Fox News has unveiled an overhauled version of its website, its first major redesign in over five years. The revamp is designed to push more notifications of live and breaking video news to readers, and above all, get visitors to log in to the site using their cable TV credentials.
Rather than trying to maximize pre-roll advertising or build a social audience that can be targeted with branded video content, Fox News wants to encourage these logins so it can build a stronger picture of its audience across television and digital.
“We want to motivate people to authenticate,” said John Fiedler, Fox News’ svp of digital. “We’re going to make a strong push, starting with this design, to get people to register.”
John Fiedler
According to DigiDay, the last time Fox News overhauled its website was in 2012, or roughly 7,000 years ago in internet time. Since then, video has become critically important to media companies, with some publishers, including its sister company Fox Sports, essentially turning their homepages into big walls of video.
Cable broadcasters like ESPN and CNN have tried to figure out how to get their readers to log in with their cable credentials, which would allow the companies to target their audiences across devices.
“You can get to know a lot about a logged-in user,” Fiedler said.
To nudge people in that direction, the new version of Fox News’ homepage has dedicated space in the top left corner to a live feed from Fox News’ cable broadcast. It will also use a redesigned notification banner to notify visitors when something notable is happening in real time on the channel; if a visitor clicks on that link and is sent to a stream, she will be asked to log in.
Redesigning homepages is always risky. But for Fox News, the stakes are especially high. While the site’s traffic is healthy — it welcomed over 82 million unique users in July, according to comScore — nearly half of its monthly visitors head to the homepage directly, according to Fiedler. They also spend a lot of time on the site; the average site visit to FoxNews.com lasts over six minutes, according to SimilarWeb estimates.
Sinclair Communications has announced that its SportsRadio WTAR 850 AM is now simulcasting on W243DJ 96.5 FM (fed via WUSH 106.1 HD2. The frequency had been the home of SoftAC Vintage 96.5 FM for the past two months.
WTAR 850 AM broadcasts with 50 Kw-D, 25 Kw-N with two different directional arrays.
W243DJ 96.5 FM (120 Watts)
Bob Sinclair released the following statement.
In a statement Bob Sinclair said, We feel that Sports Radio 850 now has one of the one best lineups of any sports talk radio station in the US, and we just felt it was time to reach an even larger audience by simulcasting the station on 96.5FM."
"I feel that while ESPN used to be a great brand, the fact is that their morning show is disbanding this fall, and probably the best talent they had, Colin Cowherd, left the network and is now on Sports Radio 850 live from noon-3pm. We are affiliated with Fox Sports and through their connections; Dan Patrick, Rich Eisen and Clay Travis are also broadcast daily on WTAR. We’ve added the Nick Bailey Show, live and local, Monday-Friday from 3-5pm.
"In addition, Sports Radio 850 is the home of the Washington Redskins, UVA football and basketball, and the Washington Nationals. If all that wasn’t enough, it is no secret to anyone that ESPN has received a big backlash from their perceived liberal bias on what should have been a pure sports network."
ESPN's public editor wrote Jemele Hill had made a "mistake" with her tweets calling President Donald Trump a "white supremacist", saying Friday she had violated network guidelines about making public political pronouncements, according to freebeacon.com.
"Let’s dispense with the suspense: I think Hill made an error in judgment in those tweets," public editor Jim Brady wrote. "And, no, it's not specifically because of what she said; she is, of course, entitled to her opinions, and Hill’s opinion of President Trump is a mystery to precisely no one who has ever read her Twitter feed."
Calling Trump a white supremacist was an opinion, not a fact, Brady wrote, and "she erred by ignoring company guidelines."
ESPN released rules this year about political discussions, writing "the topic should be related to a current issue impacting sports. This condition may vary for content appearing on platforms with broader editorial missions — such as The Undefeated, FiveThirtyEight and espnW. Other exceptions must be approved in advance by senior editorial managements."
"But here’s the thing: In newsrooms, guidelines exist to serve as a backstop for common sense," Brady wrote. "These were not tweets that served her or her employer well. And that’s why — as someone responsible for judging decisions like this through a purely journalistic lens — I think she made a mistake."
Hill did not retract her comments, but she did ultimately issue a statement regretting putting ESPN in an "unfair light," and ESPN released another statement that Hill had apologized for appearing to speak on behalf of the network.
