The groundwork for what was about to become hip-hop was first laid by DJ Kool Herc on August 11, 1973, at a house party. 50 years on, the genre is still as popular as ever, as is evidenced by our chart based on data from Luminate. According to the entertainment industry data company's most recent U.S. Year-End Music Report, R&B and hip-hop had market shares of 28.7 percent and 28 percent in audio and video streaming, respectively, in 2022. In terms of album sales, they're beaten by a genre that's been around for a couple of decades longer.
Luminate data shows that 45.4 percent of the market share in physical album sales belongs to rock music, although the definition of what and what doesn't constitute rock is murky at best. Country music, a style many foreigners traditionally associate with United States culture, mostly has market shares in the single digits. The exception is digital song sales, where tracks by artists like Morgan Wallen or Carrie Underwood make up 12.4 percent of the total market volume.
Overall, the U.S. music market has been shrinking in volume in 2022 in most segments. While vinyl LP sales are up, digital and physical album and track sales are down, the latter by 25 percent, compared to 2021. Streaming, of course, is the big winner in this regard. On-demand song streams, for example, increased in volume by 22.6 percent to a total of 3.4 trillion. Worldwide revenue from recorded music grew to $26.2 billion in 2022, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), $17.5 billion of which were generated in the streaming segment.
Beasley Media Group’s Classic Rock 102.9 WMGK-FM & Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia are teaming up today to help families in need of affordable housing.
The 5th Annual Gimme Shelter event will take place on Saturday, August 12th, from 11am – 3pm at the new Habitat for Humanity ReStore located at 3111 W. Allegheny Avenue, in Philadelphia. WMGK’s Matt Cord, Steve Vassalotti, Andre Gardner, and Tony Harris will be broadcasting live from the donation site.
Listeners are encouraged to drop off new and/or gently used home goods, hardware, and construction materials. All donated items benefit the non-profit organization’s mission of helping to build and repair homes for individuals and families in need in Philadelphia. All on-site donors will receive a pair of tickets to MGK’s Big Gig and a commemorative Gimme Shelter t-shirt (while supplies last) courtesy of our friends at MJ Corp.
Accepted items include tools, hardware, electrical, lumber, plumbing, roofing, doors, windows, appliances, furniture, and more.
In addition, listeners can make a monetary donation or schedule a pickup with their local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. For more information or to donate, head to wmgk.com.
➦In 1877...Thomas A Edison gave the first public demonstration of his invention: the phonograph.
The phonograph, also called gramophone, is a device introduced in 1877 for the recording and reproduction of sound recordings. The sound vibration waveforms are preserved in the form of a groove engraved into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc. As the recorded surface rotates, a playback stylus traces the waveforms and vibrates to reproduce the recorded sound waves.
While other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Edison's phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a tinfoil sheet phonograph cylinder, and could both record and reproduce sounds. Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory made several improvements in the 1880s, including the use of wax-coated cardboard cylinders, and a cutting stylus that moved from side to side in a "zig zag" pattern across the record.
In the 1890s, Emile Berliner initiated the transition from phonograph cylinders to flat discs with a spiral groove running from the periphery to near the center. Other improvements were made throughout the years, including modifications to the turntable and its drive system, the stylus or needle, and the sound and equalization systems.
The disc phonograph record was the dominant audio recording format throughout most of the 20th century. From the mid-1980s, phonograph use declined sharply because of the rise of the compact disc and other digital recording formats. While no longer mass-market items, modest numbers of phonographs and phonograph records continue to be produced in the second decade of the 21st century.
➦In 1925...KMA-AM in Shenandoah IA begins radio transmissions
The station was founded by seed salesman Earl May. May and Henry A. Field of Shenandoah were rivals in the seed business. In 1925 Field of Field's Nursery founded radio station KFNF while May founded KMA. While both stations offered farm news; the two were to become most competitive by offering live productions of hillbilly music. According to KMA's website more than a million people traveled to small town Shenandoah to hear the music.
