Last week, Nielsen released the latest issue of the Audio Today 2022: How America Listens. In the report, Nielsen profiles how Americans use broadcast AM/FM radio, podcasts, streaming, and satellite audio. With consumption at all-time highs, the audio landscape has never had more potential for advertisers as the United States emerges from two years of the pandemic.
AM/FM radio has mass reach among Americans 18+, adults 35-49, and even Millennials 18-34: On a monthly basis, AM/FM radio reaches 93% of adults 18+, more than live + time-shifted TV (90%), smartphones (86%), TV-connected devices (81%), PCs (76%), and tablets (46%).
AM/FM radio has massive monthly reach among African American and Hispanic audiences: AM/FM radio has substantial monthly reach among African American Millennials 18-34 (88%) and African Americans 35-49 (92%). Similarly, among Hispanic audiences both 18-34 (93%) and 35-49 (98%), AM/FM radio’s monthly reach beats all other media and device platforms.
AM/FM radio is “the center of the total audio universe” with an audience that is 16 times bigger than those who only listen to digital audio and satellite radio.
Most AM/FM radio listening takes place in the car on the path to purchase during key periods throughout the week: Two-thirds of all time spent with AM/FM radio occurs away from home. In contrast, the vast majority of Pandora and Spotify listening occurs at home, according to Edison’s “Share of Ear.”
AM/FM radio is the soundtrack of the American worker: Even during the working weekday, 45% of AM/FM radio listening takes place in the car and 23% occurs at work.
Audio listeners are more willing to shop in stores, attend events, work in an office, and travel by air: Both AM/FM radio and podcast listeners were more willing than the average American to participate in activities like taking public transportation, attending indoor and outdoor events, work in an office setting, and shop at stores in person.
Heavy AM/FM radio listeners have +26% greater purchase intentions than heavy TV viewers: Heavy AM/FM radio and podcast listeners are more likely to take a trip, purchase new technology, a major appliance, or home entertainment item, or do a major landscaping project.
No matter the target demographic, there is an AM/FM radio format that delivers the ideal audience.
Former US Attorney General William Barr was subpoenaed in a $1.6 billion defamation suit brought against Fox News by the voting-machine company falsely accused of rigging the 2020 election, reports Bloomberg.
Dominion Voting Systems Inc. is seeking sworn testimony from Barr, who served as former President Donald Trump’s attorney general, court filings show. One of several former administration officials who refuted Trump’s voter fraud claims, Barr said he told the president that some of his allegations were “complete nonsense,” according to a video recording of his deposition before the House Jan. 6 committee. Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson later testified that Trump threw his lunch against a wall after reading an interview in which Barr rejected election-fraud claims.
William Barr
Dominion is gathering testimony from bipartisan officials who warned Trump that his conspiracy was baseless, to demonstrate that Fox News was on notice that the claims were false and yet reported them anyway for weeks. Fox News has argued that its broadcasts on allegations of voter fraud were journalism protected by the First Amendment.
Last week Dominion subpoenaed Christopher Krebs, a former top cybersecurity official at the Department of Homeland Security whom Trump fired for refusing to question the integrity of the election. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was pressured by Trump to flip the state’s election results after Joe Biden was declared the winner, was also subpoenaed.
According to Dominion’s suit in Delaware state court, Fox News knowingly broadcast false claims that voting machines were rigged in order to win back viewers upset that the conservative network had called the election for Biden.
A judge in December ruled Dominion’s suit against Fox News could go forward because the network probably had enough information after the election to know the conspiracy theory was false. The judge last month also allowed Dominion’s claim against Fox’s parent company Fox Corp. to move forward, because Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch may have acted with “actual malice” in directing the network to broadcast the conspiracy.
Walt Disney Co announced a deal on Monday that will bring a documentary series and concert featuring K-pop band BTS to the company's streaming services.
The series will debut next year and include music and footage of the South Korean group from the past nine years. Called "BTS Monuments: Beyond the Star," it will showcase "the daily lives, thoughts and plans" of the group's members "as they prepare for their second chapter," Disney said in a statement.
Last month, BTS announced the band was taking a break while members worked on solo projects read more .
Reuters reports the programming would be released globally on its streaming services, including on Disney+. Its other streaming platforms include Hulu and Disney+Hotstar.
The company did not say which services would carry the programming in which markets.
