior White House official.

The White House official said Wiles had no direct role in booking the Hannity interview. White House officials and other Wiles allies flatly denied that the chief of staff had intentionally set up Zacharia for humiliation on Fox News.

Zacharia’s contentious interview with Hannity, typically a loyal advocate for the Trump administration and its top officials, helped knock her out of the press secretary role less than a week after she took the job.

Original story...

Katie Zacharia lasted just five days as White House press secretary—the shortest tenure in the role’s history—after a disastrous first briefing and mounting scrutiny over her legal credentials, with sources telling the Daily Mail that chief of staff Susie Wiles orchestrated her removal. Polirico was first to report the story.

Zacharia, 41, never returned to the podium after her 14-minute debut on Monday. On Friday she was summoned to meet President Trump, who handled the conversation gently. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he told her. “Honestly if I were you I’d reconsider.” Allies said she arrived ready for an ambush and quickly realized it was over. Communications director Steven Cheung then announced she would transition into a new role to be named later.

The exit came days after Cheung had publicly defended her, insisting “up and down the White House, everyone has been thoroughly impressed with Katie in just a few short days on the job,” dismissing contrary reports as “trash,” and tweeting that she would be “remembered as one of the all-time greats.”

Wiles, nicknamed Trump’s “ice maiden,” had been bypassed when the president personally selected Zacharia from relative obscurity last week. As headlines focused on whether she had misrepresented herself as a lawyer—Trump had called her “an attorney” despite her failing the bar exam—Wiles moved to end the experiment. Senior administration officials said she directed Fox News to confront Zacharia aggressively. In a Thursday night interview, Sean Hannity told her the briefing had been “widely panned” and pressed her on the bar failure; she replied that she had known she would be living in China and that the result “would be inconsequential.” A Friday morning Fox & Friends segment was equally pointed, with co-host Lawrence Jones asking whether she wished she had disclosed the failure to the president. Sources described the interviews as a “double punch” from Wiles and said the network’s tough questioning signaled that Zacharia could not handle even friendly outlets, let alone CNN.

FOX News released a statement concerning the Hannity Interview:  “Sean Hannity decides who he interviews and what he asks his guests, period. That’s been true for three decades, through several administrations, and that authenticity is why he’s been number one for nearly 30 years. Susie Wiles and Danielle Alvarez had nothing to do with the booking.”

Zacharia had lived in Beijing from 2011 to 2013 with her husband after law school. Her five-day stint undercuts the previous record of 11 days set by Anthony Scaramucci in Trump’s first term. A senior official summed up the episode: “Zacharia was an obviously bad choice. This was totally predictable.”

Trump Gave WH Spox Zacharia An Out

Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary just a week after President Trump appointed her, according to people familiar with the matter.

On Friday, Trump said he had suggested that Zacharia consider leaving the job. “I said, ‘Is this for you Katie? Because honestly, you don’t need this,’” Trump told reporters, adding that she had been treated “very rough” by the media. He said he spoke with her earlier Friday, shortly before his comments to reporters as he left the White House for a rally in Georgia, and counseled her, “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider.”

A White House official and a person familiar with the matter confirmed that she is being transitioned out of the role and will not return as press secretary. Zacharia will move to a new position that will be announced later, a person familiar with the plans said.

The exit ends a brief and chaotic run as the administration’s chief spokeswoman. Trump announced her appointment last Friday; her first day was Monday. She came under scrutiny after a shaky debut press briefing Tuesday and faced questions about her claims that she was a lawyer.

SiriusXM, Randy Andy's Jeff Lewis Reach New Deal

Jeff Lewis and SiriusXM have agreed to a two-year extension of their partnership for Jeff Lewis Live on the Radio Andy channel.

The host announced the deal during Friday’s episode of the show, which aired on the day his previous contract expired. “Yesterday at 2:50pm Pacific Daylight Time, we came to terms. I’m happy to announce another two years of Jeff Lewis Live on Radio Andy here at SiriusXM,” Lewis said on air.⁠

He described the outcome as a hard-fought compromise reached just in time. “As you know, my contract ended Friday [October 16]. We did successfully come to a compromise, although we both are a little bit bruised,” he added.

