Fox News Channel talkers Bill O'Reilly has lost a prolonged custody battle after judges upheld a previous decision in favor of his ex-wife Maureen McPhilmy based on the preferences of their two children, court documents reveal.
He appealed a decision made last year by a Nassau County Supreme Court justice, who granted full residential custody of the teenagers to their mother.
O'Reilly maintains visitation rights and shares legal custody over his 13-year-old son Spencer, and 17-year-old daughter Madeleine.
The Daily Mail reports this marks the end of a bitter custody battle lasting nearly four years, during which O'Reilly's daughter told a court-appointed forensic examiner that she had witnessed her father dragging her mother down a staircase by her neck, Gawker reported.
The incident is believed to have occurred at the couple's Manhasset, New York, home at some point prior to their separation in 2010.
O'Reilly issued a statement at the time calling the allegations '100 percent false.'
After O'Reilly and McPhilmy separated in April 2010, she began dating a Nassau County Police detective named Jeffrey Gross - who she has since married.
Upon learning of their relationship, O'Reilly – who had previously raised money for the department – is alleged to have had an internal affairs investigation launched into Gross.
Then in March 2013, O'Reilly was accused of running a smear campaign against his wife of 15 years and even trying to ban her from the Catholic Church.
KIRO 710 AM Seattle is one of the many AM radio stations that will be dramatically affected by the FCC’s plan to allow other AM stations, on the same frequency, to maintain power at night. But, as GM Carl Gardner tell RadioInk, this plan is a big mistake for several reasons and his listeners will be affected in a big way.
Bonneville's KIRO-AM is the FEMA-led station for emergency service throughout Western Washington and Gardner says the FCC is about to put that service in jeopardy.
And Gardner says this is not just a late-night issue. “Seattle is far north in latitude. In mid-winter we have sunrise after 8 a.m. and sunset shortly after 4 p.m. The AM proposal would strip our contour protections even 2 hours after sunrise and 2 hours before sunset. So we would face major interference issues for as much as 20 hours per day under the proposed rules. Only between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. would KIRO actually have the ability to serve the full region we are expected to serve in our emergency capacity.”
KIRO 710 AM (50 Kw, DA-N) Red Loval Coverage Area
The Bonneville GM says everyone wants to see the small operators have every chance to be successful, especially in small communities where they may be the only local broadcaster. “That’s a good thing. But we should not, in the process, cripple those stations that are big and strong and capable, with resources to serve entire regions. I believe that was the idea back when Class A and clear channel stations were created, and it’s still a reality today at a number of these stations.
KTRS 550 AM will continue to carry Mizzou Tiger football and men's basketball games for the next three years, as announced today by University of Missouri Athletics and its long-time rights partner, Learfield Sports' Mizzou Sports Properties.
As Mizzou's St. Louis affiliate on a statewide network that boasts 54 stations, the Big 550 KTRS will carry complete coverage of the Tigers from Learfield's Mizzou Sports Network through the 2018-19 athletic season.
"The Big 550 KTRS is proud to have extended our agreement of being the home and voice of the University of Missouri in St. Louis. For the last five years, KTRS has aired all Mizzou football and basketball games, and is looking forward to continuing this for another three years," said St. Louis Radio President-General Manager Mark Dorsey. "The SEC is the elite conference in college football and basketball, and the University of Missouri is one of the premier programs in college sports. KTRS is excited about this partnership and will continue to bring the best coverage of Mizzou athletics to the St. Louis region."
KTRS 550 AM (5 Kw, DA-N) Red Local Coverage Area
The lineup includes coverage for live football, men's basketball and select women's basketball games. KTRS will also carry the weekly Tiger Talk call-in shows for Barry Odom and Kim Anderson, along with the Daily Show reports produced by Mike Kelly.
Townsquare Media has announced that Marissa Lanchak has joined WGNA 107.7 FM Albany, NY as midday host.
She starts March 7 joining WGNA from cross-town Pamal Top 40 WFLY. She was working as APD/MD/Afternoons for nearly ten years. She will fill the seat previously held by Heather Davis.
"I'm super excited to have a local star like Marissa join our team," said WGNA Brand Manager Matty Jeff. "It's very rare you get to add such an exceptional talent with a great, local following. She instantly elevates our team and will help us build on our success as Albany's #1 ranked Country station."