The agreement with BTS management company HYBE also allows for Disney to run a recording of a stadium concert in Los Angeles in November 2021, the group's first performance before fans after a two-year interruption forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the deal includes a reality show called "In the Soop: Friendcation" and featuring V from BTS, "Itaewon Class" TV star Seo-jun Park, "Parasite" movie actor Woo-shik Choi, singer and actor Hyung-sik Park and rapper Peakboy.
The show would follow the five friends "venturing on a surprise trip" and "enjoying a variety of leisure and fun activities," Disney said.
Disney also would introduce new programming from other HYBE artists over the next few years, the statement said.
Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Monday said he has directed telecom companies to assist each other in emergencies and develop communication protocols to keep people better informed after Friday's massive outage at Rogers Communications Inc., reports Reuters.
The Rogers network outage disrupted nearly every aspect of daily life, cutting banking, transport and government access for millions, and hitting the country's cashless payments system and Air Canada's call center. read more
"So in essence, what I've demanded and expect the telecom companies in Canada is to enter to a formal agreement within 60 days up to date, at maximum," the minister said in a call with reporters on Monday.
The outage also complicated Rogers' chances of getting antitrust approval for a C$20 billion ($15.39 billion) acquisition of rival Shaw Communications after Friday's major nationwide disruption highlighted the perils of Canada's effective telecom monopoly and sparked a backlash against its industry dominance. read more
"I think people in Canada and certainly the CEOs of the telcos in Canada understand that I've said very clearly and openly that I will not allow the wholesale transfer of licenses from Shaw to Rogers and I think this is well understood," Champagne said on Monday.
The outage came two days after Rogers held talks with Canada's antitrust authority to discuss possible remedies to its blocked Shaw takeover.
The minister also told Rogers to compensate its customers for the outage that it blamed on a router malfunction after maintenance work.
Canada’s telecommunications regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, will probe the outage, he added.
➦In 1908...Comedian Milton Berle was born in New York City (Died from colon cancer – March 27, 2002). Berle's career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during the first Golden Age of Television.
From 1934–36, Berle appeared regularly on The Rudy Vallee Hour, and he attracted publicity as a regular on The Gillette Original Community Sing, a Sunday night comedy-variety program broadcast on CBS from September 6, 1936 to August 29, 1937. In 1939, he was the host of Stop Me If You've Heard This One with panelists spontaneously finishing jokes sent in by listeners.
In the late 1940s, he canceled well-paying nightclub appearances to expand his radio career. Three Ring Time, a comedy-variety show sponsored by Ballantine Ale, was followed by a 1943 program sponsored by Campbell's Soups. The audience participation show Let Yourself Go (1944–1945) could best be described as "slapstick radio" with studio audience members acting out long suppressed urges—often directed at host Berle. Kiss and Make Up, on CBS in 1946, featured the problems of contestants decided by a jury from the studio audience with Berle as the judge. Berle also made guest appearances on many comedy-variety radio programs during the 1930s and 1940s.
Howard Duff
➦In 1946…"The Adventures of Sam Spade," debuted on ABC Radio.
The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946-1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC in 1949-1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie, and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character than the novel or movie. The announcer was Dick Joy.
The series was largely overseen by producer/director William Spier. In 1947, scriptwriters Jason James and Bob Tallman received an Edgar Award for Best Radio Drama from the Mystery Writers of America.
➦In 1957…DJ Alan Freed - the man who coined the term "Rock and Roll" - started a Rock and Roll program on ABC-TV.
"The Big Beat" with guest performers Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers, the Everly Brothers and Connie Francis. The series was cancelled after the fourth show in which Frankie Lymon was seen dancing with a white girl, something that reportedly offended the management of the network's affiliate stations in southern states. Freed hosted a local version of "The Big Beat" on WNEW-TV New York until late 1959 when he was fired due to payola allegations.
➦In 1976…Ted Mack died (Born William Edward Maguiness February 12, 1904). He was the host of Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour on radio and television.
The Original Amateur Hour began on radio in 1934 as Major Bowes' Amateur Hour, and ran until the 1946 death of its creator, Major Bowes. Mack, a talent scout who had directed the show under Bowes, revived it in 1948 for ABC Radio and the DuMont Television Network.
The show lasted on radio until 1952 and until 1970 on television, where it ran on all four major networks, ending as a Sunday afternoon CBS staple. A success in the early days of television, the program set the stage for numerous programs seeking talented stars, from The Gong Show to Star Search to American Idol to America's Got Talent.