May built the station headquarters and Mayfair Auditorium (demolished in 1964 due to its being declared structurally unsafe by the Iowa State Fire Marshal) across the street from the nursery business. Between music sets, May would pitch his seeds and tell nostalgic stories. In 1926 May won the third annual Radio Digest Gold Cup Award, after being voted the "World's Most Popular Radio Announcer" by over 452,000 people throughout the United States.
The KMA shows which were broadcast in the afternoons were called the "KMA Country School" and according to the format emanated from the fictional KMA District No. 9 school with the shows beginning with the ringing of a school bell.
The most famous celebrities in KMA's history were the Everly Brothers, Don and Phil. In their early teen years, the brothers and their parents would appear on KMA to sing as "The Everly Family", but by 1952, they were discovered by a talent agent, and made their way to fame in Hollywood with such hit songs as "Wake Up, Little Susie".
With the high visibility KMA operated on a slogan of "Keep Millions Advised", which was adopted in early 1926, after sorting through a reported 4,000 suggestions. KFNF was to operate on "Keep Friendly, Never Frown."
The county school shows were discontinued in the 1950s and the station continued to offer its farm show and farm housewife shows until the late 1990s; the current format revolves around ABC Radio news at the top of each hour, with some agricultural news, regional high school sports and their "Elephant Shop" where listeners can buy, sell, trade or give away personal property on the air.
➤READ MORE: About KMA from radio veteran Marlin R Taylor: Click Here
The 920 AM frequency formerly occupied by KFNF is now KYFR, a Christian radio station owned by Family Radio.
➦In 1937…Comedian Red Skelton made his radio debut on NBC Radio Network's "Rudy Vallee Show."
➦In 1977...Cousin Brucie Morrow did last show at WNBC 660 AM NYC (now WFAN).
➦In 2001..XM Satellite Radio began broadcasting program content.
The Giants and WFAN today announced an extension to their play-by-play
partnership. WFAN will continue as the flagship station of the team, airing all
pre- regular and postseason games. The two also announced expanded programming
for the 2023 season, including the launch of a new weekly preview
show called “Big Blue Kickoff Live” airing on Saturday mornings during the
regular season.
In addition, all three WFAN daily shows will broadcast live
from Giants Training Camp on Monday, August 14th beginning at 6:00
a.m. ET. “Boomer & Gio,” “Brandon Tierney & Sal Licata” and “Evan &
Tiki” will kick off the Giants Training Camp Special with interviews from
players, coaches, front office members, and legends.
“WFAN is proud to grow our long-standing partnership with
the New York Football Giants,” said Chris Oliviero, Market President Audacy New
York. “More opportunities for fans to connect with Big Blue is our commitment,
one that goes beyond Sunday and extends year round.”
“Big Blue Kickoff Live” will air live every Saturday morning
on WFAN from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET during the regular season and break down
all things Big Blue with player and coach interviews. Hosted by Giants.com’s
John Schmeelk and WFAN’s Shaun Morash, the show will take calls and scan social
media to hear directly from Giants fans. Fans can also tune into Big Blue
Kickoff Live exclusively on Giants digital platforms throughout the week.
“We are thrilled to add more Giants programming on WFAN
this season, highlighted by our new Saturday morning preview show,” Giants SVP
Marketing & Brand Strategy Nilay Shah said. “With new and improved
integration between WFAN and our digital platforms, we will be able to provide
our fans with the best coverage on all things Big Blue.”
Also new for the 2023 season will be “Giants Daily Update,”
a quick hit for fans to hear the latest news and buzz from the Quest Diagnostics
Training Center as the team prepares for each game.
WFAN and the Audacy app will continue to be the home for all
New York Giants game broadcasts. Schmeelk and Jonathan Casillas, former Giants
linebacker and nine-year NFL veteran, will serve as pregame and postgame hosts,
while Bob Papa and Carl Banks continue in their roles on the game broadcast
with Howard Cross on the sidelines.
