Talk WEGO 980 AM has changing formats, and bringing back a station that vanished from the airwaves last month.
On Friday morning, Michael Carbone, WEGO’s chief operating officer, announced that the station was forming a partnership with former staff members from WTOB 1380 AM, who will LMA the station.
980 AM began carrying classic hits Friday of the late 1950s to late 1970s, with disc jockeys from the former WTOB. Their first song in the new format was “Fly Like an Eagle” by the Steve Miller Band.
the Winston Salem-Journal reports the change comes a month after new owners of 1380 AM switched to a Spanish-language format in November, displacing the former WTOB staff. The new station will be branded “Classic Hits WTOB,” although the legal station ID for now will remain WEGO.
WEGO 980 AM (1,300 watts-D, 49 watts-Night
The WTOB veterans formed a new LLC, Southern Broadcast Media, which has formed a licensed management agreement with Truth Broadcasting, the owners of WEGO.
Carbone said he waited to make the announcement on-air until after the station had paid tribute to Smith Patterson, the morning news announcer on Eagle 980, who retired Friday after a 45-year career on local radio. “I wanted the day to be all about Smith,” Carbone said.
“As we settle into our new on-air location, we want to thank our listeners and loyal supporters who’ve been an encouragement to the staff since early November,” said Mark Richards, one of the WTOB station operators. “We’re all about live, community radio and bringing back a radio style that was almost forgotten.”
Andi Poch has been named Senior Vice President, Sales, CBS Local Digital Media, it was announced today by Ezra Kucharz, President, CBS Local Digital Media. In this New York-based role, she will manage and execute the overall digital advertising sales strategy for the division.
Andi Poch
She will report to Kucharz and work closely with the local digital sales teams for CBS RADIO’s 117 stations and the 29 CBS Television Stations, as well as the entire national sales group. The appointment is effective immediately.
“Andi’s extensive sales background at numerous top media brands is remarkable,” said Kucharz. “Her proven success to implement a creative vision on a digital level, as well as her leadership expertise, will further support and strengthen our division. We are thrilled to have Andi join the CBS Local Digital Media team.”
With more than 30 years of sales experience within the digital, live events, and television industries, Poch comes to CBS Local Digital Media from Townsquare Media, where she was most recently Senior Vice President, Integrated/Digital Sales and Strategy. In this position, she managed various teams on the direct sales, execution and strategy for the national digital and live events groups.
Prior to that, Poch was the Chief Revenue Officer for IconicTV from 2012-2013, where she directed the sales and strategy efforts for a startup representing a roster of YouTube channels, including JAY Z’s Life and Times, and Skrillex, Diplo and A-Trak’s POTATO.
(Reuters) - Radio/TV personality Steve Harvery, the host of the Miss Universe pageant mistakenly announced the wrong winner on Sunday, who then had to give up the crown and hand it over to a 26-year-old actress and model from the Philippines.
It was the first edition of the annual beauty show since it was thrust into controversy when then co-owner and U.S. presidential candidate, Donald Trump, made disparaging remarks about immigrants.
Host Steve Harvey incorrectly announced that Miss Colombia had won the 64th edition of the contest, broadcast live on the Fox television network.
The eventual winner, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, a Filipino-German actress and model born in Stuttgart and raised in Cagayan de Oro, was initially runner-up.
But them Harvey announced to the audience that he had made a gaffe.
"I'd like to apologize wholeheartedly to Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines for my huge mistake," Harvey said on Twitter. "I feel terrible."
Wurtzbach appeared to take the blunder in her stride.
"It's a very non-traditional crowning moment," she said backstage afterward in a video clip of a conversation with Miss USA posted by the Miss Universe pageant on its Twitter feed. "It is very 2015."
Miss Philippines is announced and crowned as winner
Earlier, when asked why she wanted to be Miss Universe, Wurtzbach said: "I will use my voice to influence the youth and I would raise awareness to certain causes like HIV awareness, that is timely and relevant to my country."
It was the first Miss Universe title for a contestant from the Philippines in more than 40 years.
NOTABLE MOMENTS
Minutes before the pageant ended, a vehicle drove up onto a sidewalk near the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it was held and plowed into pedestrians, killing one person and injuring at least 36, officials said. [L1N14A05E]
Las Vegas authorities said they were trying to determine whether the driver, a woman who was detained, drove onto the sidewalk intentionally or due to impairment.