Auditions for the show were generally held in New York's Radio City Music Hall. Those who passed the initial screening were invited to compete on the program, featuring amateurs whose performance were judged by viewers, voting via letters and phone calls. Contestants who won three times earned cash prizes, scholarships, or participation in a traveling stage show associated with the program.
Winners who went on to show business careers included singers Gladys Knight, Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, Raul Julia, Teresa Brewer, Irene Cara, The Rock and Roll Trio and Los Concertinos from Puerto Rico.
➦In 1979…A major and oft-mentioned promotional event held at Old Comiskey was "Disco Demolition Night", organized by longtime Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl and White Sox promotions manager Mike Veeck (Bill's son).
Between games of a make-up doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers, Dahl and his crew destroyed a pile of disco records that fans had brought in exchange for a ticket with a discounted price of 98¢ in honor of Dahl's station at that time, WLUP-FM, the frequency of which was 97.9 MHz (98 FM).
More than 50,000 fans were in attendance, along with another 20,000 who crashed the gates even though the game was sold out. The demolition tore a huge hole in center field and several thousand fans, many of them intoxicated, stormed the field, stole equipment, and destroyed the infield.
The nightcap was postponed, but league officials ruled it a forfeit the next day, the fourth in American League history, all in the 1970s. Later, some blamed Dahl; some blamed Veeck. Howard Cosell even blamed then-White Sox announcer Harry Caray, saying Caray contributed to a "carnival" atmosphere. In reality, a handful of rowdies had taken advantage of a situation for which stadium security was woefully unprepared.
"I never thought that I, a stupid disc jockey, could draw 70,000 people to a disco demolition", Dahl said in a Tribune interview. "Unfortunately, some of our followers got a little carried away." That was the last anti-disco rally for WLUP. But it brought Dahl national attention and established him as a radio superstar in Chicago.
➦In 1996...NBC news anchor John Chancellor succumbed to stomach cancer at age 68.
➦In 2008… Former White House press secretary, radio-TV newsman and program host (Fox News, CNN, NPR) Tony Snow died of colon cancer at 53.
➦In 2008… New York Yankees outfielder and baseball broadcaster Bobby Murcer died of brain cancer at age 62.
Cheryl Ladd is 71
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Singer Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac is 79.
Actor Denise Nicholas (“In the Heat of the Night”) is 78.
Singer Walter Egan is 74.
Fitness guru Richard Simmons is 74.
Actor Cheryl Ladd (“Charlie’s Angels”) is 71.
Singer Ricky McKinnie of The Blind Boys of Alabama is 70.
Actor Mel Harris (“thirtysomething”) is 66.
Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 66.
Guitarist Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum is 60.
Actor Judi Evans (“Days of Our Lives”) is 58.
Singer Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms is 57.
Kimberly Perry is 39
Actor Lisa Nicole Carson (“Ally McBeal”) is 53.
Country singer Shannon Lawson is 49.
Rapper Magoo is 49.
Actor Anna Friel (“Monarch,” “Pushing Daisies”) is 46.
Singer Tracie Spencer is 46.
Actor Alison Wright (“The Americans”) is 46.
Actor Steve Howey (“Reba”) is 45.
Actor Topher Grace (“That ’70s Show”) is 44.
Actor Michelle Rodriguez (“The Fast and Furious” films, “Lost”) is 44.
Actor Kristen Connolly (“Zoo”) is 42.
Singer-guitarist Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry is 39.
Actor Matt Cook (“Man with a Plan”) is 38.
Actor Natalie Martinez (“Under the Dome”) is 38.
Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones (“Empire”) is 34.
Actor Melissa O’Neill (“The Rookie”) is 34.
Actor Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” ″House of Cards”) is 32.
Actor Erik Per Sullivan (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 31.
🕇DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
Actress Kelly Preston, who was married to John Travolta, died of breast cancer on this day in 2020. She was 57.
Alpha Media announced the appointment of Geoff Owens as Hip Hop WE 102.9 Content Director and KBFF Live 95.5 Assistant Content / Music Director.
Owens will oversee Programming for KINK-HD2 / WE 102.9 and will report to Portland Operations Manager Gene Sandbloom, Market Manager Lisa Decker and EVP of Content Phil Becker.