📻Listeners can tune in to WFAN-FM/AM in New York on air and nationwide on the Audacyapp and website. Fans can also connect with the station via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Broadcast station owners including E.W. Scripps Co., Gray Television, Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair have been in discussions with leagues and teams about potential deals to carry games on free over-the-air channels, according to people familiar with the matter, as long-held media rights for teams on regional sports networks unravel.
CNBC reports regional sports networks have owned almost all local sports rights for decades, but their viability is in doubt after tens of millions of Americans have been canceling cable TV in recent years. A shift to a model revolving around broadcast stations and direct-to-consumer streaming would upend the business that saw teams and leagues reap hefty fees. It would also boost broadcast station owners leverage in carriage negotiations — and potentially accelerate cord-cutting.
The discussions come soon after Diamond Sports Group, which owns the largest portfolio of RSNs, filed for bankruptcy protection and stopped paying rights fees for some of the teams on its channels. Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns a slate of networks, said it would exit the business by year-end, putting another handful of teams on the table.
The leagues and teams began contingency planning in March when Diamond filed for bankruptcy, the people said.
Broadcasters are viewing the opportunity to carry local NBA, NHL and MLB games as an unexpected pathway to boost the fees they receive from pay TV operators like Comcast, Charter or DirecTV for the right to carry their stations.
Broadcast companies typically tie all of their stations together when they renegotiate contracts with pay TV carriers. That makes local sports unusually valuable.
If companies like Gray or Nexstar can land sports rights in several markets, they can likely use those rights as leverage to boost fees for all of their stations. If pay TV operators push back on price increases, the station groups can threaten to black out the games. Leagues typically want to avoid local blackouts which disappoint sports fans.
That dynamic has led distributors, which have also shown interest in short-term deals to carry games, to express concern to the leagues about more games going to local broadcast stations being provided free to viewers with a TV antenna and no paid package, the people said. They fear local sports moving to broadcasting could further accelerate cord-cutting.
Fox News Channel’s Media Buzz host Howard Kurtz says the avalanche of legal woes has begun to take a toll on former President Donald Trump. For the first time since the indictments started dropping, Donald Trump seems rattled. In public,” Kurtz writes in a story published Thursday. “Not ‘sources close to the former president say he’s upset,’ but genuinely angry and frustrated.”
Forbes reports Kurtz noted that Trump’s usual reaction to attacks or challenges is bravado. But lately, he’s been playing the victim.
Kurtz pointed to Trump’s appearance in New Hampshire Tuesday, where Trump told supporters "I’m sorry, I won’t be able to go to Iowa today, I won’t be able to go to New Hampshire today, because I’m sitting in a courtroom on bull——, because his attorney general charged me with something."
For the 1st time, Trump seems agitated in public. He says the BS indictments will curtail his campaigning in Iowa and NH. He made an unsubstantiated charge against the Fulton DA. He's very likely to win the nomination anyway, but he looks frustrated https://t.co/pr8QXGWZj9
It was at the rally in New Hampshire that Trump attacked the Fulton County District Attorney expected to file charges against him over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential vote in Georgia. "They say that she was after a certain gang,” Trump said of Fani Willis, making a remarkably personal unsubstantiated claim that “she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member. And this is a person that wants to indict me.
"That is an extremely serious charge – one that could lead to indictment,” Kurtz said.
News Corp said it swung to a loss in the latest quarter, due in part to a revenue decline and a sharp drop in profitability at its book-publishing unit.
The New York-based media company, which owns The Wall Street Journal, HarperCollins Publishers and news organizations in the U.K. and Australia, said revenue fell 9% to $2.43 billion for the quarter ended June 30, hurt by foreign-currency fluctuations and the fact that the year-earlier quarter comprised one extra week.
The company lost $8 million, or one cent a share, which it said was also partly caused by higher restructuring charges. That compared with a profit of $110 million, or 19 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter, boosted by a $149 million tax benefit.