Among the notable moments of the pageant, Flora Coquerel of France, who was at the Paris stadium the night of the November attacks by militants, reached the final five and Ariana Miyamoto of Japan, whose father is African-American, reached the last 10.
Miyamoto's height of 1.73 m (5.7 ft) and bronze skin are unusual in Japan and her selection to represent Japan created an online firestorm in her native country.
For the first time, viewers had a chance to vote on the winner, rating contestants in the swimwear, evening gown and interview competitions.
Until recently, the pageant was co-owned by Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal and Trump, who is leading national polls in the 2016 Republican presidential nomination race.
Earlier, Trump's remarks about Mexicans in announcing his presidential candidacy in June drew sharp criticism, and the Spanish-language network Univision pulled out of a deal to televise the pageant.
Trump, who has sued Univision for $500 million, bought out NBC's stake in the Miss Universe Organization, which produces both Sunday's pageant and the Miss USA contest. He sold the company in September.
The panel of judges included former National Football League great Emmitt Smith, celebrity blog mogul Perez Hilton and 2012 Miss Universe winner Olivia Culpo. Hilton said the two most important things about the pageant were the vastly larger audience and Trump was no longer owner.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York and David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Richard Borsuk, Robert Birsel)
For all his bluster about being a tough and strong leader, Donald Trump admitted to Howard Kurtz on FNC's Media Buzz Sunday that criticisms from conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin made him back off attacks on Ted Cruz.
Kurtz: But after the maniac comment, two powerful voices in radio, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, generally been supportive of you...
Trump: Two great guys..
Kurtz: Yea, said, criticized you for taking on Cruz. Did that make you rethink it a little?
Trump: Well, I like those two people. They've been very supportive and it did. It made me think about it a little bit because Mark and Rush have been so nice to me and, and I did think about it a little bit.
The Cruz, Talk Radio Segment starts at the 8:04 Time Mark:
More than any question that was actually posed to the Democratic candidates, that's what viewers were wondering mid-debate Saturday when ABC returned from a commercial break with only two of the three participants onstage.
While debate moderators David Muir and Martha Raddatz of ABC News attempted to continue the conversation, only Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley were on the stage.
Muir made note coming back from commercial that Clinton was missing; as the opening question turned to Senator Sanders, a rousing applause — perhaps one of sarcasm? — rippled through the crowd as Clinton returned to her podium. Clinton simply said into the microphone, “Sorry”.
Turns out the delay was cuases by a potty break.
The NY Times reports Hillary Clinton had exactly one minute and 45 seconds to walk out of the gymnasium at St. Anselm College to the ladies’ restroom and one minute and 45 seconds to return to her place on stage.
With the men’s room significantly closer to the debate stage, Mrs. Clinton’s male opponents, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, made it back quicker and, well, it takes women longer, as Mrs. Clinton pointed out after returning slightly late from a commercial break during the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas.
Anthony Cumia, best known for co-hosting “Opie and Anthony”, was released conditionally following his arraignment Sunday on strangulation and other charges after getting into an altercation with his 26-year-old girlfriend at his home.
Meanwhile a video has surfaced on YouTube documenting the argument between Cumia and Danielle Brand during which the woman — described by Cumia’s attorney in court as his client’s girlfriend — accuses the broadcaster of breaking one of her ribs. She used Periscope, which allows users to live stream, to record the incident.
Cumia, 54, was charged Saturday morning with strangulation, criminal mischief, unlawful imprisonment and assault and was arraigned Sunday in First District Court in Hempstead.
Newsday reports no bail was set and Cumia was released, although prosecutors had asked that he be held on $50,000 cash bail. The judge ordered Cumia to stay away from the victim.
Prosecutors told the court that “during an argument” in Cumia’s house, Cumia stomped on the woman’s hand and strangled her. She suffered a fractured rib, swollen arm and pain to the chest, prosecutors said.
Schwartz said Brand is Cumia’s girlfriend and that the dispute was the result of a dispute between the two. He said Brand lives in Cumia’s New York City apartment and that during the fight in Roslyn Heights they also both broke each other’s cellphones..
