Longtime country radio host Blair Garner knows that listeners tune into his show for the music and celebrity guests, so after he booked an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg last week, he sent a letter in advance to his affiliate stations, reports The Washington Post.
“It is not, in any way shape or form, my intention for our show to become political,” wrote Garner, who was surprised when campaign staff reached out to him with an interview request while Buttigieg was in Nashville for a fundraiser. “But because someone clearly saw the value of our listeners, I felt secure in affording him this opportunity.”
The overnight Blair Garner Show is syndicated by Westwood One, a division of Cumulus Media. The show airs on over 150 affiliates nationwide.
Garner, who has worked in country radio for three decades, was well aware that politics is a sensitive issue for many listeners — particularly in the country music industry, where the strategy is typically to stay as apolitical as possible. He further wrote that Buttigieg would be two short segments in the first hour of the show and that the full audio would be online. And if stations preferred not to air any of it, his producers would provide alternate programming for those breaks.
However, those precautions were soon moot. A couple days after the South Bend, Ind., mayor appeared in the studio for a wide-ranging interview, Garner heard from his bosses at his parent company, Cumulus Media: The segments were being cut completely from his show. They granted him permission to post the full interview on his SoundCloud account, but it was not allowed on the radio.
In a statement, a representative for Cumulus Media said the company decided not to air the interview because it is a broadcaster subject to the FCC’s “equal time rule,” where stations and networks have to offer airtime to all candidates.
"Cumulus Nashville's programming managers made the decision not to air Blair Garner's pre-recorded interview with Mayor Pete Buttigieg because of the large number of political candidates currently in this race,” the statement read. “The decision was made by local programming management based solely on concerns related to the application of the FCC’s Equal Time Rule. The effects of the FCC’s Equal Time Rule are widely understood and considered whenever these types of issues arise.”
iHeartMedia announced today that Josh Wolff has been named Program Director for CHR WAEB 104.1 FM B104 for Rock WZZO 95.1 FM ZZO.
As Program Director, Wolff will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations for B104 and 95.1 ZZO’s music, on-air personalities, programming, promotions and digital operations. He will report to Craig Stevens, Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Allentown. Wolff succeeds Derrick Cole, who has accepted a role with National Programming Group as Contemporary Hit Radio Program Director.
“I am thrilled to have Josh join our iHeartMedia Allentown team,” said Stevens. “His extensive background and proven track record combined with his innovative ideas and vision make him an excellent fit for our stations in this market.”
Wolff joins the Allentown market from iHeartMedia Phoenix, where he most recently served as the Marketing Director/Assistant Program Director for 99.9 KEZ and 95.5 The Mountain. He also served as the Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Salisbury-Ocean City; Assistant Program Director for 105.9 KGBX and Alice 95.5 as well as Digital Program Director for iHeartMedia Springfield. Throughout his career he has also held positions in Atlanta; Greenville, S.C.; Pittsburgh; and Binghamton, NY. He is a Syracuse University graduate.
“The past four years at iHeartMedia have been nothing short of fantastic,” said Wolff. “ I cannot thank iHeart enough for its leadership, support, guidance, and mentorship. Now with this new chapter, I am incredibly honored to join and work with the iHeart Allentown team at these monster radio stations.”
Entercom and University of Pittsburgh Athletics today announced a new multi-year broadcast partnership extension. As part of the agreement, KDKA 93.7 The Fan, the top-rated voice of Pittsburgh sports fans and the flagship home of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers and the Pittsburgh Pirates, will continue to serve as the flagship station for Pitt football and men’s basketball.
Sister stations NewsRadio KDKA 1020 AM, HotAC WBZZ 100.7 FM and Country WDSY 107.9 Y108 FM will provide coverage and promotional support.
“With Heather Lyke’s [Director of Athletics, University of Pittsburgh] vision, the future of the Pitt Athletic Department is extremely exciting and we are thrilled to be able to bring every moment of it to alumni and fans,” said Michael Spacciapolli, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Entercom Pittsburgh. “Through the growth of our partnership, Panther fans will get coverage and insight year-round that they have never had before.”