Robert Thompson
Chief Executive Robert Thomson said the company’s Dow Jones unit, which beyond the Journal also publishes Barron’s and MarketWatch, reported its highest profitability since it became part of News Corp. Segment earnings at Dow Jones increased 25% to $133 million, while revenue fell 3.4%.
News Corp calculates segment earnings as revenue less operating and administrative expenses. Segment earnings exclude expenses such as interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, impairment and restructuring charges, and other items.
The Journal averaged 3.406 million digital subscriptions in the period, an increase of 107,000 from the previous quarter. Including the print edition, the Journal averaged 3.966 million subscriptions. Total average subscriptions to all Dow Jones consumer products reached 5.242 million, an increase of 125,000 from the previous quarter.
During a call with investors to discuss the company’s results, Thomson said the company was in active negotiations with relevant companies in the artificial-intelligence field to address the impact of generative AI, a type of artificial intelligence that can create various types of content including text, images and audio.
News Corp’s news-media segment, which includes the Sun, the New York Post and the Times in the U.K., posted a 9.2% revenue decline and a 36% increase in segment earnings, driven by cost-saving initiatives.
Advertising revenue across all units fell 11% to $424 million.
The company said revenue was down 13% at its book-publishing unit, HarperCollins Publishers, where segment earnings fell 66%. News Corp said the decline reflected “lower book sales due to lower consumer demand industry-wide.”
It has been seven years since Kevin Slaten, the bad boy of sports-talk radio across much of its three decades in the market, last hosted a show in that format on a St. Louis station.
But, according to Dan Ceaser at stltoday.com, the outspoken broadcaster, who uses George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone” in the introduction to his show and is known for his stinging critiques of the area’s teams and athletes, is about to reappear. He’s set to return to KFNS 590 AM next week for his sixth stint with the station. Some of his previous stays ended by his choice, others did not. But he vows to be as tough-talking as usual and still is energized at age 69.
“I’m excited to be back,” Slaten said this week, adding that he was interested in returning because “I like” the job. “I’m happy to hold people accountable, that’s what we do. And people can hold me accountable as well. To me that’s the way it always should be and always will be. If people aren’t ready, here we come anyway. If I were (Missouri football coach) Eli Drinkwitz or (Cardinals manager) Oli Marmol, I would be on my toes.”
Beginning Monday he’s heading to KFNS’ noon-2 p.m. weekday slot, which currently is occupied by Nate Lucas and Bob Ramsey. Lucas will be paired with Slaten and produce the show, then Ramsey and Lucas will be on from 2-3 p.m. (Lucas sometimes is the solo host there now). Slaten and Ramsey were among the original hosts when the all-sports format debuted locally in 1992, on KGLD (later KASP) 1380 AM.
His last stay at 590 ended when he elected to leave, on his own, in a change of management structure. Another KFNS stint concluded when he was ousted after making comments in 2012 about racial voting patterns in the presidential election won by Barack Obama. An additional run there ended in 2008 when he was fired following a confrontation with Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan, who didn’t know he was on the air and thought he and Slaten were having a private conversation. Slaten sued over his dismissal and eventually reached a settlement with Big League Broadcasting, which owned the station then.
Starting Monday, August 21st 93.5 & 107.5 The Fan will have a new midday show and a new morning show. The new midday show will be called “Query & Company!“.
Query & Company will air weekdays from 12PM-3PM on 93.5 & 107.5 The Fan.
Jake Query will take the main chair while others will fill in to co-host for the time being until a permanent co-host is decided upon.
Jake Query is an Indianapolis native, graduate of North Central High School and a recent graduate of Indiana University. Jake has been a TV sports reporter and anchor for WRTV, part of the IndyCar Radio Network since 2007 and a long time Indianapolis sports radio host, Jake has spent the last two years as co-host of the Kevin & Query Show on The Fan’s morning show.
Also, beginning on August 21st, Kevin Bowen will be joined on the morning show from 7AM-10AM by Andy Sweeney full-time moving forward. The new morning show will be called “The Wake Up Call With KB and Andy“.