Geoff Owens
Sandbloom shares, “Geoff is not only a huge asset to both We 102.9 and Live 95.5, but he brings to Portland a toolkit of skills that we use across all of our Alpha stations. Embracing a ‘can do’ attitude on whatever project he is given, he is a most-welcomed addition to our team.”
Owens commented, “It feels great to be back in Portland in my home town with a company I’ve admired for a long time. Add to that the fact that I get to work directly with 2 great brands Live & WE is an added bonus! Thank you to Lisa, Gene & Phil for giving me the tools, the opportunity and the early trust in my abilities to hit the ground running! Looking forward to taking these brands and Alpha Media to new heights!”
Owens comes to Alpha directly from KDUK as Program Director and PM Drive Host in Eugene. Prior to that, Owens refined his programming, hosting and social media skills at KXJM (Portland), KKRZ (Portland) & KUBE (Seattle).
SiriusXM will deliver listeners more than 45 hours of live on-course coverage this week as the world’s greatest golfers compete in their sport’s original major, The 150th Open, at one of golf’s most iconic venues, the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Those vying for the coveted Claret Jug this July 14th through the 17th include Tiger Woods, who won two of his three Open Championships at St. Andrews, defending Open champion Collin Morikawa, Masters champion and World No.1 ranked player Scottie Scheffler, PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, US Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick and many more of the world’s best.
Live Championship play-by-play will air Thursday through Sunday on SiriusXM’s “The Open Radio” channel (SiriusXM channel 92) and on the SXM App (siriusxm.us/TheOpenRadio). Championship broadcasts will begin on SiriusXM on Thursday and Friday at 2 am ET, and on Saturday and Sunday at 4 am ET, and will continue through the conclusion of each day’s play.
Listeners will hear The Open Radio produced by The R&A, which broadcasts each morning. The SiriusXM broadcast team will take over calling the action at 2 pm ET on Thursday and Friday, at noon ET on Saturday and at 11 am ET on Sunday.
SiriusXM’s on-site broadcast team will be anchored by play-by-play voice Taylor Zarzour and lead analyst John Maginnes, with Maureen Madill, Carl Paulson, David Armitage, Raymie Burns and Ron Green serving as on-course commentators.
The Open Radio team will feature Marcus Buckland, Sue Thearle, Ron Jones, Matt Adams, Sophie Walker, Raymond Burns, Alison Walker, Matt Southgate, Paul Eales, Harry Ewing and SiriusXM’s Carl Paulson as analysts and commentators in the booth and out on the course.
Immediately after each round, The Open Postgame will give listeners a recap of the day’s play and a look ahead at the next day’s action. SiriusXM’s Brian Katrek, Gary Williams, Dennis Paulson, Taylor Zarzour and John Maginnes will host the show. Major champions Hale Irwin, Dave Stockton, Scott Simpson and John Cook, who finished as runner up in the 1992 Open Championship, will also contribute to the post-round discussion.
Today SiriusXM programming will include live coverage of The R&A Celebration of Champions, a special four-hole event taking place at St. Andrews in celebration of the historic playing of golf’s original Championship. An evolution of the ‘Champions Challenge’ which has been played at previous St Andrews Opens, this year’s event will feature a star-studded field of champions from the men’s and women’s professional and amateur ranks, and champion golfers with disabilities, who will compete in a team event over the 1st, 2nd, 17th and 18th holes of the Old Course.
Tour pros Jason Kokrak and Harold Varner III, who will be competing in the Open field, will host new episodes of their SiriusXM shows before the Championship. Crushing It with Kokrak will air Wednesday night at 8 pm ET, immediately followed by The HV3 Show at 9 pm ET.
World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples, who has nine top-10 finishes in the Open Championship, will host a new episode of The Fred Couples Show tomorrow at 8 pm ET.
SiriusXM is also offering listeners an audio documentary that celebrates 150 years of The Open and focuses on what makes the Old Course at St Andrews, considered by many to be the “home of golf,” a special place in the history of the game. Listeners will hear from several Open Champions, including John Daly who remembers his play-off victory over Costantino Rocca in 1995, and three-time Open Champion Gary Player, who tells the story of fellow South African Bobby Locke, who won four Open Championships. The special also features archival audio from three-time Open Champion Tiger Woods as well as the late Tony Lema, who won his Claret Jug in 1964 at St Andrews. The one-hour show is available to subscribers now at on the SXM App (siriusxm.us/TheOpen-150Years) and will air on SiriusXM channel 92 on Wednesday at 6 am ET and 11 pm ET.