“Entercom Pittsburgh has been an outstanding partner for Pitt Athletics and our new agreement reflects the exciting collaborations we will be launching this fall,” said Lyke. “In addition to football and basketball game broadcasts, we are especially enthusiastic about new supplementary programing that will put a spotlight on the entire Pitt sports scene. The Panthers will receive unprecedented coverage on 93.7 The Fan as well as on Entercom’s three additional Pittsburgh stations. This partnership is a huge win for Pitt fans who will enjoy comprehensive coverage 12 months a year.”
“We are thrilled to continue the long-standing relationship between Pitt Athletics and Entercom,” said Laila Brock, Vice President, Sponsorship Sales & Operations, Pitt Sports Marketing. “Our collective goal is to continue to enhance the strong Pitt Athletics brand and the Entercom partnership is an integral component to our success.”
93.7 The Fan has provided play-by-play coverage for both teams since the 2010-11 season. For the first time in the decade-long partnership, game broadcasts, which include pregame, halftime and postgame shows, will be entirely produced locally by 93.7 The Fan. 93.7 The Fan will air a two-hour football pregame show and a one-hour “Panther Reaction” postgame call-in show. The station will also feature one hour of pregame basketball programing, including a 30-minute “Poni and Page Show,” featuring 93.7 The Fan afternoon show co-host Andrew Fillipponi and former Panthers basketball star Julius Page.
In addition to game broadcasts, the new agreement will include the launch of two new Pitt-centric shows beginning this fall: “The Panther Insider Show,” a weekly program that will air on 93.7 The Fan, and “The Heather Lyke Show,” a weekly show on News Radio 1020 KDKA featuring the school’s director of athletics. The agreement also includes the continuation of weekly in-season shows featuring football coach Pat Narduzzi and men’s basketball coach Jeff Capel III.
The partnership between Entercom and the University of Pittsburgh was facilitated through Pitt’s official corporate partnership and multimedia rights partner, JMI Sports, operating locally as Pitt Sports Marketing. JMI Sports works to maximize the value of Pitt’s varied multimedia assets, including radio and television broadcasts.
Cumulus Media Inc. today announced that it has made a $50 million voluntary debt prepayment, continuing its commitment to reducing leverage.
The debt prepayment was funded by the net proceeds from the previously announced sale of KLOS-FM to Meruelo Media, which closed on July 17, 2019, as well as cash on hand generated from operations.
With this prepayment, the Company has reduced its debt by approximately $250 million since emerging from Chapter 11 on June 4, 2018, bringing the Company’s total debt to approximately $1.05 billion.
In two short years, 41-year-oldJason Hammer and 43-year-old Nigel Laskowski have made a big name for themselves on NewsTalk WIBC 93. FM.
According to the Indinapolis Business-Jounral, WIBC-FM 93.1 took a big risk in 2016 putting the two former rock ’n’ roll disc jockeys in its key afternoon-drive time slot.
Today, with audience growing and ad sales booming, the move is paying off.
Hammer and Laskowski, both Hoosier natives, host a show that is so popular, the Emmis Communications Corp.-owned station is moving an hour of the popular syndicated Dana Loesch show to expand the local show, starting July 29.
“This has nothing to do with the Dana show not doing well,” said David Wood, WIBC’s program director. “This has everything to do with expanding a local show that is doing really well and that is still growing its audience. We think by starting an hour earlier, we’ll get an even bigger bump.”
The move has as much to do with expanding ad inventory as audience size.
“The Hammer and Nigel Show”—which currently runs 4-7 p.m.—has become one of WIBC’s highest revenue generators, sometimes selling out its ad inventory. The show runs 15 to 16 ads an hour, or 48 total for a sellout. So Emmis officials decided to start the show at 3 p.m. beginning July 29.