CNN’s Michael Schmerconish interviewed Curt Schilling on Saturday about ESPN’s Jemele Hill.
The former pitcher and former ESPN analyst accused Hill of being racist, but said that she should not be fired by ESPN because the network supports “racists” like Hill and Bomani Jones.
Schilling was a fitting guest to have on in this situation, as he himself was fired from ESPN after he posted a derogatory meme against transgender people on his Facebook page.
They showed the Facebook meme and post that got Schilling fired on air on Saturday, then he joined the show by phone on the road back from Houston.
“I wasn’t fired for speaking my mind, I was fired for being a conservative,” Schilling argued. The former Orioles, Astros, Phillies, Diamondbacks, and Red Sox pitcher then went through the various things he said publicly that ESPN disagreed with and said they were the reason he was fired.
Schmerconish got agitated when Schilling accused CNN of being openly against Donald Trump, but he did get back to ESPN for a bit.
“ESPN openly supports what I believe to be racist, liberal agenda platforms while denying they do, which is kind of frustrating,” Schilling said.
“Disney and ESPN have made it very clear that they will support the Bomani Jones and Jemele Hills of the world who are every bit as racist and intolerant as they say everybody else is,” Schilling said. “That’s their prerogative.”
Pam Oliver then joined the program, and she seemed admittedly flummoxed by what she just heard.
According to BIA/Kelsey’s newly released report “Insights into Local Advertising — Automotive Vertical” businesses in the automotive vertical account for 10% of the total local advertising money that will be spent in the U.S. in 2017, which puts automotive third behind retail and general services.
And the largest chunk of local advertising spend by automotive is going to over-the-air (OTA) television advertising — 32.4%. And while TV OTA’s share of the overall automotive advertising is expected to drop by the end of BIA/Kelsey’s five-year forecast (2021), it will still grab the largest piece of the pie, with nearly 31%.
Besides TV OTA, two more of the top five media that automotive vertical businesses will spend on are traditional media — print newspapers and OTA radio will account for 10.0% each. Digital media, which will account for 15.4% of automotive spend in 2017, is the fastest growing media channel. Mobile media ranks 5th with 8.8% of the pie. As with digital media, BIA/Kelsey forecasts strong growth for mobile media over the next five years.
Wenner Media said it is exploring strategic options for its majority interest in the Rolling Stone magazine, as the New York-based publisher continues to shift from its print media business amid falling ad revenues.
Reuters reports the company recently sold its two other magazines, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal, highlighting the struggles of the industry as advertising revenues fall in an increasingly competitive online age.
Last year, Singapore's BandLab Technologies bought a 49 percent stake in Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone, the top brand in music publishing, brings out 12 international editions in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Russia, and says it reaches an audience of over 65 million people.
The magazine is also known for edgy reporting typified by correspondents like Matt Taibbi, who skewered Wall Street titans during the global financial crisis, and the late Hunter S. Thompson, originator of the gonzo style of first-person journalism.
Wenner Media retained Methuselah Advisors as its financial adviser for the process, it said late Sunday.
Envision Networks has announced another session of Coffee With Envision on one of radio’s hottest topics: Licensing, Lawsuits and Online Photos.
The webinar will be held on Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. EST and will discuss photo copyrights and the threat of lawsuits in the radio industry. With constant news of stations being sued, this webinar will provide an easy to understand introduction to how stations can handle the complicated subject.
The presentation will cover the costs involved with a lawsuit filed against a station or group, best practices to avoid being sued and affordable image resources that stations can use for a photo library.
“Photo copyright infringement was one of the major topics discussed in the hallways at the NAB Radio Show in Austin,” stated Envision Networks CEO/President Danno Wolkoff. “It is clear that the statutory damages up to $150,000 per work infringed needs to be reviewed and updated by the courts based on today’s standards and usage. This webinar is designed to bring this issue into focus.”
Coffee With Envision is a new webinar series aimed to provide information and education on common issues radio professionals encounter and trends in the radio industry. Topics covered will include ways to generate new revenue, tips for programming a winning station, the latest format successes and much more. To thank stations for participating in the webinar, any participant that is on the call and fills out a brief survey afterwards will receive a FREE Starbucks gift card.
Early registration is encouraged as space is limited.
NBC has begun airing promos for “Megyn Kelly Today” that give viewers a glimpse at the show’s set.