WGNA 107.7 FM (12.5 Kw) Red=Local Coverage
"Joining the legendary 'GNA is a huge opportunity, and I look forward to entertaining Country fans all over the Capital Region," said Lanchak. "Making the move to the Country format will be exciting. Plus, working at a cutting edge radio company like Townsquare Media will help me elevate my career to another level."
Cumulus Media has announced that it has promoted Stephen Giuttari to Operations Manager for the company’s three-station cluster in Indianapolis.
Giuttari continues to serve as Program Director for Country-formatted WFMS 95.5 FM, a position he has held since last October. In his new role, Giuttari will manage operations for WFMS-FM, WJJK 104.5 FM, and WRWM 93.9 FM.
Prior to joining Cumulus, he was Country Format Leader and Brand Manager for WGNA in Albany, NY.
Tom Stemlar, Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus Media Indianapolis said: “Stephen is an incredibly focused and skilled leader who I know will harness the enormous talents and resources of Cumulus Indianapolis to beat our lofty audience and operational goals. I look forward to working with Stephen to build Cumulus Indianapolis into the top radio group in Indianapolis.”
Giuttari said: “To be empowered to lead the staff here is a great honor. Since my arrival in October 2015 this has been an amazing experience, working with one of the best staffs in America and collaborating with the industry's top programming leaders, our team in Atlanta. Thanks to Dave Crowl, Mike McVay and Tom Stemlar for their faith in me in leading our brands here in Indianapolis.”
Partners Al Spry and Frank Befera have announced their show 'Living Sexy' is now airing five nights a week on WWPR 1490 AM.
Living Sexy™ Radio is also now heard on by almost 2 Million listeners a month on www.livingsexyradio.com.
Living Sexy Radio is a weekly show that builds on the proven radio relationship format pioneered by Dr. Ruth Westheimer, “Love Lines” and “Passion Phones”.
The hosts are experienced broadcasters who know how to make compelling radio. Show cohost Al Spry commented, "We are very excited to be on Val Silver’s blowtorch, 1490 WWPR. Val has the vision to feature our proven formatted show and we just love the station and its listeners.”
“WWPR is proud to be the flagship station for the Living Sexy Radio Network”, said Val Silver, owner of Vidify Media.
Most publishers and broadcasters know too well that good digital sales help is really hard to find. For Beasley Broadcast Group’s Chief Revenue Officer Heather Monahan, the problem gets a lot worse when they go about hiring the wrong way.
According to netnewscheck.com, when she lost five of her own top sales talent, Monahan says open houses and job fairs yielded only dead weight. Other tactics like referral incentives, recruiters, past employees and house ads yielded somewhat better results, though largely came up short.
Speaking to Borrell Associates’ Local Online Advertising Conference here on Monday, Monahan says the Eureka moment came when she thought of when she ran into actress Kate Upton in a bar. “She doesn’t chase anyone down,” Monahan says. “People come to her.”
That strategy – known as inbound marketing when extrapolated out of Upton’s world – is all about attracting talent to a company by shifting away from the hard sell and moving on to the desirable talent’s timeline. That might consist of identifying the talent and then constantly interfacing in a long, slow recruitment process or just creating attractive content about the company and publishing it across relevant social platforms, waiting for the talent to come to you, Monahan says.
“Give people a glimpse into who you are,” she says, noting that if it’s the right vibe, authenticity- and uniqueness-wise, the candidates will eventually find their way around.
Matt Sunshine, managing partner for the Center for Sales Strategy, is equally emphatic about the need for inbound marketing, echoing Monahan’s emphasis on the platform Glassdoor as an important one for more ambitious hires (it enables employees to assess their experience with the company).
Another takeaway from the Borrell Ad Confab, the average profit margin for a separately operated events division run by a media company is 40%, and those divisions hit that number within as little as 2 years.
Calling events “the third leg of the media stool,” Local Media Association (LMA) president Nancy Lane said the key to events success is treating it as a separate business unit and allocating resources toward it, as if it were a startup.
InsideRadio reports the research is based on data from a recent LMA Events Summit that included such companies as Emmis Communications, the Utah Media Group, the Chicago Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Cedar Rapids Gazette. All but one of the companies reported events revenue in the seven-figure range along with significant growth.