“Right now, ‘The Hammer and Nigel Show’ is a must-buy if I’m buying for an advertiser seeking the male audience. They own the male 25 to 54 [demographic] during their time slot,” said Bruce Bryant, president of locally based Promotus Advertising. “The fact that they’re selling out their show to the extent the station wants to expand it by an hour is a real strong statement about the strength of the show.”
In the last six months, it ranked No. 1 in the market in four months and No. 2 in two months in the sought-after audience of 25- to 54-year-old men. In that demographic, it battles with classic rock stalwart WFBQ-FM 94.7 for the top spot. “That’s an important demo because it’s been proven to be one with a lot of expendable income,” Bryant said.
The show also has done better than many news-talk programs with women. In June, it scored a 5.5 share among all listeners in the 25 to 54 demographic in that time slot, which ranks it No. 7.
“‘The Hammer and Nigel Show’ is a bit different from your traditional news-talk show,” said Kristine Warski, media director for MKR, a local full-service advertising agency. “They’ve fused news and entertainment and, by doing so, are attracting a younger audience than news-talk has traditionally.”
Emmis Communications Corp. CEO Jeff Smulyan tells the Indianapolis Business Journal he still loves radio, but the 72-year-old pines to own businesses that have real growth potential, rather than fighting over nickels and dimes in a stagnant industry.
Indeed, BIA Advisory Services estimates that overall radio ad revenue in 2019 will increase a mere 2%, reaching $14.5 billion. It’s the same song radio operators have been hearing for years.
Those dynamics help explain why Smulyan, who entered the radio business when his dad bought an Indianapolis station in 1973 and made him general manager, over the past three years has executed a breathtaking asset-selling spree, with plans to use the cash to enter new businesses with better growth potential.
“It’s very hard,” Smulyan said. “I think we’ve got some of the best people who’ve ever done radio. But we learned for a lot of reasons that the likelihood of great growth is probably not there.”
Indeed, it has been a bruising stretch for radio, following a consolidation spree around the turn of the century in which station operators—Emmis included—snapped up stations at what proved to be sky-high prices.
A barrage of forces, including the Great Recession, the rise of Pandora and Spotify, and the proliferation of digital advertising alternatives conspired to knock some of Emmis’ rivals into bankruptcy.
The Indianapolis company avoided that fate, but the prices at which it has sold stations expose the industry’s painful new economics. For example, under a deal announced in June, Emmis is set to receive just $39 million for the controlling interest in Austin, Texas, radio stations it acquired in 2003 for $105 million.
Emmis, which Smulyan founded in 1980, once owned more than 20 U.S. stations. After selling stations in Los Angeles, Terre Haute and St. Louis and completing pending deals for stations in Austin and New York City, the company will be down to just six.
Smulyan said he’s committed to holding on to Emmis’ Indianapolis assets, which include the dynamic-pricing firm Digonex and the magazine Indianapolis Monthly, as well as four radio stations.
Its other two stations are in New York. It is trying to sell one, and it leases the second to ESPN for an all-sports station under an agreement extending into 2024.
The selloff will leave Emmis, which once had more than $1.3 billion in debt, with no secured debt beyond the $13 million mortgage on its Monument Circle headquarters. It also will leave Emmis with more than $88 million in cash, a stockpile Smulyan said will allow it to buy businesses with a stronger growth profile. Nothing is imminent, he said, but the company already is reviewing potential targets.
“We feel this is an opportunity to sort of reinvent ourselves.
ESPN has reportedly sent a memo to employees reminding them to avoid discussing politics in light of talk show host Dan Le Batard's strong criticism of President Trump, reports The Hill.
The Associated Press, citing an ESPN employee who spoke on condition of anonymity, reported that the reminder was sent on Friday, a day after Le Batard voiced strong disdain over the "send her back" chants that targeted Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) at a Trump rally in North Carolina.
While offering his criticism, Le Batard also called out ESPN for its policy limiting on-air personalities from engaging in political discussion, saying it was "cowardly."
ESPN has not publicly addressed Le Batard's comment and whether he will face disciplinary action.