Atlanta Radio: Chris Jones Named GSM For Cox Media

Chris Jones, the former Senior Vice President of Sales for iHeartMedia Atlanta, has been named General Sales Manager for Cox Media Group’s four radio stations in Atlanta, succeeding Scott Kellum.⁠

Jones will oversee sales for the CMG Atlanta cluster, which includes news/talk 95.5 WSB (WSB-AM/WSBB), adult contemporary B98.5 (WSB-FM), classic rock 97.1 The River (WSRV), and adult R&B KISS 104.1 (WALR). He previously served as SVP of Sales at iHeartMedia Atlanta—effectively across town from the CMG stations—after being promoted to that role in 2020 from General Sales Manager in the same market. Kellum had held the CMG GSM position since March 2024.

Indy Radio: WIBC Extends Jason Hammer w/Multi-Year Deal

Indianapolis radio host Jason Hammer has signed a multi-year contract extension with 93.1 WIBC and parent company Urban One, ensuring the co-host of the station’s “Hammer and Nigel” afternoon talk show remains on the air.

“Indy, you are stuck with me,” Hammer wrote in an Friday Facebook post announcing the deal. In a separate post, he said he was “really happy with the outcome here.” The length of the extension was not disclosed.

TV Ratings: Kimmel Leads Late Night

ABC’s late-night show led the week of Oct. 4, 2026, with 2.576 million total viewers and 299,000 adults 18–49, according to Nielsen Live+3 ratings. Those figures were down 22% and 21%, respectively, from the prior week’s five original episodes filmed in Brooklyn, but still easily topped NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (1.483 million viewers, 200,000 in the demo).

The Tonight Show gained 7% in total viewers week-over-week while dropping 19% among adults 18–49. Both shows aired four original episodes and one repeat.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

On CBS, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen delivered two of its strongest nights of the season, lifting both of its half-hours to double-digit gains in total viewers. Tuesday’s hour averaged 1 million total viewers—its largest audience since the May 22 premiere—after NCIS premieres. Friday’s hour, following the premieres of Sheriff Country, Fire Country, and Boston Blue, posted the show’s best adults 18–49 performance to date, averaging 175,000.

TV Ratings: Race Tightens For Sunday Morning Shows

ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos and CBS’s Face the Nation finished in a virtual dead heat for total viewers on the latest Sunday, with ABC narrowly ahead.⁠

On October 11, 2026, This Week averaged 2.516 million total viewers, edging CBS’s Face the Nation (averaging its half-hour and hour-long editions) at 2.486 million, according to Nielsen Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel ratings. ABC also led in the key adults 25-54 demographic (427,000) and adults 18-49 (301,000). This Week improved week-to-week across the board and posted its strongest adults 25-54 performance in seven months.

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Graphic courtesy of RoadMN

NBC’s Meet the Press trailed further behind with 2.150 million total viewers, tying CBS in the adults 25-54 demo at 323,000 but finishing lower in adults 18-49 (218,000). Fox’s Fox News Sunday lagged well back at 869,000 total viewers, 172,000 in adults 25-54, and 152,000 in adults 18-49.

TV Ratings: ABC's WNT Is Delivering Biggest Season Leads

“World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.219 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of Oct. 5, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN

• “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.219 million), Adults 25-54 (1.139 million) and Adults 18-49 (836,000).
• “World News Tonight” defeated “NBC Nightly News” (6.482 million, 1.008 million and 705,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+27%/+1.737 million), Adults 25-54 (+13%/+131,000) and Adults 18-49 (+19%/+131,000).

Rough Week At Universal Music Group

MCA Nashville, Universal Music Group’s country division, laid off around 14 staffers one day after UMG began broader cutbacks, sources said, including chief operating officer Rob Femia and senior vice president of promotion and regional marketing Miranda McDonald.⁠

The reductions are part of a corporate-wide, three-part cost-cutting plan first announced in 2024 that is affecting executives across the U.S. and internationally, Billboard reported Wednesday. 