“Events are where the money is,” Lane said.
The Utah Media Group and the Tribune Events Group booked $12 million in events revenue between the two of them, Lane said, noting that they use separate staffs to sell and service their clients.
Weaving cause marketing into its events helped Emmis increase tickets sales, Lane said, with as much as one-third of the company’s events revenue coming from the non-profit community.
Benztown, an international radio imaging, production library, programming, jingles and voice-over services company, Monday announced a call for entries for its fifth annual Iron Imager Contest, the international radio imaging contest where audio production professionals compete for the title of World’s Best Imager.
The first and only competition of its kind, the Iron Imager contest is open for submissions today through the Round 1 Submission Deadline of Sunday, March 14, 2016. The Iron Imager Contest is open to all radio imaging, production and programming professionals 18 and older, and will be judged by top producers and programmers from the U.S. and around the world.
Challengers will demonstrate their imaging skills using audio ingredients from Benztown’s production libraries, paired with contestants’ original scripts. Benztown has also committed additional resources to enhance challengers’ submissions, offering for free the voice talents of many of Benztown’s newest world-class voice talent, including: Lucas Nugent, John Hunerlach, Rob Wreford, Erin Setch, Margit Furseth and Anne Vydra.
Dave "Chachi" Denes
The contest culminates in a live final round on Thursday, April 14, between the winner of Round 1 and current Iron Imager, Dan Kelly, Creative Services Director, WPLJ and NASH-FM 94.7/New York, at the All Access Worldwide Radio Summit at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The 2016 Iron Imager will be declared and presented at the Westwood One Awards Luncheon at 1:00 p.m. the following day.
Dave “Chachi” Denes, Benztown President, said: “Being the Dana White of Iron Imager is not something I take lightly. We go to great lengths to ensure there is no juicing and the contestants are given the same high quality ingredients to level the field. This about raw imaging talent and it doesn’t matter if you come from New York or Cedar Rapids! This bout is guaranteed to leave more blood on the mat than the Ronda Rousey-Holly Holm fight so get your tickets now to the All Access Radio Summit!”
Dan Kelly, Iron Imager 2013, 2014 and 2015 Champion, said: “Iron Imager. It’s just like Iron Chef, but substitute Ginsu knives with your DAW of choice. Swap out lobster for juicy beds and FX from Benztown. And hey, we’ll even have a touch of Iron Chef-- our announcer, Joe Cipriano! Be my challenger and take the belt. Maybe it’ll fit you. Me, not so much. Let’s do this!”
To enter and for full contest rules, visit the official Iron Imager Contest 2016 website. Final pieces must be submitted by 11:59 PM (Pacific) on March 14, 2016.
Calgary's CHPK 95.3 FM has dropped Alternative music, branding as The Peak, for Country as Wild 95.3 FM, branding as “Calgary’s new country.”
According to the Calgary Herald, the station made the abrupt switch on Monday morning at 10:15 a.m., ending their run 22-month-run as the Peak, which was launched in April 2014 with great fanfare and high expectations but had them languishing in or near last place in the ratings for much of that time.
Wild 95.3 FM will be directly going after the city’s perennial ratings juggernaut CKRY Country 105.1 FM, which has long been the king of the Calgary airwaves.
Ross Winters, Director of Programming for the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group added, “Calgary listeners told us that they love New Country music and that they love choice, so we're delighted to give them both!”
“We’re thrilled that with the launch of Wild 95.3 Calgarians now have a choice for New Country. We plan to kick it up a notch and deliver true excitement and energy,” said Eric Stafford, General Manager. “We’ll show what WILD means through our music, our presentation and our complete involvement in the community.”
Stafford says he believes the piece of the pie is big enough that there’s enough to satisfy both stations and a market that can support them.
“I sure do. We respect the fact that they’ve done a good job and have been in the market for a long time, a heritage station, but we do believe there’s room for two stations in many formats,” he says, referring, again, to the various hit music stations in the city that have “been able to find a space and be successful.
As part of the launch and to introduce itself to the market, the station will play 10,000 songs uninterrupted, announcing at the end of the period — approximately three or three-and-a-half weeks from now — who its on-air talent will be.
In 1893...In St. Louis, electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gave the first public demonstration of radio.