The promo includes a serious, even somber voiceover by Kelly, who starts off saying, “in a world and a country that is incredibly divided right now, my hope is that this show can be a unifying force.”
Viewers then see Kelly standing on what is presumably her new set along with shots of her in a meeting. As the promo continues, additional shots of the set are shown with guests and production crew.
The promo ends with Kelly saying “maybe you can turn in for an hour and feel … connected,” while a fullscreen graphic that includes what is presumably the show’s final logo — half of the “Today” sunrise icon next to a stacked logotype in a sans serif typeface — a look that is structurally similar to the one that debuted on the yet-to-debut show’s social media accounts earlier this summer.
The updated logo also includes the word “Today” in all caps, which is how NBC prefers to stylize the “Today Show” name as well.
According to newscaststudio.com, Kelly will be based in Studio 6A in Rockefeller Center, according to sources, which will allow her to have a live studio audience. The space was formerly home of “The Meredith Vieira Show” and the summer variety show “Maya and Marty,” both of which made use of the audience risers.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has given an interview to "The Jamie Weinstein Show" podcast and states President Trump believes that TV is a more accurate reflection of public opinion than polling.
"I know that he watches a lot of television. I know because I've talked to him about it at length, that he's really interested in television, both the mechanics of it - he knows a lot about ratings and lighting, and producing and guest booking... He believes that television producers, especially of highly rated shows, understand what the public is interested in - what it fears, what it wants, what it loves. And so TV programming in some ways is a more accurate reflection of the public mood than polling... That's his view, he said it to me. And that's one of the reasons he watches a lot of television. Whether that's true or not is an entirely debatable point, but he believes if you want to know where the country is, watch TV."
Carlson also said he turned down two of the most-sought-after interviews in TV, in Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Why? "It just wasn't worth the criticism." Carlson might be the only TV news host actively turning down huge gets others would knife each other to get.
Country singer/songwriter Thomas Rhett achieves his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as his new effort Life Changes bows atop the list.
The set -- which brings country back to No. 1 for the first time in exactly one year -- earned 123,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Sept. 14, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 94,000 were in traditional album sales, Rhett’s best sales week and the third largest sales week of 2017 for a country effort.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new Sept. 30-dated chart (where Life Changes debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s websites Tuesday (Sept. 19).
Life Changes is the first No. 1 country album in 2017, and the first in a year -- since Jason Aldean’s They Don’t Know spent one week in the penthouse on the list dated Oct. 1, 2016.
This year, CBS RADIO’s ConnectingVets.com is celebrating Veterans Day through its first ever “Veterans Community Showcase,” a three month, two-part program focused on honoring Veterans for everything they do both during and after military service.
“The Veterans Community Showcase was designed to spotlight the extraordinary efforts of Veterans in our local communities,” said Steve Swenson, Senior Vice President & Market Manager, CBS RADIO Washington, D.C.
“They are our neighbors and friends, brothers and sisters – and each of them have an incredible story to share and should be celebrated for their selfless acts of service. We also think it’s important to showcase companies that help educate, employ and assist Veterans in their daily life so there is awareness of what’s available, and other companies may be inspired to offer similar programs.”
During the first phase of the program, which runs through September and October, ConnectingVets.com will accept public nominations of local Veterans online. An internal programming committee will then select and profile one Veteran each weekday from November 1 to Veteran’s Day. The profiles will be posted on ConnectingVets.com and Facebook.
The sites will also feature sponsored editorial content giving companies with dedicated Veterans’ initiatives a unique chance to share the good work they do and praise their own employees, many of whom are Veterans themselves. University of Maryland University College and United Rentals will sponsor the inaugural “Veterans Showcase” alongside ConnectingVets.com sponsor Freedom Mortgage.
The University of Maryland University College was founded in 1947 to serve the educational needs of GI Bill recipients following World War II. Currently, the University is celebrating its 70th anniversary, and is the #1 public four-year University for post-9/11 GI Bill utilization as well as a leading provider of college education to military service members stationed around the world. United Rentals actively recruits and employs our nations Veterans by helping them translate their military skills into a career. The company even offers a Military Skills Translator tool on its website to help Veterans find the job that’s right for them. Freedom Mortgage has been serving Veterans for over 25 years and is honored to be ranked the #1 VA lender nationally by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Broadcasters Foundation of America raised $250,000 to help broadcasters in need during its Celebrity Golf Tournament last week at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Briarcliff Manor, NY. The annual event is one of the Broadcasters Foundation’s biggest fundraisers.