Abilene Radio: Lone Star to Acquire Two FMs

Lonestar Broadcasting Group, led by Kenneth “Ken” and Heidi Witt, is set to expand into the Abilene, Texas market with the purchase of two FM stations for $425,000.⁠

The deal involves Country-formatted “95.1 The Wolf” KABW (licensed to Baird) and Farm/Classic Country “Q Country 96.1” KORQ. The stations are being acquired from David Klement’s Community Broadcast Partners and will add to Lonestar’s growing Texas portfolio, marking the company’s entry into the Abilene area. The transaction follows Lonestar’s earlier 2026 acquisition of a cluster serving the Stephenville, Comanche, and Brownwood markets.

FOX News Digital Leads All News Brands During 3Q

During the third quarter of 2026, FOX News Digital led all news brands and broadcast networks with multiplatform views and multiplatform minutes, according to Comscore.** FOX News Digital drove 4.6 billion multiplatform views and 10 billion multiplatform minutes throughout the quarter. 

Additionally, FOX News posted 170 million average total digital multiplatform unique visitors throughout the quarter, an 11% increase year-over-year. With average desktop/mobile unique visitors, FOX News nabbed 76 million to lead all news brands. This marks the 17th consecutive quarter it has led news brands with views and 22nd consecutive quarter it has been the top news brand with minutes.* Meanwhile, CNN marked its worst quarter since 2015 with average total digital unique visitors (57 million), multiplatform views (1.3 billion) and multiplatform minutes (2 billion).

During September, FOX News Digital led all news brands and broadcast networks with multiplatform views (1.5 billion) and multiplatform minutes (3.3 billion). With desktop/mobile unique visitors, FOX News led all news brands with 72 million. Additionally, it drove 164 million total digital multiplatform unique visitors. 

Radio History: Oct 17

➦In 1907...Guglielmo Marconi officially opened the first commercial transatlantic wireless telegraph service, which runs between Nova Scotia and Ireland.

➦In 1919...Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was created.

At the end of World War I, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America was the only company in the United States that was equipped to operate transatlantic radio and telegraph communications. The United States government found this unacceptable since the Marconi Wireless Company of America was entirely owned by a foreign company—the British Marconi Company.

At the prompting of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was undersecretary of the navy at the time, General Electric (GE) formed a privately owned corporation to acquire the assets of American Marconi from British Marconi. On October 17, 1919, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was incorporated and within a month had acquired those assets.

Katie Zacharia Is Apparently Out As WH Press Spox

Katie Zacharia

Katie Zacharia is leaving her role as White House press secretary after only seven days, a senior official confirmed Friday, after President Donald Trump publicly urged her to reconsider the position amid mounting scrutiny of her legal credentials and a rocky debut before the press corps.⁠

Speaking to reporters on the South Lawn as he departed for a rally in Georgia, Trump recounted telling Zacharia, “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to… I think you should reconsider.” He added, “Maybe it’s not for her,” while insisting he had not fired her. “No no. I want her to have a good life,” Trump said. “She’s been brutalized by the media.”⁠

🚨 NEW: President Trump says he's leaving Katie Zacharia's future as White House press secretary up to her, acknowledging that the media has been "nasty" in covering her and that Sean Hannity and Fox & Friends had asked her tough questions. “I said to her ‘you don’t need this’,” adds Trump. https://t.co/iNwvAo8dGn

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) October 16, 2026

A senior White House official told Fox News Digital that Zacharia is now “transitioning out” of the role. Multiple news organizations, including The New York Times and CNN, reported she had been fired after less than a week on the job.