In the days before and after The Open Championship, and every week throughout the year, SiriusXM’s weekday golf programming lineup features live shows starting at 7am ET that offer news, analysis, expert instruction and more. For a full schedule of SiriusXM's programming go to SiriusXM.com/golfonsxm.
SiriusXM’s broadcast rights for The Open Championship come through its agreement with the R&A and NBCUniversal, which owns the rights to The Open broadcasts in the U.S.
At least 15 people had been killed and more than 20 were believed trapped Sunday in a Russian rocket attack that hit apartment buildings in Chasiv Yar in Ukraine's Donetsk region late Saturday. Three buildings were destroyed whose residents were mostly people who worked in nearby factories. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russians of intentionally targeting civilians, saying in his nightly address Sunday, "Anyone who orders such strikes, everyone who carries them out in ordinary cities, in residential areas, kills absolutely consciously. After such hits, they won’t be able to say that they didn’t know or didn’t understand something."
Footage released by Ukrainian authorities shows a man pulled from the rubble of destroyed apartment block in the Donetsk region.
➤BLINKEN DELIVERS U.S. CONDOLENCES IN JAPAN OVER ABE'S ASSASSINATION: Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered U.S. condolences to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Monday over the assassination Friday of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Blinken, who was in Indonesia for a Group of 20 foreign ministers meeting when Abe was shot, gave Kishida a letter from President Biden to Abe's family. Blinken said, "We simply want them to know that we deeply feel the loss on the personal level as well." Meanwhile, it was reported that the suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, told investigators he was motivated by his hatred of a religious group that he blamed after his mother went bankrupt after making donations to them. His mother was a member of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, also known as the Unification Church, and while Abe didn't belong to the church, he gave paid speeches at church-related events, and church members were a reliable voting bloc for his Liberal Democratic Party.
➤BIDEN MAY DECLARE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY FOR ABORTION ACCESS: President Biden said yesterday (July 10th) that he's considering declaring a public health emergency to make federal resources available to promote abortion access, saying he's asked officials to, quote, "look at whether I have the authority to do that and what impact that would have." Speaking to reporters during a stop on a bike ride in Delaware, Biden said his administration is trying to do a, quote, "lot of things to accommodate the rights of women" after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. However, AP notes that White House officials have questioned the legality and effectiveness of declaring a public health emergency. Biden also had a message for those angered by Roe being overturned, saying, "Keep protesting. Keep making your point. It’s critically important."
Biden slammed for tweet blaming Republicans for economic problems: ‘I thought it was Russia's fault’ https://t.co/QdNlS3DG8Z
➤BANNON NOW WILLING TO TESTIFY TO JAN. 6TH COMMITTEE: Steven Bannon, who was chief White House strategist in the early months of Donald Trump's administration and remains a Trump ally, has told the House Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol that he's now willing to testify. Bannon is facing criminal charges after defying a subpoena from the committee for months. Bannon has argued that he was protected from having to testify by Trump claiming executive privilege, however the committee has questioned that claim because Trump fired Bannon from his White House position back in 2017, so he was a private citizen when he was consulting with Trump ahead of the January 6th, 2021, Capitol attack. The committee will hold its next televised public hearing on Tuesday afternoon, with a prime time hearing planned for Thursday evening.
Asian-American voters 'furious' over progressive leftist policies: Democrats are not our friends https://t.co/wnUFcrlQm8
➤WILDFIRE BEING BATTLED THAT THREATENS YOSEMITE'S GIANT SEQUOIAS: Firefighters were battling a wildfire yesterday threatening the largest grove of giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park as it more than doubled in size in a day. Campers and residents of the community of Wawona near the Washburn Fire were evacuated, but the rest of the California national park remained open. There were no reports of severe damage to any named trees in the famed Mariposa Grove, and officials were hoping that a sprinkler system set up in the grove kept the tree trunks moist.