This year, more than 150 broadcasters and celebrities came out in support of their colleagues, many of whom have experienced personal devastation and loss from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
“The funds come at a time when more broadcasters than ever are in need of emergency assistance,” explained Dan Mason, Chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation. “Our colleagues braved dangerous winds and rain from these massive hurricanes to remain on the air, broadcasting vital, life-saving news and information to their communities. It is up to us to help these dedicated broadcasters now, in their time of need.”
The Foundation has already distributed $50,000 in emergency aid to 50 broadcasters impacted by Hurricane Harvey. That number is rising quickly, and is expected to double over the next few weeks. Another $100,000 in emergency grants is projected to be awarded in response to damage from Hurricane Irma.
“We are pacing to distribute more than $1 million in monthly and emergency grants over the next 12 months,” stated Jim Thompson, President of the Broadcasters Foundation. “The money from fundraisers like the Celebrity Golf Tournament allows us to provide financial assistance to qualifying broadcasters who need our help. We are grateful to everyone who supported the Celebrity Golf Tournament and our charitable mission.”
Among the many celebrity golfers were: Bruce Beck, WNBC-TV; Tina Cervasio, CBS Sports; Rachel Grant, actress and philanthropist; Jay Harris, ESPN; Otis Livingston, WCBS-TV; Karl Nelson, NY Giants; Lee Saltz, New England Patriots; Bill Smitrovich, film & television actor; John Starks, NY Knicks; Bob Wischusen, voice of the New York Jets, and more.
Event Chair for 2017 was Leo MacCourtney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Katz Television Group.
Sponsors included: title sponsor Evercore Wealth Management, ABC Channel 7, CBS Television, CBS Radio, NBC-Owned TV Stations & Telemundo Station Group, Eileen & Jack Connors, Jr., ESPN Radio, Empire Merchants, Flexjet, Norman Knight Charitable Foundation, Marketron, Nielsen, Putnam Investments, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and others.
The Lee Iacocca Villa Nicola in Tuscany, which was donated by Ned and Kate Hentz, pulled in an additional $27,000 in auction.
For more than 70 years, the Broadcasters Foundation has distributed millions of dollars to thousands of broadcasters and their families. Individual donations can be made to the Guardian Fund, corporate contributions are accepted through the Angel Initiative, and bequests can be arranged through the Legacy Society. To learn more or to donate, please contact the Broadcasters Foundation at 212-373-8250 or info@thebfoa.org, or visit www.broadcastersfoundation.org.
➦In 1907... Eddie “Rochester” Anderson was born in Oakland Calif. He was an essential member of the Jack Benny cast on radio & TV for more than 30 years. He died Feb 28, 1977 at age 71. ➦In 1927...the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System debuted with a network of 16 radio stations. (Although other sources say 18.) The name was later changed to Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS.
The origins of CBS date back to January 27, 1927, with the creation of the "United Independent Broadcasters" network in Chicago by New York City talent-agent Arthur Judson. The fledgling network soon needed additional investors though, and the Columbia Phonograph Company, manufacturers of Columbia Records, rescued it in April 1927; as a result, the network was renamed the "Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System" on September 18 of that year. Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18, 1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates.
William Paley
Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, and by the end of 1927, Columbia Phonograph wanted out. In early 1928, Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the network's Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. None of the three were interested in assuming day-to-day management of the network, so they installed wealthy 26-year-old William S. Paley, son of a Philadelphia cigar family and in-law of the Levys, as president. With the record company out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to "Columbia Broadcasting System". He believed in the power of radio advertising since his family's "La Palina" cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS and became its majority owner with 51% of the business.
During Louchenheim's brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A.H. Grebe's Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC (no relation to the current WABC), which would become the network's flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the signal relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, where much of CBS's programming would originate. Other owned-and-operated stations were KNX in Los Angeles, KCBS in San Francisco (originally KQW), WBBM in Chicago, WCAU in Philadelphia, WJSV in Washington, D.C. (later WTOP, which moved to the FM band in 2005; the AM facility is now WFED, also a secondary CBS affiliate), KMOX in St. Louis, and WCCO in Minneapolis. These remain the core affiliates of the CBS Radio Network today, with WCBS (the original WABC) still the flagship (relocated in 1941 to 880 AM), and all except WTOP and WFED (both Hubbard Broadcasting properties) owned by CBS Radio. By the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates.