According to Newsday, court documents show that while Brand and Cumia were together about 4 a.m. they began arguing over a comment made earlier by Brand about a former “dating partner” of Cumia.
The argument escalated and Cumia “assaulted” Brand, according to the criminal complaint. It says the woman, “after she made several attempts to flee, made it outside the house, only to have the defendant carry her back in, and then pin her against the wall, and wrap his hands around her neck.”
In the Periscope video, which shows Cumia in the background laughing, Cumia calls the film, “The Anthony and Dani Show” after they scream back and forth at each other. It opens with Brand saying, “I’m on Long Island,” and then, “I got my hand broken. . . . I’m waiting for the police to come.”
Cumia has ended up in the middle of several dust-ups with his employers over the years. Since the summer of 2014, Cumia has been hosting the online paid subscription show, “The Anthony Cumia Show.”
In what appears to be a budget issue, Andy Bloom, the operations manager for Sportsradio WIP 94.1 FM and Talk WPHT 1210 AM, is “no longer with CBS Radio” according to CBS Radio Philadelphia Market President David Yadgaroff.
Bloom had been in charge of two of CBS Radio’s six Philadelphia stations. One of his main jobs seemed to be dealing with the volatile personalities at WIP, most recently dealing with significant turnover and often a melodrama of sorts surrounding afternoon drive host Josh Innes this year.
WIP is currently locked in a ratings war with upstart sports talk station 97.5 The Fanatic, which this year hired former WIP host Anthony Gargano to start a local morning drive program to challenge WIP morning show stalwart Angelo Cataldi.
While WIP still produces solid ratings, The Philly Business Journal reports WPHT has struggled. In October, it netted just a 1.5 share, only good enough for 21st in the market and the lowest rated of the six local CBS stations.
In an interview last month, Bloom said the conservative talk station just needed to establish some continuity, noting that the current lineup of hosts had been in place for a year and that would soon pay dividends.
Bloom earlier programmed rocker WYSP, and was the program director when it became the first station to simulcast “The Howard Stern Show” in 1986.
In between Bloom held programming positions for Chancellor Broadcasting and Emmis Communications. From 1993 – 2002, Bloom was VP of programming for Emmis’ International Division, working in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Budapest, Hungary. He took a four-year break from radio, working as communications director for Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) before returning to CBS Radio in 2007.
Newspapers have become the least popular medium people use to keep up to date with news and current affairs, according to new research from Ofcom.
Ofcom’s annual news consumption study found that 31% of the population read a printed newspaper to keep informed, a significant fall from the 41% who said the same thing last year.
The sharp fall means that printed newspapers are now the least popular medium for checking news, behind radio (32%), the internet (41%) and television (67%).
While television remains by some distance the most popular medium, it too saw a significant fall from 75% last year to 67% in the current report.
The Guardian reports there was also a decrease in the popularity of radio as a source of news with the proportion of people doing so falling from 36% to 32% year-on-year.
The fall in people using traditional forms of media to keep up with the news was accompanied by an increase in people using mobiles to stay up to date, from 21% to 25%, and a significant jump in those saying they got their news via word of mouth, from 11% to 14%.
The report unsurprisingly reflects the increase in popularity of going to digital sources for news, especially among younger demographics.
Around half of 16-to-24-year-olds use TV for news, falling to just 21% for newspapers and 23% for radio.
However, 59% of 16-to-24-year-olds said they go online to check news.
With longtime Red Sox radio announcer Dave O’Brien moving over to television to replace the departed Don Orsillo, a major void was left unfilled in the WEEI 93.7 FM booth since Joe Castiglione was the sole voice signed for the 2016 season. The situation may change as early this week if New Hampshire native Tim Neverett accepts the team’s offer to become Castiglione’s partner on radio.
Neverett, 49, a graduate of Emerson College, spent the past seven seasons as a play-by-play voice for the Pittsburgh Pirates, alternating select games on TV and radio. Prior to joining the Pirates, Neverett served as a pre- and post-game host for the Colorado Rockies and covered college sports for FOX Sports Rocky Mountain. Neverett initially broke into professional baseball as one of the youngest broadcasters in the history of the sport, calling select games as a 19-year-old for the Nashua Pirates, the precursor to the Harrisburg Senators.