Tesla had first demonstrated wireless transmissions during his high frequency and potential lecture of 1891. Just days before the St Louis presentation, Tesla addressed the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, on February 23, 1893, describing in detail the principles of early radio communication.
Tesla presented the fundamentals of radio in 1893 during his public presentation, "On Light and Other High Frequency Phenomena." Afterward, the principle of radio communication -- sending signals through space to receivers -- was widely publicized from Tesla's experiments and demonstrations.
Even before the development of the vacuum tube, Tesla’s descriptions contained all the elements that were later incorporated into radio systems. He initially experimented with magnetic receivers, unlike the coherers (detecting devices consisting of tubes filled with iron filings which had been invented by Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti in 1884) used by Guglielmo Marconi and other early experimenters.
Radio offers another example of Tesla’s work receiving minimal or no long-term public acknowledgement. While Marconi is often credited with inventing the radio, this presentation by Tesla was recalled in courts several years later in invalidating Marconi patents.
Indeed, it, among other facts, pushed the United States Supreme Court in the 1943 case of Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America vs the United States to state that "it is now held that in the important advance upon his basic patent Marconi did nothing that had not already been seen and disclosed."
To be true, what Tesla demonstrated had more scientific interest than practical use. However, he believed that by taking the “Tesla oscillator,” grounding one side of it and connecting the other to an insulated body of large surface, it would be possible to transmit electric oscillations to a great distance and to communicate intelligence in this way to other oscillators.
In 1898 at the Electrical Exhibition in New York, Tesla would successfully demonstrate a radio-controlled boat. For that work, he was awarded US patent No. 613,809 for a "Method of and Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vessels or Vehicles."
Between 1895 and 1897, Tesla received wireless signals transmitted via short distances in his lectures. He transmitted over medium ranges during presentations made between 1897 and the 1910.
In 1904...Bandleader Glenn Miller was born. He disappeared in a plane over the Atlantic on Dec. 15, 1944 at 40.
Harry Caray
In 1914...beloved sportscaster Harry Caray was born Harry Carabina in St. Louis, where he began his big league career as voice of baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals for 24 years. He worked briefly for the Oakland A’s before moving to Chicago, where he was voice of the White Sox for a decade. In 1982 he began 15 years of calling the Cubs games on superstation WGN which won him a national following.
He suffered a fatal heart attack after a series of strokes Feb 18, 1998 & died just days before his 84th birthday.
In 1932...one of daytime radio’s comedic gems Easy Aces written by and starring Goodman Ace with his ditzy wife Jane, moved from local Chicago exposure to the full CBS network, three times a week. It would delight audiences on that schedule for much of the next 15 years.
In 1941...W47NV, soon to be WSM-FM, began operations in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the first modern commercial FM radio station. FM broadcasting in the United States began in the 1930s at engineer and inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong's experimental station, W2XMN.
In 1949...WFLN 95.7 FM signed on in Philadelphia. 95.7 FM was founded by Philadelphia civic leaders as a fine arts station, which signed on as WFLN at 5PM on March 14, 1949. In the early years, programming was heard in the evening hours only. In 1956, an AM operation was added, which mostly simulcasted the FM.
WFLN, which stood for "Franklin Broadcasting" was the first stand-alone (not co-owned with a local AM) station in Philadelphia. For nearly 50 years, the station's studios, transmitter and self-supporting tower were located at 8200 Ridge Pike, at the western edge of Roxborough, a few miles apart from the cluster of other antennas in Roxborough. From the late 1960s until the late 1980s, WFLN also maintained a small office in center city Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway near 17th Street. This facility was used as a sales office and small studio where host Ralph Collier would do live and recorded interviews. Until about 2004, remnants of white plastic letters spelling "WFLN" could be observed on a low brick wall at the abandoned location, but they have since disintegrated.
Station leadership was carried out by the Smith and Green families. Programming consisted of classical music along with a number of short "feature" programs. Little emphasis was placed on making the station profitable, and most years it simply broke even.
Today it's WBEN-FM 'Ben FM'.
In 1953...WJZ 770 AM changed call letters to WABC.
WJZ changed its call letters to WABC, after the FCC approved ABC's merger with United Paramount Theatres, Paramount Pictures' movie theatre chain, which was divested under government order. WJZ-FM (95.5) and WJZ-TV (Channel 7) also changed to WABC-FM and WABC-TV, respectively, on the same day.