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Zacharia was named to the position on Oct. 9, succeeding Karoline Leavitt, who had left in August. She stepped behind the White House podium for her first—and only—press briefing on Oct. 13. The session lasted about 14 minutes; she took questions from just three reporters, all from outlets generally viewed as favorable to the administration.⁠

Her brief tenure was defined by questions about her professional background. Although Trump described her as “an attorney” when announcing the appointment and Zacharia has referred to herself as a lawyer, she confirmed during a Thursday appearance on “Hannity” that she failed the California bar exam in 2011 after graduating from Pepperdine University’s Caruso School of Law and never obtained a U.S. law license. She has said she practiced international transaction law while living in China for several years, where only Chinese nationals can be licensed as attorneys, and maintained that she was careful in how she described her credentials.⁠

Critics focused on both the credentials issue and her performance in the briefing room, where she appeared uncomfortable, made verbal stumbles, and kept the session unusually short. Zacharia later defended her debut by noting she had very little preparation time after being on the job only hours.⁠

A California native and mother of four, Zacharia previously worked as a senior communications adviser at Trump Media & Technology Group (the parent company of Truth Social), served briefly earlier in 2026 as a deputy assistant secretary and spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security, and appeared frequently as a commentator on Fox News and Newsmax. Her rapid exit has drawn comparisons to Anthony Scaramucci’s 11-day tenure as White House communications director in 2017.⁠

Cumulus Completes Chapter 11 Reorganization

Cumulus Media Inc. today announced that it has successfully completed its financial restructuring and emerged from the Chapter 11 reorganization process, following receipt of all required approvals, including from the Federal Communications Commission.

The restructuring was completed on an accelerated timeline consistent with the Company's original expectations, and Cumulus continued to operate in the ordinary course throughout the process, with no disruption to operations, audiences, or advertisers.

 

Mary Berner

Mary G. Berner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cumulus Media said, "I am grateful to our lenders and noteholders for their collaboration throughout this process, and to our employees, vendors, affiliates, customers, and partners for their continued trust and support. Emerging with a significantly stronger balance sheet, we are more committed than ever to providing engaging content across our national footprint, serving as a lifeline and voice for the local communities we serve, driving meaningful growth for our advertising partners, and delivering value for our new shareholders."

 
Upon completing its restructuring and emerging from Chapter 11 as a privately owned company, Cumulus has appointed a new Board of Directors and will remain under the leadership of its existing management team.

As previously announced, Cumulus and certain of its subsidiaries commenced a prepackaged Chapter 11 process in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on March 4, 2026, pursuant to a comprehensive restructuring support agreement with a group of its lenders. Under the terms of the Company's confirmed plan of reorganization, Cumulus has canceled 100% of its existing funded indebtedness — approximately $600 million — in exchange for 100% of the Company's reorganized equity and $50 million of new convertible notes issued to former lenders. The Company also amended and restated its asset-based revolving credit facility to provide continued liquidity going forward.

NAB To Welcome New Legal Officer and Consolidate

The National Association of Broadcasters will lose its Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Rick Kaplan, at the end of 2026 after more than 14 years of service, as the group consolidates its Government Relations and Legal teams under President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt.

Shawn Donilon

Effective January 1, 2027, Executive Vice President of Government Relations Shawn Donilon will assume the newly created role of Chief Advocacy Officer. Donilon has been with the NAB since March 2013. The combined structure is intended to strengthen coordination of the association’s work on Capitol Hill, with the Trump Administration, and at the Federal Communications Commission, reflecting the close intersection of congressional and regulatory decisions in Washington. Kaplan and Donilon will work together to ensure a seamless transition of responsibilities.

In announcing the departure, which was not labeled a retirement, the NAB credited Kaplan with a track record of high-impact successes. 

He led the association through a decade of critical court victories, including a unanimous Supreme Court win that removed outdated restrictions on broadcast ownership. He also secured a major victory for radio stations before the Copyright Royalty Board that sharply lowered streaming rates and later enabled a landmark settlement in the most recent webcasting proceeding. Kaplan additionally handled complex issues involving ATSC 3.0, retransmission consent, the FCC’s broadcast spectrum incentive auction, music licensing, sponsor identification rules, and efforts that reduced broadcasters’ regulatory fees by millions of dollars annually.

Radio Is Best Platform For Reaching Consumers

Radio reaches more American consumers each month than any other measured media platform, according to Nielsen’s new report, “Everyone. Everywhere. See Audio Differently.”

First-half 2026 data show radio reaching 92 percent of U.S. adults—more than 242 million people. That exceeds the monthly reach of TV-connected devices (90 percent), smartphones (87 percent) and live or time-shifted television (85 percent).