Neverett has yet to accept the position in the Red Sox booth, although he met with team officials last week according to the report in the Boston Herald. The Red Sox are currently in the midst of a 10-year, $200-million dollar radio contract with WEEI, which they intend to renegotiate this winter after reportedly losing $17 million per season since signing the deal.
Country group Old Dominion stopped by the WNSH NASH FM 94.7 studios last week in New York City before heading out to play a sold out show at Maxwell’s Tavern in Hoboken, NJ!
The guys talked to Jesse Addy about touring again in Summer, 2016, with Kenny Chesney on his “Spread the Love Tour”, along with Sam Hunt and Miranda Lambert.
Before leaving the studio, they performed their single, “Break Up with Him,” and one of their new songs called “Snapback”.
DJ Timbuck2, a fixture in the Chicago hip-hop scene and most widely known for his daily 5 p.m. set on WGCI, passed away Saturday from cancer at age 34, according to WGCI 107.5 FM.
"Timbuck2 was a premier turntable technician. His creativity and ear for music was unparalleled," said WGCI program director Derrick Brown, in a statement on WGCI's website.
"Tim loved Chicago and was an ambassador around the world for our music. He leaves a huge void that will be extremely difficult to fill."
According to his Facebook page, DJ Timbuck2, born Timothy Jones, began DJing at the age of 12 with another Chicago DJ The Twilite Tone. He joined WGCI in 2004 as their youngest mix show DJ and on-air personality.
His Facebook states that he has toured with Kanye West and worked with P. Diddy, Jay-Z, Common, and many more.
In 1965...actor Andy Dick was born in Charleston South Carolina Dick starred as "Matthew" in the TV sitcom "NewsRadio".
In 1988...WWPR NYC switched back to WPLJ.
In 1996...Barry Gray died. He was an influential American radio personality, often labeled as "The father of Talk Radio".
Barry Gray 1951
Initially a disc jockey, Gray was working for New York's WMCA radio station in 1945 when he, bored one evening with simply spinning music, decided to put the telephone receiver up to his microphone and share his conversation with the listening audience. The caller that evening just happened to be bandleader Woody Herman, one of the most popular celebrities of the day. This spontanenous live interview was such a hit with both his listeners as well as station bosses, that the talk radio format resulted. Gray subsequently began doing listener call-ins as well.
Rival station WOR also saw the attraction of the talk format, and Gray worked an overnight shift there from 1945 to 1948 or 1949, interviewing everyone from Al Jolson to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. He also broadcast for WMGM from the Copacabana night club in the late 1940s. In addition during 1947 he hosted the New York-based show Scout About Town for the Mutual Broadcasting System, during which he would present an Award of the Week to popular stars of the stage such as Mitzi Green and Morey Amsterdam.
Gray broadcast on WMIE AM radio from three Miami Beach nightclubs, the Copa Lounge, Danny and Doc's Jewel Box and the Martha Ray Club nightly in the fall of 1948 and into 1949 before he left the Miami area under some pressure. Gray bopped someone from his audience with his microphone,and this happened on the air. The impact was audible and the impact had been preceded by hot words of anger.
Barry Gray returned to WMCA in 1950, and stayed there for 39 years, refining the talk show format still utilized today. During the 1960s, he was in the odd position of having an 11 p.m.-1 a.m. late night talk show on a station otherwise dominated by Top 40 music and the youth-targeted "Good Guys" disc jockey campaign.
After WMCA changed to an all-talk format in 1970, Gray was again fully in his element. By the 1980s he had shifted from a late-night to a mid-day slot at the station.
Gray left WMCA in 1989 when it dropped its talk format, and went to work slightly up the dial for a return to WOR where he enjoyed national syndication. By the time of his death, his show was considered to be politically conservative.
In 2009...The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) released its Top 10 list of 2009's most-played holiday songs on U.S. radio stations, representing an aggregation of all different artist versions of each. "Sleigh Ride" was ranked #1, followed by "Jingle Bell Rock," "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland." "The Christmas Song" came in sixth on the list, then "A Holly Jolly Christmas," "Little Drummer Boy," "Feliz Navidad" and "Frosty the Snowman."