Paley moved right away to put his network on a firmer financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered into talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures, who planned to move into radio in response to RCA's forays into motion pictures with the advent of talkies. The deal came to fruition in September 1929: Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time. The agreement specified that Paramount would buy that same stock back by March 1, 1932 for a flat $5 million, provided CBS had earned $2 million during 1931 and 1932. For a brief time there was talk that the network might be renamed "Paramount Radio", but it only lasted a month – the 1929 stock market crash sent all stock value tumbling. It galvanized Paley and his troops, who "had no alternative but to turn the network around and earn the $2,000,000 in two years.... This is the atmosphere in which the CBS of today was born." The near-bankrupt movie studio sold its CBS shares back to CBS in 1932. In the first year of Paley's watch, CBS's gross earnings more than tripled, going from $1.4 million to $4.7 million.
Much of the increase was a result of Paley's second upgrade to the CBS business plan – improved affiliate relations. There were two types of program at the time: sponsored and sustaining, i.e., unsponsored. Rival NBC paid affiliates for every sponsored show they carried and charged them for every sustaining show they ran. It was onerous for small and medium stations, and resulted in both unhappy affiliates and limited carriage of sustaining programs. Paley had a different idea, designed to get CBS programs emanating from as many radio sets as possible: he would give the sustaining programs away for free, provided the station would run every sponsored show, and accept CBS's check for doing so. CBS soon had more affiliates than either NBC Red or NBC Blue.
Paley was a man who valued style and taste, and in 1929, once he had his affiliates happy and his company's creditworthiness on the mend, he relocated his concern to sleek, new 485 Madison Avenue, the "heart of the advertising community, right where Paley wanted his company to be" and where it would stay until its move to its own Eero Saarinen-designed headquarters, the CBS Building, in 1965. When his new landlords expressed skepticism about the network and its fly-by-night reputation, Paley overcame their qualms by inking a lease for $1.5 million.
➦In 1942...the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was authorized for radio service.
➦In 1965...Billboard's Hot 100..1965: The Beatles made it three consecutive weeks at #1 with "Help!". Barry McGuire edged up one spot closer with "Eve of Destruction" while Bob Dylan slipped with "Like a Rolling Stone". We Five had "You Were On My Mind" and the Dave Clark Five moved from 13-5 with "Catch Us if You Can".
The rest of the Top 10: The instrumental "The 'In' Crowd" from the Ramsey Lewis Trio, the McCoys slipped into the Top 10 with "Hang On Sloopy", the Turtles were moving slower with "It Ain't Me Babe", Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" came in ninth and the Yardbirds reached the list with "Heart Full of Soul".
➦In 1967...Longtime NYC radio personality Martin Block WNEW, WABC, WOR died.
Martin Block
In 1934, he went to work for WNEW at a salary of $20 per week. In 1935, while listeners to New York's WNEW in New York (now information outlet WBBR) were awaiting developments in the Lindbergh kidnapping, Block built his audience by playing records between the Lindbergh news bulletins. This led to his Make Believe Ballroom, which began February 3, 1935 with Block borrowing both the concept and the title from West Coast disc jockey Al Jarvis, creating the illusion that he was broadcasting from a ballroom with the nation’s top dance bands performing live. He bought some records from a local music shop for the program as the radio station had none.
Block purchased five Clyde McCoy records, selecting his "Sugar Blues" for the radio show's initial theme song.
Because Block was told by the station's sales staff that nobody would sponsor a radio show playing music, he had to find himself a sponsor. Block lined up a producer of reducing pills called "Retardo"; within a week, the sponsor had over 3,000 responses to the ads on Block's radio show. Martin Block's style of announcing was considerably different than the usual manner of delivery at the time. Instead of speaking in a voice loud enough to be heard in a theater, Block spoke in a normal voice, as if he was having a one-on-one conversation with a listener. When one of Block's sponsors offered a sale on refrigerators during a New York snowstorm, 109 people braved the elements for the bargain Block advertised; by 1941 potential sponsors for his show had to be put on a waiting list for availabilities.