In 1954...At the KHJ Studios in Hollywood, Frank Sinatra recorded "Three Coins In The Fountain."
In 1999...WBIX 105.1 FM in NYC changed call letters to WTJM. Today the frequency is iHeartMedia's WWPR.
In 2007...veteran radio & TV character actor Eddie Firestone died of heart & respiratory failure at age 86. His career began in scores of radio series, including the title role in “That Brewster Boy,” plus supporting roles on “Hawthorne House,””One Man’s Family” and “Let George Do It,” then went on to hundreds of appearances over 40 years of episodic TV, from “Bonanza” and “Perry Mason” to “Gunsmoke” and “Dallas.”
Don Berns
In 2015…Veteran radio personality (CIDC, CFNY and CKEY-Toronto, WTAE-Pittsburgh, WHB-Kansas City, KFMB-San Diego, KLIF-Dallas, WKBW, WPHD and WYSL-Buffalo, WTRY-Albany, WDRC-Hartford, WICE-Providence)/ actor Don Berns died of a heart attack at age 67.
Longtime radio personality and Boss Jock Charlie Tuna died several days ago at the age of 71. Tuna died several days ago from complications of liver cancer.
Born Art Ferguson on April 18, 1944 and at age 16, Tuna began working at his hometown's radio station, KGFW. Then, he went to work at KLEO in Wichita, Kansas for a year with the air name "Billy O'Day". He then worked for KOMA Radio in Oklahoma City in 1966, where he took over the "Charlie Tuna" pseudonym from Chuck Riley, who had used it for one show the week prior to Tuna's arrival. Tuna then moved on to WMEX in Boston for the first 9 months of 1967.
In late 1967, KHJ in Los Angeles offered Tuna the 9 to noon slot, where he debuted on Thanksgiving Day 1967. On February 9, 1971, he had just commenced his morning show at 6:00 a.m. when the San Fernando earthquake occurred. In 1972 he became one of the original DJs at KROQ AM, a new Top 40 station (formerly Country KBBQ). In 1973 be moved to KKDJ as program director and morning personality. He presided over its 1975 call-letter change to KIIS-AM, and broadcast the first show at KIIS-FM as it began its AM-FM simulcast. He also worked at KTNQ, KHTZ (later KBZT), KRLA, KODJ (later KCBS-FM), KMPC, KIKF, and KLAC.
He worked at KBIG 104.3 where he hosted a long running morning show Charlie Tuna in the Morning which aired from 5 to 10 am. His last full-time morning show aired on September 17, 2007, when the station flipped to a non-rhythmic-based adult contemporary format, as 104.3 My FM. He returned to radio February 9, 2008 when he became the weekend personality on Los Angeles oldies station K-Earth 101. CBS on August 27, 2015 began down sizing their stations in Los Angeles, at which point Charlie moved on to expand his syndicated radio business with CharlieTunaSyndication.com.
Tuna served as announcer for Casey Kasem on his 1980's television program America's Top 10, and occasionally filled in for Kasem on his radio programs American Top 20 and American Top 10 . He co-hosted Your Good Time Oldies Magazine from 1992 to 1995, and he produced and hosted Back to the 70s. 52 weekly episodes of Back to the 70s were produced; Kelly continued to provide reruns to stations across the country until 2008, even though Tuna had long since left the program.
Tuna had a year long run in 2009 of a 5-hour classic hits daily and weekend show, syndicated through United Stations Radio Network in New York. He joined Black Card Radio in Los Angeles in 2010 as host of a 5-hour weekend show Charlie Tuna - The 70's, which is distributed nationally and internationally, and later added a 5-hour daily and weekend show for all radio formats. He moved his radio station voice imaging business to Black Card Radio later that year. In 2011 he introduced the syndicated "Charlie Tuna's Hollywood Minute", 4 to 5 top entertainment stories each day. Tuna reunited with United Stations Radio Network in New York in 2013 to do the ad sales for his Black Card Radio shows.
KFWB 980 AM The Beast will end operations as an all-sports station Tuesday after the station’s asset trust sold the business to Universal Media Access KFWB-AM LLC headed by Charles W. Banta of Buffalo NY. for $8M.