A pregnant Texas woman says her unborn baby should count as a second passenger in her vehicle, citing Texas' penal code in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned, after receiving a ticket for driving in an HOV lane. https://t.co/liKVYxwpkG
➤POLL..MOST GUN OWNERS FAVOR MODEST RESTRICTIONS, BUT DON'T TRUST GOVERNMENT: A new NPR/Ipsos survey of gun owners found that the overwhelming majority favor some modest restrictions on gun rights, including universal background checks (80 percent), raising the minimum age to buy guns to 21 (67 percent for all guns, 72 percent for assault-style rifles), and "red flag" laws to prevent potentially dangerous people from owning guns (65 percent). But most of them are against banning AR-15-style semiautomatic weapons (55 percent) -- although Democratic gun owners are in favor -- and doubt new gun control measures would stop mass shootings (61 percent), with Republicans again more likely to feel this way. Additionally, some of them, Republican gun owners in particular, think passing new gun laws is a slippery slope towards taking all guns away. Overall, 56 percent said it's more important to protect gun rights than control gun violence, but there was a major partisan divide, with 80 percent of Republican gun owners saying this, while nearly 90 percent of Democratic gun owners said controlling gun violence should be the priority.
👼PRODUCTION RESUMES AT ABBOTT BABY FORMULA FACTORY: Production has resumed at the Abbott baby formula factory in Sturgis, Michigan, whose shutdown in February over contamination contributed to a national baby formula shortage, and then had to shut down again in June two weeks after restarting production due to damage from severe thunderstorms. A spokesperson said production of EleCare, a specialty formula for infants with severe food allergies and digestive problems, was restored, and that they are "working to restart Similac production" as soon as they can. Abbott is one of just four companies that produce about 90 percent of U.S. formula.
🔥HISTORIC 338-YEAR-OLD HOTEL ON NANTUCKET DESTROYED BY FIRE: A historic, 338-year-old hotel on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts was destroyed by a fire Saturday. All guests of the Veranda House Hotel were safely evacuated, and the fire department said no civilians were injured. Four firefighters were taken to the hospital for reasons including heat exhaustion and a back injury, with three released the same day, and one discharged Sunday. It took more than 14 hours for the fire to mostly be extinguished, after it also caught two other buildings on fire. All three buildings were described as being "total losses."
There were 36 guests in 18 rooms inside the Veranda House at the time the fire started, along with one night staff person who was working. All made it out alive🙏 #nantucketpic.twitter.com/Ek2H8uZwMp
🎥‘THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER’ BRINGS THE HAMMER DOWN AT THE BOX OFFICE: Thor: Love and Thunder had a strong opening at the box office, bringing in $143 million. Deadline reports that the movie is now Marvel’s 12th-best opening, behind Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 at $146.5 million. This weekend also marked the best debut for the Thor franchise overall.
Box Office Numbers from Friday through Sunday:
1. Thor: Love and Thunder, $143 million 2. Minions: Rise of Gru, $45.55 million 3. Top Gun: Maverick, $15.5 million 4. Elvis, $11 million 5. Jurassic World: Dominion, $8.4 million 6. The Black Phone, $7.66 million 7. Lightyear, $2.9 million 8. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, $340,000 9. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, $262,000 10. Everything Everywhere All at Once, $241,100
🎾DJOKOVIC, RYBAKINA WIN WIMBLEDON: Top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic defeated unseeded Nick Kyrgios 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) Sunday to win his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title and seventh overall, as well as his 21st Grand Slam championship. It was the first Grand Slam final for the 40th-ranked Kyrgios of Australia. Djokovic won't be playing in the next Grand Slam, the U.S. Open, which begins in late August, since he's not vaccinated against Covid-19, which is required to enter the U.S. Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan won the women's Wimbledon championship Saturday, defeating third-seeded Tunisian Ons Jabeur 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Both 17th-seeded Rybankina and Jabeur were making their Grand Slam final debut.
Centre Court rises again for one of its great champions
🏀TEAM WILSON WINS WNBA ALL-STAR GAME, FOCUS ON GRINER: The team led by A'ja Wilson beat the team led by Breanna Stewart to win the WNBA All-Star Game 134-112 yesterday in Chicago. A central focus during the game was Brittney Griner, the Phoenix Mercury's eight-time All-Star who's been held in Russia since February. The players all wore Griner's name and her Number 42 on the back of their jerseys for the second half of the game. Las Vegas aces guard Kelsey Plum was named MVP with 30 points for Team Wilson in her first All-Star appearance, matching the All-Star Game record held by Maya Moore, who scored 30 points in 2015.