Le Batard, whose parents are from Cuba, gained massive attention late last week after taking time out of his radio show to condemn Trump's rhetoric and the chant he presided over.
“What happened last night, this felt un-American,” he said. “It's not the America that my parents aimed to get for us, for exiles, for brown people."
"There's a racial division in this country that's being instigated by the president and we here at ESPN haven't had the stomach for that fight because Jemele [Hill] did some things on Twitter, and you saw what happened after that and then here, all of a sudden, nobody talks politics on anything unless they use one of these sports figures as a meat shield in the most cowardly possible way to discuss these subjects," Le Batard added, referencing the former ESPN host whose anti-Trump tweets led the network to adopt a policy asking employees to avoid political discussion unless it related to sports figures.
Le Batard later described the “send her back” chants as “deeply offensive to me as somebody whose parents have made all the sacrifices to get to this country.”
No conclusive evidence shows that the syndrome known as news fatigue is affecting public radio listeners, but station executives and fundraisers strategized about possible antidotes last week during the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference.
According to current.org, survey research and digital news metrics support the theory that American adults have grown weary of the relentless news cycle, said session moderator Abby Goldstein, incoming president of the Public Radio Program Directors Association. “We all know it’s happening” with public radio listeners, she said, but no hard data connects news fatigue to a decrease in public radio’s audience.
Digital media and cable news executives told Axios last month that audience interest in their Trump-related coverage had dropped. A report by the Pew Research Center in early 2018 found that 68% of American adults surveyed felt “worn out” by the amount of news.
Public radio’s own research has also turned up evidence of news fatigue. An August 2018 NPR survey of newsmagazine listeners found that half of respondents ages 25–64 said they sometimes “need a break from the news to de-stress.” Another 38% percent said that they “feel overloaded with news and information these days.”
“We all went up two years ago,” said Jennifer Strachan, chief content officer of KUOW in Seattle and a co-presenter of the news fatigue session. “We were rolling in money and feeling good.” Now, she said, KUOW is among the stations experiencing the downside of the “Trump bump” that boosted audience and donations for public radio in 2016 and 2017.
Strachan and other public radio leaders see audience declines reported by some stations as cyclical. “What happens to most stations is that it’s a return to normal,” Strachan said. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing; it’s just down from a high.”
Strachan said she grew concerned in the fall when KUOW’s audience slide didn’t conform to the norm of cyclical declines and rebounds. The station’s weekday average–quarter-hour ratings were slow to recover from a sharp drop during the midterm elections, and the slump marked the first time KUOW’s listeners didn’t return after a downturn driven by the news cycle.
Benztown, a global leader in radio imaging, voiceover, programming and jingles with over 2,300 affiliations on six different continents, announces that Mike McVay, President and Chief Executive Officer, McVay Media, will provide strategic audio programming and business development services as a senior consultant to the fast-growing audio services and programming company.
Benztown was founded in 2008 by L.A. radio producer and program director Dave “Chachi” Denes, Andreas Sannemann, a leading international audio imaging specialist and composer based in Stuttgart, Germany, and Oliver Klenk, audio production wunderkind and composer, also from Stuttgart. Their shared vision of radio’s future in the digital age led them to create Benztown, swiftly building a network of partners in the United States, Germany, England, Australia, and New Zealand.
In July 2010, the company grew further when Denes formed Benztown Radio Networks, an international media syndication company providing dynamic programming and features to radio stations and media companies around the world. Since that time, Benztown has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the radio industry and in the U.S. at large. Benztown has been named to the prestigious Inc. 5000 by Inc. magazine for five consecutive years as one of America’s Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies and continues to grow its portfolio of innovative, high quality audio products and services, while expanding its customer base in the U.S. and around the globe.
McVay has worked with Benztown for the past eight years as a client partner in his previous role as Executive Vice President, Content and Programming for Cumulus Media and Westwood One.