Universal Media Access will launch South Asian “Desi 980“.
Banta is the President at Mercury Capital Partners which he founded in 2000. In 1994, Mr. Banta became the President and Founder of Mercury Radio Communications and acquired radio stations in Buffalo, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Earlier he served as Group Head of Greater Media’s Radio Division where, he oversaw 16 radio stations in Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Central New Jersey, and Boston. Banta has been actively involved as an operator or owner in the media business for more than 28 years.
KFWB 980 AM (5 Kw) Red=Local Coverage
Since November 2011, CBS Radio put KFWB into a trust managed by Diane Sutter, President and CEO of ShootingStar Broadcasting. The business move was needed since CBS Corporation owned and operated two TV stations and two radio stations in the L.A. market.
The station's history goes back to March 3, 1925, when it was launched by Sam Warner, a co-founder of Warner Bros.. The station launched the careers of such stars as Ronald Reagan and Bing Crosby. The station was the first to broadcast the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
Although some think its call letters stand for Keep Fighting Warner Brothers or (K)-Four Warner Brothers, actually the callsign was sequentially issued by the Department of Commerce, predecessor to the FCC (March 1925) at the same time as KFWA in Ogden, Utah (Feb 1925) and KFWC for San Bernardino (also Feb 1925).
After first broadcasting on 1190 kilocycles in 1925, KFWB was moved from 1190 to 830 on the radio dial on June 15, 1927. In February of 1928, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) assigned KFWB to broadcast on 850 kilocycles, but one month later, moved the station back to 830 on the dial. Also in March of 1928, KFWB increased its transmitter power from 500 to 1,000 watts. As part of the national restructuring of the Broadcast Band (AM) by the Federal Radio Commission, KFWB was moved from 830 to 950 kilocycles on November 11, 1928.
With the move to 950, KFWB was forced to share a small portion of its broadcast day with the Pasadena Star-News station KPSN for one year, until November 15, 1929. But KPSN, which went off the air in 1931, was given only 30 minutes to one hour of air time each day, and KFWB was able to broadcast the remainder of its hours. By the 1936, the station was operating with 5,000 watts day and 1,000 watts at night, from 6:30 am until midnight and on Sundays from 8 am until midnight. By 1939, transmitter power was 5,000 watts day and night. On March 29, 1941, KFWB changed its frequency again, from 950 to the current 980-AM.
Jack, Harry Warner 1925
KFWB was the first station in Los Angeles to sense the commercial possibilities of baby boomers. In 1958, the station unveiled a Top 40 song format, calling itself "Color Radio, Channel 98." (Click Here to listen for jingle), The term referred to color television, which was catching on. Program director Chuck Blore made personalities out of his jocks, including Bill Ballance, B. Mitchel Reid and Ted Quillin, dubbing them the "Seven Swingin' Gentlemen."
KFWB was purchased by Westinghouse in 1966. On March 11, 1968, the station was relaunched as an all news radio station. The station promoted itself with its slogan, "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world," as first used by New York Westinghouse station WINS, although the station's format used a 30-minute news cycle.
Until spun off into a trust, KFWB was owned by CBS Radio, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, formerly known as Westinghouse, which also owns KNX, the only all-news station in Los Angeles. KFWB and KNX feuded as all-news rivals for years, both on radio and in television advertising. Like its former sister stations (and fellow all-news stations) WINS in New York and KYW in Philadelphia, KFWB had a running Teletype sound effect in the background during regular newscasts.
On September 8, 2009, the station adopted a news-talk format, adding syndicated shows such as Dave Ramsey, Laura Ingraham, Laura Schlessinger and Michael Smerconish.
By the summer of 2014, KFWB's weekday line-up included: LA's Morning News with Penny Griego and Phil Hulett; Money 101 with Bob McCormick; "As We See It" with Phil Hulett and friends; LA's Afternoon News with Maggie McKay and Michael Shappee; and The Amani & Eytan Show from NBC Sports Radio.
On September 22, 2014, KFWB became "The Beast 980", an all-sports format.
The contentious legal dispute over media mogul Sumner Redstone's mental competency will be allowed to proceed, a judge said Monday.
The Los Angeles Times reports L-A County Superior Court Judge David J. Cowan denied a motion by Redstone's lawyers to dismiss the lawsuit from the 92-year-old businessman's former companion Manuela Herzer.