Reach remains high among key groups. Radio reaches 87 percent of adults ages 18–34 each month, 92 percent of Black adults and 93 percent of Hispanic adults.

The report also highlights advertising performance. Nielsen’s Global Compass benchmarks found radio delivering a weighted return on investment of $2.00 for every advertising dollar spent, second only to social media at $2.22 and ahead of television, display, search and connected TV. Marketers nonetheless ranked radio last among ten channels in perceived effectiveness, underscoring a gap between perception and measured results.

Radio continues to dominate in-vehicle listening, where more than 80 percent of ad-supported audio time goes to AM/FM. Sixty-five percent of adult radio listening occurs outside the home, rising to 73 percent during weekday drive times. A May 2026 Nielsen/iHeartMedia study found roughly half of recent and prospective vehicle buyers would refuse a car without AM/FM radio, while more than seven in ten said it should be standard equipment. A separate analysis ranked radio second only to smartphone integration in its influence on vehicle purchase decisions.

Americans spend nearly four hours a day with audio. Of the ad-supported portion of that time, radio and podcasts together account for 82 percent, compared with 16 percent for streaming music services. The report stresses the value of planning broadcast radio and podcasts together.

ESPN Unveils NBA Commentator Roster

• Mike Breen, Tim Legler, Richard Jefferson and Lisa Salters return for second season as ESPN and ABC's lead NBA broadcast team
• Inside the NBA presented by Eli Lilly headlines ESPN's studio coverage alongside NBA Countdown
• Jason Kidd and Jeremy Lin join ESPN's commentator lineup

ESPN has announced a robust lineup of play-by-play voices, analysts and reporters for its milestone 25th consecutive season of NBA game coverage. The industry-leading roster includes eight NBA Champions and five Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame honorees.

R.I.P.: Chatty Hatty, Longtime N-C Radio Personality

Hattie Massey Leeper, the pioneering Charlotte radio personality known to generations as “Chatty Hatty” and recognized as North Carolina’s first Black female radio announcer, died Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, at her home in Fort Mill, S.C. She was 98.

Troy Aikman Confirms He'll Be A Free Agent

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman

Troy Aikman will become a free agent at the end of the year once his ESPN contract expires after Super Bowl LXI, the Pro Football Hall of Famer and “Monday Night Football” analyst confirmed Thursday.

Speaking on 96.7 The Ticket in Dallas, Aikman, who is represented by CAA Sports’ Matt Kramer, said he will finish the current season before exploring his options. “I’ll broadcast through this season and I’ll be a free agent at the end of the year and kind of see what happens,” he said. “I’m looking forward to whatever the rest of this season does hold and the Super Bowl and all that and where my next landing spot may be.”

Trump Halts Plans for Execution Livestream

President Donald Trump on Thursday overruled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and said the execution of Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, will not be livestreamed. The decision followed bipartisan criticism of the plan.

In a social media post, Trump called Hasan “a very bad and evil man” and acknowledged that a public livestream “might have been a strong deterrent for the World to see how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan.” He added that “many good and very well meaning people would rather not watch him die.” The execution, scheduled for 1 p.m. on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, will not be streamed, though immediate family members of the victims may watch in person.

TV Ratings: Fox News Channel Wins Cable Race

• FNC Leads All of Cable in Total Day and Total Viewers for 39th Consecutive Week
• CBS’ ‘60 Minutes’ Posts Lowest-Rated Episode of the Season, Draws Smallest 4th-Episode Audience in 25 Years

FOX News Channel (FNC) concluded the week of October 5th with over 1.9 million weekday primetime viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research Big Data + Panel. In Monday – Sunday primetime, FNC secured 1.6 million viewers and, markedly, delivered week-to-week growth in the 25-54 demo. 

In Monday – Sunday total day, FNC drew nearly 1.1 million viewers. FNC also led all of cable in total day and total viewers for the 39th consecutive week. Notably, on October 11th, CBS’ 60 Minutes posted its lowest-rated episode of the season and smallest 4th-episode audience in 25 years, delivering under 6.1 million total viewers and 767,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo.