Dave “Chachi” Denes, President, Benztown, said: “Mike has been an incredible mentor, frien and partner to me throughout the years. I’m both humbled and privileged to now be able to work with him directly as a consultant to Benztown.”
Andreas Sannemann, Chief Executive Officer, Benztown, said: “We are more than excited to continue working with Mike and for me personally it is an absolute honor to learn more from one of the icons in our industry.”
Mike McVay said: “The product line from Benztown is nothing short of spectacular. I am excited to consult Andy and Chachi and interface with the worldwide team that is Benztown. My personal experiences using these products give me an advantage and insight into what Benztown offers.”
CBS, the nation’s most-watched television network, went dark for more than 6.5 million AT&T customers early Saturday after the two media giants couldn’t agree on a new contract.
The NY Times reports the network was cut off from AT&T’s satellite service DirecTV as well as the landline-delivered U-verse and DirecTV Now, the live streaming product.
The companies had been negotiating for several weeks but failed to agree on pricing and streaming rights before the contract expired on Saturday at 2 a.m., Eastern time.
In a statement, CBS said it “made every effort to avoid this blackout,” but that it wouldn’t agree to terms that “undervalue our hit programming.”
AT&T called CBS a “repeat blackout offender” and said the network had been demanding “unprecedented increases” in the fees it charges.
AT&T television customers in at least 14 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco, lost their feeds to CBS. The network is carried in about 119 million homes across the country, either on a pay television service or free over the air. The affected customers account for tens of millions of dollars in monthly revenue to CBS.
Broadcasters like CBS receive what’s known as retransmission consent fees — the equivalent of a monthly licensing fee — from distributors like DirecTV. CBS is asking for an increase over the rate it last negotiated in 2012, when market conditions were different and pay-television bills were cheaper.
Since CBS is a broadcast network, it’s still free to watch over the air using an antenna. But it and other broadcasters also sell their rights to pay-TV operators like AT&T, which carry the network on their systems.
CBS had been paid an average of a little over $2 for each AT&T subscriber every month, and it is now seeking a fee in the range of $3, three people familiar with the matter said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the contract negotiations are considered private.
Richmond radio host Melissa Chase is recovering after a scare while on vacation with her family in North Carolina. Chase, who co-hosts mornings with Melissa and Jack on WURV 103.7 Play, took to social media to tell her story.
"Well it was my fault for going too far out in the ocean, but I got bit by a shark on vacation this week!" she posted. "It was a baby one and I’m fine now, but holy bananas it hurt so badly!"
Chase said she was far out in the water playing on sandbars with her kids at Sunset Beach when she felt something rubbery hit her legs.
"I knew right away it was a shark, but didn’t have enough time to react before it bit down on my ankle," she said. "The immediate pain felt exactly like you’d think it would when you watch a shark movie and it chomps down - my stomach felt completely nauseous."
Chase said she knew she had to get her kids out of the water.
"I yelled to my oldest that I got pinched by a crab and we had to get out of there quickly so she wouldn’t get bit and screamed for the others to come out with us," she said. "We ran into shore and our friend who is a nurse helped get the bleeding under control."
At the hospital, doctors told her she was bitten by a baby shark. She said she was given a tetanus shot and an x-ray to make sure there weren’t any teeth left in the puncture wounds.
"I was super lucky it wasn't a big shark and beyond thankful it happened to me and not my kids," she said.
Kids in a recent survey were much more likely to aspire to be the next YouTube star rather than the next person in space.
The survey, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Lego, found that children in the US and the United Kingdom were three times as likely to want to be YouTubers or vloggers as astronauts when they grow up.
According to BusinessInsider, The survey asked 3,000 kids ages 8 to 12 to choose from five professions to answer which they wanted to be when they grew up: astronaut, musician, professional athlete, teacher, or vlogger/YouTuber. Though the top choice among kids in the US and the UK was vlogger/YouTuber, 56% of kids in China said they wanted to be an astronaut.
The nonprobability online survey was conducted in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing. The poll surveyed 3,000 kids, ages 8 to 12, divided evenly among the US, the UK, and China.