➦In 1968...Gary Stevens does last show at WMCA 570 AM
➦In 1970...Jimi Hendrix died in his apartment from an overdose of sleeping pills in London at the age of 27. Hendrix was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Mary Abbott's Hospital in London. Hendrix had left a message on his manager's answering phone earlier in the evening--"I need help man."
➦In 1971...on the album charts...Stanley, Idaho's Carole King dominated the album chart once again as Tapestry was #1 for the 14th week in a row. The Moody Blues remained in the runner-up spot with Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and Rod Stewart was next with Every Picture Tells a Story. Who's Next was next followed by Ram from Paul & Linda McCartney.
The rest of the Top 10: The self-titled Carpenters, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon by James Taylor, the Soundtrack to "Shaft" by Isaac Hayes, Black Sabbath with Master of Reality and the epic What's Going On by Marvin Gaye.
➦In 1974...John Lennon was a guest DJ on WNEW 102.7 FM in New York City.
➦In 1978…"WKRP in Cincinnati," starring Gary Sandy, Howard Hesseman, Gordon Jump, Loni Anderson, Tim Reid, Jan Smithers, Richard Sanders, and Frank Bonner, started a four-season run on CBS-TV.
➦In 1983...For an MTV publicity stunt to promote KISS' new album, Lick It Up , the band appear in public for the first time without makeup.
➦In 1997....Ron Lundy retired from WCBS 101.1 FM in NYC. Aircheck from January 1990..
Lundy was born June 25, 1934 in Memphis, Tennessee, the only child of Fred Sr., a railroad engineer, and Mary Lundy. He served in the United States Marine Corps after graduating from high school. Following the completion of his military stint, he returned to his hometown and attended a local radio broadcasting school on the G.I. Bill. At the same time, he worked across the street at WHHM-AM, where he got his first on-air experience one night when he substituted for the regular disc jockey who failed to report for his shift. This resulted in Lundy being hired as a full-time radio announcer by Hodding Carter for WDDT-AM, the latter's new station in Greenville, Mississippi.
After a stop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at WLCS-AM, Lundy was brought to WIL-AM in St. Louis, Missouri in 1960 by Dan Ingram, who was the station's program director until the middle of the next year. Nicknamed the "Wil' Child", Lundy had a style which was described as a combination of "country and crawfish pie" by Bob Whitney, who also played a major role in the appointment.
Lundy was reunited with Ingram at WABC-AM in 1965. He made his New York radio debut on September 1, working the overnight shift as "The Swingin' Nightwalker." Beginning in May 1966, he became the midday fixture at the station for the next sixteen years. With his catchphrase "Hello, Love–this is Ron Lundy from the Greatest City in the World," he usually preceded Ingram's afternoon drive time program, and sometimes when Ingram was running late to the studio, Lundy would keep going until Dan arrived, doing impressions of The Shadow, where he would play Margo Lane and Lamont Cranston. The two best friends hosted "The Last Show" before WABC's format conversion from music to talk radio at noon on May 10, 1982.
In February 1984, Lundy resurfaced at New York's oldies station WCBS-FM in the mid-morning slot, following former WABC colleague Harry Harrison. According to program director Joe McCoy, the station created the slot especially for Lundy, reducing other shifts from four hours to three.
On the following aircheck, Ron is working morning drive for Harry Harrison who was taking a few days off. Dan Ingram stops-by, at 10:10 into the audio, prior to doing Ron's regular late morning shift...
In June, 1997, Lundy's WCBS-FM show was awarded the 1997 "BronzeWorld Medal" at the New York Festivals Radio Programming Awards for the "best local personality".
Lundy retired from WCBS-FM on September 18, 1997. Upon retiring from radio, Ron and his wife Shirley moved to the small town of Bruce, Mississippi. However, during this time, Lundy did occasional interviews with Mark Simone on The Saturday Night Oldies Show for his former station, WABC.
Lundy was inducted the St. Louis Hall Radio Hall of Fame on January 1, 2006.
Lundy died of a heart attack at age 75 on March 15, 2010 in Oxford, Mississippi. He had been recovering from a previous heart attack after being dehydrated.
➦In 2006...WIYY-FM, Baltimore, becomes the 1,000th station to commence HD Radio transmissions.
➦In 2009…After 72 years on radio and television, the soap opera "Guiding Light," titled "The Guiding Light" until 1975, aired the last of its 18,262 episodes.