Ratings Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

The Five led cable news with total viewers, claiming 2.6 million viewers. During the 6 PM/ET hour, Special Report with Bret Baier saw 1.9 million viewers and at 7 PM/ET, The Ingraham Angle secured 1.8 million viewers. In the 8 PM/ET hour, Jesse Watters Primetime averaged 2.3 million viewers and at 9 PM/ET, Hannity delivered 1.7 million viewers.

FNC’s Gutfeld! (10-11 PM/ET) nabbed wins in late-night, averaging 2 million total viewers, and outranking NBC’s The Tonight Show (1.2 million viewers), NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers (855,000 viewers) and the airings of CBS’ Comics Unleashed (704,000 viewers).

FNC’s daytime programs continued to make gains on the broadcast competition. The Will Cain Show (4 PM/ET) garnered nearly 1.6 million viewers, surpassing ABC’s GMA3 and NBC News Daily, which posted 1.4 million viewers for ABC’s GMA3 and 1.5 million viewers for NBC News Daily. America’s Newsroom (9-11 AM/ET), Outnumbered (12-1 PM/ET) and The Story with Martha MacCallum (3 PM/ET) all delivered 1.4 million viewers. The Faulkner Focus (11 AM/ET) and America Reports (1-3 PM/ET) each notched 1.3 million viewers, surpassing NBC’s Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.

Juvenile Sues CBS News for $20M

A 15-year-old Maryland high school student has sued CBS for more than $20 million, alleging a June “CBS Evening News” report falsely portrayed him as a suspect in the vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.⁠

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against CBS Broadcasting and CBS Interactive, was brought by the teen (identified as JV) and a parent. It claims defamation and false-light invasion of privacy.

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Finally Friday: The Pulse Has Your Morning Briefing For Oct 16

Radio Broadcasting

Radio Reaches Consumers Best: Radio reaches more American consumers each month than any other measured media platform, according to Nielsen’s new report, “Everyone. Everywhere. See Audio Differently.” MORE

NAB Slims Down: The National Association of Broadcasters will lose its Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Rick Kaplan, at the end of 2026 after more than 14 years of service, as the group consolidates its Government Relations and Legal teams. MORE

RIP: Hattie Massey Leeper, the pioneering Charlotte radio personality known to generations as “Chatty Hatty” and recognized as North Carolina’s first Black female radio announcer. MORE

MNF Off To Best Five-Week Start of ESPN Era

ESPN’s Monday Night Football viewership is off to its strongest start of the ESPN era through five weeks, further bolstered by a Bills-Rams overtime thriller in Week 5. 

The matchup featuring the NFL’s two most recent MVPs averaged 19.8 million viewers across ESPN, ABC, ESPN2, NFL Network and ESPN Deportes (Oct. 12, 8 p.m. ET), ranking as the second most-watched Week 5 game of ESPN’s Monday Night Football era, behind only last season’s Chiefs-Jaguars matchup.

Nantz First Public Comments On Tony Romo

Jim Nantz said Tony Romo will “unquestionably” work again in broadcasting after the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS Sports mutually parted ways earlier this month.

In his first public comments on the split, Nantz spoke on the “Traina Thoughts” podcast with Jimmy Traina. “I think unquestionably he will work again,” Nantz said. “I don’t know if it’s calling games or being in studio, but he’s got a lot of talent. He’s got a lot of people who like him, and he’s a star. He’s got a personality that, it’s different, and that’s a good thing. He’s a bigger-than-life personality.”

Sports Personality Not Expecting Barstool Extension

Kirk Minihane said Wednesday he does not expect Barstool Sports to re-sign him when his contract expires next fall, and he plans major changes to his show when it returns full-time in January.

The longtime host, who joined Barstool in 2019 after leaving WEEI, made the comments during an extended update on the podcast for The Kirk Minihane Show. “I would love to stay here, but I don’t think I’ll get re-signed,” Minihane said. “My gut tells me no. I could be wrong… but I don’t think I’ll get re-signed.” He added that he has not begun contract discussions with the company and does not expect talks to start until February or March.