The decision represents a victory for Herzer's attorney's, who have been trying to keep the case alive.
A trial is set to begin May 6.
Herzer, 51, sued in November after Redstone last fall removed her from his will and as the agent in charge of his advance healthcare directive.
Cowan's ruling referred to the 37-page opinion of Dr. Stephen Read -- brought on by Herzer's side -- which said Redstone lacked capacity at the time he allegedly revoked the advance healthcare directive.
In January, attorneys for Redstone had asked the judge to dismiss Herzer's petition, saying the case is an unwarranted invasion of the billionaire's privacy.
Redstone is the controlling shareholder of CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. This month, the ailing mogul relinquished his role as executive chairman of the two media companies.
The judge on Monday also denied requests by Redstone's side to seal certain documents in the court case. The Los Angeles Times, the Hollywood Reporter and Variety last week asked the court to keep the documents open.
Tribune Media Company today reported its results for the three months and the year ended December 31, 2015 and announced that the Board of Directors and the Company have initiated a process to explore the full range of strategic and financial alternatives to enhance shareholder value.
In addition, the company announced that on February 24, 2016 the Board of Directors authorized a new stock repurchase program under which the Company may repurchase up to $400 million of its outstanding Class A common stock.
The strategic and financial alternatives under consideration include, but are not limited to, the sale or separation of select lines of business or assets, strategic partnerships, programming alliances and return of capital initiatives. The Board of Directors and the Company have retained Moelis & Co. and Guggenheim Securities as financial advisors to assist in this process.
Bruce Karsh
Bruce Karsh, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said, "The Board of Directors and management remain focused on maximizing shareholder value. We believe that the value of the portfolio of businesses of Tribune Media is not fully reflected in the stock price and intend to explore ways to unlock value by reviewing strategic alternatives. At the same time, we remain committed to achieving strong operational performance across our businesses."
Tribune Media has not set a definitive timetable for the completion of its review of alternatives and does not currently intend to make any further disclosures regarding its exploration of alternatives until such time as any definitive agreements may be entered into in the process or as otherwise appropriate or required.
In addition, the Company and the Board announced that the Company has entered into new and amended employment agreements with three senior executives. Peter Liguori, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer, entered into a new two-year employment agreement. The Company named Chandler Bigelow as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The Company also expanded the scope of responsibilities of Tribune Media's General Counsel, Eddie Lazarus, by naming him Chief Strategy Officer.
Peter Liquori
Consolidated operating revenues increased 3% for the full year, despite 2015 being an off-cycle political year; excluding the impact of political advertising and Super Bowl advertising revenue, consolidated operating revenues increased 8% for the full year.
Consolidated operating revenues decreased 1% in the fourth quarter due to 2015 being an off-cycle political year; excluding the impact of political advertising, consolidated operating revenues increased 8% in the fourth quarter.
Retransmission consent revenue increased 27% in the fourth quarter and 24% for the full year. Carriage fee revenue increased 58% in the fourth quarter and 49% for the full year.
Tribune Media reported a net loss of $320 million and an operating loss of $263 million for the year ended December 31, 2015.
Cumulus Media announces that it has promoted Davey Willhoit to Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus Pensacola.
Willhoit was previously Vice President, Sales for Cumulus Pensacola’s five-station cluster. Prior to that, he was Multimedia Advertising Manager for the Pensacola News Journal and was the lead Training Manager and Area Sales Manager for YP (formally AT&T Advertising Solutions) across eight states. Willhoit is a native of Pensacola.
Pete DeSimone, Regional Vice President, Cumulus Media said: “Davey is undoubtedly the perfect person to lead our Pensacola cluster. Born and raised in Pensacola, his market knowledge and local advertiser relationships are deeply rooted. During his time as Vice President of Sales, he empowered his team, worked collaboratively and kept everyone focused on a plan that drove results. As the new Market Manager the Pensacola cluster will continue to grow under Davey’s leadership."
Willhoit said: “I’m thrilled to be appointed as the Market Manager in Pensacola. A special thanks to Gary Pizzati and Pete DeSimone. I look forward to years of continued growth while executing our mission of providing great content, connecting advertisers with our listeners, and actively contributing to the betterment of the community.”