For the past 13 years Andy has been the host of The Take with Andy Sweeney as well as the Program Director on ESPN Louisville. Andy grew up in and graduated from high school in Jeffersonville, living most recently in Sellersberg. Andy made sure his Louisville station was a Colts affiliate and is thrilled to be able to cover the team up close. Andy and his wife have two dogs and will be welcoming their first child this fall.
Beasley Media Group, LLC and Key Networks announce that Shawn Parr, host of Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country, welcomes an all-star lineup of guest hosts to the nationally syndicated Country music show in the month of August. .
Shawn Parr’s guest hosts in August include these Country artists:
Week of August 7th – Brett Young
Week of August 14th – Russell Dickerson
Week of August 21st – Jon Pardi
Week of August 28th – Parmalee
John Reynolds, Vice President of Music & Entertainment, Beasley Media Group, said: “Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country gives listeners a weekly peak “behind the curtain” of an artist’s life. With this lineup, the stories will be super compelling, entertaining and fun each week.”
Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country, is heard on over 80 U.S. radio stations and in 27 of the top 50 DMA markets. Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country affiliates include Beasley Media Group stations WKLB-FM, Boston, MA; WXTU-FM in Philadelphia, PA; WQYK-FM in Tampa, FL; KCYE-FM, Las Vegas, NV; WSOC-FM, Charlotte, NC; WKXC-FM, Augusta, GA; and WKML-FM, Fayetteville, NC.
Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country is available in multiple dayparts on a market-exclusive basis from Key Networks. The four-hour localized Country music entertainment program offers Country stations and their listeners unmatched access to Nashville’s biggest Country music stars, rising stars, and new artists, and showcases the best of Country music in a highly entertaining and PPM-friendly format. Paired with Parr’s trademark warmth, wit, and love for Country music, Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country is available to stations Monday-Friday via FTP delivery. The show is customized to air anywhere in a station’s lineup between 6am-Midnight – Mornings, Middays, Afternoons or Nights.
To bring Shawn Parr’s Backstage Country and Nashville’s hottest Country stars to your market, visit: www.keynetworks.com or contact Dennis Green, Chief Operating Officer, Key Networks, at 844.KEY.NETS or dennis@keynetworks.com. For advertisers and sponsors, contact Jason Wilberding, President of Sales, Key Networks, at Jason@keynetworks.com.
Maui's wildfires have killed at least 55 people, a toll expected to rise, and unleashed destruction on the resort town of Lahaina that will take many years and billions of dollars to rebuild, Hawaiian officials said on Thursday.
BREAKING: At least 53 people are confirmed dead in the fast-moving wildfire on Hawaii's Maui island, officials say. https://t.co/hORZFxCLVQ
Governor Josh Green said the inferno that reduced much of Lahaina to smoldering ruins was the worst natural disaster in the state's history, turning thousands of people homeless and leveling as many as 1,000 buildings. "It's going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina," Green said told a news conference, as officials began to map out a plan to shelter the newly homeless in hotels and tourist rental properties. "It will be a new Lahaina that Maui builds in its own image with its own values," Green said of the city that draws 2 million tourists each year, or about 80% of the island's visitors.
Hawaii wildfires: Lahaina was a vacation paradise before tragedy struck https://t.co/CBCOIUcmzw
The fast-moving inferno, which started on Tuesday, spread from the brush outside of town and ravaged the historic city of Lahaina that was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
A federal appeals court on Thursday appeared skeptical of the Biden administration's bid to reverse a court order sharply limiting its ability to ask social media companies to remove content that it considers to be misinformation.
Reuters reports Daniel Tenny, a lawyer with the Department of Justice, told a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that U.S. officials never forced social media companies to remove posts about COVID-19, the 2020 election and other topics, as Louisiana and Missouri claimed in a lawsuit. Instead, he said, the government had informed the companies of certain posts that spread harmful misinformation.
But Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod said that "irate" messages from officials taking social media companies to task for not removing certain posts quickly enough suggested "a very close working relationship" between the government and the companies.
"It's like a supervisor complaining about a worker," she said.