CNN, Axios, Others 'Google It'

CNN, the Financial Times, Axios and more than 400 other publishers have joined Google’s AI news program, licensing their content for generative AI features while seeking new ways to drive audience engagement.

Google said Thursday that the program, which began as a pilot last year with partners including The Washington Post, has expanded globally. Under the agreements, publishers grant enhanced content rights that allow Google to develop new AI tools, and Google pays the news organizations. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Musk Settles "Sweepstakes" Lawsuits

Tech billionaire and Republican megadonor Elon Musk settled the two remaining lawsuits stemming from his $1 million voter giveaways during the 2024 election, according to court filings Thursday, ending a two-year legal saga.

CNN reports the settlements resolve proposed class-action civil fraud claims filed by voters in battleground states against Musk and his super PAC, America PAC. Both have denied wrongdoing. The plaintiffs alleged they were misled into believing they had a fair chance at the daily $1 million prizes if they registered as voters and shared personal data with the pro-Trump organization.

During the final weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign, America PAC ran the sweepstakes for registered voters in key states while Musk publicly urged support for Donald Trump. Musk had said the winners would be selected “randomly.” His lawyers later acknowledged in court that recipients were “not chosen by chance” and were instead selected based on their potential to serve as effective spokespersons for the PAC.

Radio History: Oct 16

➦In 1923...Prolific songwriter Bert Kaempfert born in Hamburg, Germany. He wrote "Strangers in the Night" for Frank Sinatra, "Spanish Eyes" by Al Martino, "Danke Schoen" for Wayne Newton, "L-O-V-E" by Nat King Cole, and many others) and performed "Wonderland By Night" in 1960 and signed The Beatles to a recording contract.

➦In 1939...Listeners first heard "The Right to Happiness” to the NBC Blue Network. The 15-minute daytime drama turned out to be one of the longest-running radio shows of its kind. It moved over to CBS in 1941, then back to NBC in 1942. Fourteen years later “Right to Happiness” returned to CBS where it stayed until its final days in 1960

➦In 1951...Singer Richard Penniman, known as Little Richard, made his first recordings for RCA Camden at the studios of WGST Radio in Atlanta. It took another four years and working in New Orleans' French Quarter to turn him into a rock 'n' roll star.

➦In 1954...Elvis Presley made his famous first radio appearance on the KWKH Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, LA. He appeared weekly for $18. His sidemen, Bill Black and Scotty Moore, were paid $12 each.

HOFer Terry Bradshaw Knows His TV Career Is 'Coming to End'

Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw said this week that his long television career as an NFL broadcaster is nearing its end.

“I realize my time on television as a sports broadcaster is coming to an end,” the 78-year-old said on “NBC News Daily” while discussing his new memoir, “Looking for Terry.”

CNN To Fight WH Ban 'To The End'

CNN’s Mark Thompson vows to fight White House press restrictions “to the end” after judge blocks ban as likely unconstitutional.

CNN Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Mark Thompson said Wednesday the network will resist President Donald Trump’s efforts to limit its access to the White House “to the end,” following a federal judge’s finding that the administration’s ban on the network and two other outlets likely violated the First Amendment.

Trump Wants His Way, Appeals Ruling on WH Ban

The Trump administration formally appealed Wednesday a federal judge’s ruling that blocked President Donald Trump from banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters from the White House.

Justice Department attorneys filed a notice of appeal challenging U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly’s preliminary injunction issued Tuesday. The case now moves to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where the administration will seek to overturn the order protecting the three outlets’ White House press credentials while their lawsuit proceeds.

BBC Asks Judge To Force Trump To Sit For Deposition

The BBC has asked a federal judge in Florida to order President Donald Trump to sit for a deposition in his $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the British broadcaster, after his lawyers canceled an agreed-upon date and proposed delaying it until after the discovery deadline.

In a Tuesday filing, the BBC said the two sides had scheduled the deposition for Friday, but Trump’s lawyers informed them on Sept. 28 that he was “no longer available… due to other matters of national importance.”