➦In 1932...'The Father of AM' Reginald Fessenden died at age 65. The broadcasting inventor, engineer, had 300 radio patents.
Until the early-1930s, it was generally accepted that another early radio pioneer, Lee de Forest, who conducted a series of test broadcasts beginning in 1907, and who was widely quoted promoting the potential of organized radio broadcasting, was the first person to transmit music and entertainment by radio. De Forest's first entertainment broadcast occurred in February 1907, when he transmitted electronic telharmonium music from his laboratory station in New York City.
The first widely publicized information about Fessenden's early broadcasts did not appear until 1932, when an article prepared by former Fessenden associate Samuel M. Kintner, "Pittsburgh's Contributions to Radio", appeared in the December 1932 issue of The Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers.
This reviewed information included in a January 29, 1932 letter sent by Fessenden to Kintner. (Fessenden subsequently died five months before Kintner's article appeared). In this account, Fessenden reported that on the evening of December 24, 1906 (Christmas Eve), he had made the first of two radio broadcasts of music and entertainment to a general audience, using the alternator-transmitter at Brant Rock.
Fessenden remembered producing a short program that included a phonograph record of Ombra mai fu (Largo) by George Frideric Handel, followed by Fessenden playing Adolphe Adam's carol O Holy Night on the violin and singing Adore and be Still by Gounod, and closing with a biblical passage: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will" (Luke 2:14).
He also stated that a second short program was broadcast on December 31 (New Year's Eve).
The intended audience for both of these transmissions was primarily shipboard radio operators along the Atlantic seaboard. Fessenden claimed that the two programs had been widely publicized in advance, and the Christmas Eve broadcast had been heard "as far down" as Norfolk, Virginia, while the New Year Eve's broadcast had reached listeners in the West Indies.
➦In 1968...WIBC 93.1 FM Indianapolis became WNAP, but Naptown listeners didn't feel The Wrath of the Buzzard for a few more years.
Jack Lescoulie
➦In 1987..WNEW 1130 AM Radio/TV personality, former Today Show host Jack Lescoulie died
On radio, he was billed as the "Grouchmaster" on The Grouch Club (1938–40), a program in which people aired their complaints about anything, created by future TV legend Nat Hiken, creator of The Phil Silvers Show /You'll Never Get Rich and Car 54, Where Are You?. In the 1940s, he was morning-drive partner to Gene Rayburn on WNEW radio (now WBBR 1130 AM) in New York City, before turning over his role in the team to Dee Finch. The Lescoulie and Finch pairings with Rayburn provided what are believed to be radio's first two-man morning teams.
During World War II, Lescoulie served as a war correspondent, flying in Air Force planes on bombing missions over Italy.
Today's Frank Blair, J. Fred Muggs Dave Garroway
In the fall of 1947, Lescoulie became the "all night radio man" on the Mutual Broadcasting System's New York affiliate WOR 710 AM. On April 12, 1948, he portrayed a mysterious newscaster in "Twelve to Five," a Quiet, Please fantasy drama which recreated an all-night request radio program so convincingly that some listeners phoned in with requests. He returned to Quiet Please June 4, 1949, in the horror drama, "Tanglefoot."
On Today, he was teamed with Dave Garroway for over nine years, covering sports, news and features. The tall, blond performer was called ''the saver'' by Garroway because of his ability to enliven lackluster interviews with his wit. Often characterized as a good-humored, all-American boy, his frequently lighthearted tasks for ''Today'' included wrestling a walrus, interviewing a penguin and eating six breakfasts in one sitting. He departed 'Today' in 1961.
During the 1950's, Lescoulie also made commercials for Milton Berle, was an announcer for ''The Jackie Gleason Show'' on CBS and was the host of an NBC sports-interview series called ''Meet the Champions.'' He also filled in as host of NBC's ''Tonight: America After Dark,'' a show that briefly replaced the ''Tonight'' show in 1957.