Circuit Judge Don Willett said public statements by Biden officials suggesting that social media companies could face antitrust enforcement, or lose immunity from certain lawsuits under federal law, could be seen as threats.
"That's a really nice social media platform you got there - it would be a shame if something happened to it," Willett said, describing what he saw as the statements' tone.
Elrod and Willett, along with the third member of the panel, Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement, were all appointed by Republican presidents.
Tenny countered that the social media companies mentioned in the lawsuit, including Meta Platform's Facebook, Alphabet Inc-owned YouTube and Twitter, now known as X Corp, regularly refused government requests to remove content.
It’s clear to the four major U.S. professional sports leagues that Disney’s ESPN is potentially interested in them taking an equity stake in the network. What isn’t yet clear to CNBC is why the leagues would do it.
The National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball have both questioned a partnership with ESPN if Disney’s goal is to mitigate or replace payments to leagues for sports broadcast rights with equity in ESPN, according to people familiar with the talks.
Disney executives and league officials agree that strategic partnership discussions are in the pure “idea” phase and may not amount to anything, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. Talks have had few specifics, said the people, but may heat up as ESPN attempts to reach a rights renewal deal with the NBA. Disney’s exclusive negotiating window with the NBA ends April 2024.
Disney is considering ways to save cash as it tries to shore up its balance sheet. The media giant’s streaming division continues to lose money — with $512 million lost in its most recent quarter — and the company would like to pay down its $44.5 billion in debt. Disney also likely owes at least $9.2 billion to Comcast for its minority stake in Hulu.
Wednesday was Melinda Roeder’s last day as KDKA Radio’s afternoon news anchor before oving on to become news director at WTAJ-TV in Altoona-Johnstown.
She told the Post-Gazette in an interview earlier this week that she didn’t know who would be replacing her but hoped that “whoever takes over my microphone truly appreciates the position.”
Roeder got her wish Thursday when KDKA Radio owner Audacy Pittsburgh announced that Paul Alexander, who has worked on and off at both KDKA-TV and KDKA Radio in various capacities for the last 25 years, will take over afternoon anchoring duties in the neWest Deer native Melinda Roeder during her time working at WGCL-TV in Atlanta.
Paul Alexander
His first day at KDKA Radio in that role will be Aug. 28.
The 62-year-old Forest Hills native was barely a month into his new gig as a public information officer in the Allegheny County executive’s office’s economic development department before he was lured back to his old stomping grounds at KDKA Radio.
Enticing him to step into the station’s afternoon anchor chair was a best-case scenario for Michael Spacciapolli, Audacy Pittsburgh’s senior vice president and market manager. He said to expect Alexander to pop up throughout Audacy Pittsburgh’s programming slate, including back at The Fan and on other KDKA Radio shows.
“Paul will have a very positive influence on the newsroom,” Spacciapolli said. “Through his time in this business, this is a great fit for him right now with the sources he has and his depth of knowledge of the city. It’s a great fit for us and the listeners to really add some personality to our news.”
Nothing official from ESPN, however details continue to emerge about the latest iteration of ESPN Radio’s national lineup.
The NY Post first reported Tuesday that a morning show with Chris Canty, Evan Cohen and Michelle Smallmon will replace the program previously fronted by Keyshawn, Jay Williams and Max Kellerman.
Now, The Post has learned that Chris Carlin and Joe Fortenbaugh will be paired from noon to 3 p.m. Carlin, who once was the producer of the iconic “Mike & the Mad Dog” show in WFAN afternoon drive, and also later hosted in that spot, had most recently been hosting with Canty at 3:00 p.m.
Fortenbaugh, a contributor to ESPN’s “Daily Wager” gambling program, had been hosting radio with Amber Wilson at 7:00 p.m.
The afternoon drive, from 3-7 p.m., will now feature a tandem of Harry Douglas and Freddie Coleman. Douglas, the former NFL receiver for the Falcons and Titans, had previously been hosting with Jason Fitz in middays.
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