⚾YANKEES LEAD WITH SIX ALL-STAR SELECTIONS, OHTANI ELECTED AS PITCHER AND HITTER FOR SECOND YEAR: The New York Yankees lead this year's MLB All-Star Game's selections with six, as pitchers and reserves were announced Sunday (July 10th). The Houston Astros have five All-Stars and the World Series champion Atlanta Braves also have five. Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani was elected to the American League team as both a pitcher and hitter for the second year in a row, chosen as a pitcher two days after he was elected by fans to start at designated hitter.
🏌SCHAUFFELE WINS SCOTTISH OPEN, FOURTH WIN IN 12 MONTHS: Xander Schauffele won the Scottish Open yesterday (July 10th) for his fourth win in the past 12 months. Schauffele finished at 7-under 273 at The Renaissance Club, beating fellow American Kurt Kitayama by one shot. Schauffele is now ranked Number 5 in the world ahead of the British Open, which begins later this week.
🏈FIVE-TIME PRO BOWLER DUANE BROWN ARRESTED ON GUN CHARGE AT LAX: Free-agent defensive tackle Duane Brown, who played for the Seattle Seahawks for five seasons, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport Saturday for allegedly possessing a concealed weapon. TMZ reported that the unloaded weapon was found in Brown's luggage by airport security. The five-time Pro Bowler was released on bond for the misdemeanor charge. Brown started all 17 games for the Seahawks last season.
With Elon Musk attempting to terminate his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc. and the company vowing to force him to follow through, the social-media powerhouse and the world’s richest person appear headed for a messy courtroom battle.
The Wall Street Journal reports the company says it plans legal action and is any day expected to file a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery, arguing he is required to close the agreed-upon deal.
Corporate law experts say Twitter appears to be on sounder legal footing than Mr. Musk, who accused the company of breaching their contract. The bigger question, they say, is if Twitter succeeds in court, is it really possible to force the eccentric billionaire—known for eschewing norms even when it gets him in legal trouble—to buy a company he doesn’t want to own?
“What are they going to do if there is a judgment and he says, ‘Well, I’m still not going to buy it’?” said Zohar Goshen, professor of transactional law at Columbia Law School. “They don’t really have tools to force him to go through with it. You don’t put people in jail because they don’t buy something.”
There is little precedent to draw on. Though there have been a handful of examples of buyers being forced to follow through with purchases under the “specific-performance” clause that Mr. Musk agreed to, most were small deals. Never has the concept been tested on such a big scale.
Mr. Musk in a Friday filing moved to terminate the deal, with his Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP lawyer Mike Ringler arguing that Twitter breached their contract. Mr. Musk alleged that the company appears to have misrepresented the number of spam accounts on its platform, didn’t provide his team with all the information requested, including data to examine the issue, and fired executives and made other changes to its business without permission.
Mr. Musk’s team says Twitter’s longtime estimate that fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users are spam accounts appears inaccurate, and therefore could represent a “material adverse effect.”
Under this concept, a buyer must show that a company’s actual business differs dramatically from what it agreed to buy. It is a high bar that very few buyers who have gotten cold feet have ever successfully invoked.
Attorneys for Standard General and Tegna have told the Federal Communications Commission that petitions to deny their $5 billion-plus merger and station spinoff deal are both legally irrelevant and factually incorrect and should be rejected so the transaction can go through. The FCC has to sign off on the transfer of any station licenses, reports NextTv.com.
Standard General agreed to acquire Tegna in an $8.6 billion deal that includes the assumption of $3.2 billion in debt. Apollo Global Management (AGM) is providing some of the funding for the deal. AGM controls Cox Media Group (CMG), which will own some of the Tegna stations if the deal is approved.
Petitions to deny were filed by The NewsGuild-CWA and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET)-CWA and Graham Media Holdings.
Standard General and Tegna attorneys summed up the petitions and critical comments as representing basically three lines of attack: “(a) the Transactions will result in a reduction of local news and loss of journalism jobs; (b) MVPD programming costs will go up, ‘automatically’ increasing MVPD subscriber rates; and (c) Apollo Global Management, Inc. [which owns CMG] will have an attributable level of influence in post-Transactions Tegna.”
The companies said a) and b) are both factually off base. The deals are not about local consolidation, they told the FCC, because Tegna will be smaller after the transaction and no new duopolies — two stations in a market owned by the same company — will be created. As to consolidation of local news, they say they have no “intention” of reducing the quantity or quality of local news or of cutting news staffers. And as for any increases in retransmission-consent fees, they did not say the fees would not go up, but said any increases would be based on “privately negotiated contracts” with MVPDs that the FCC has consistently declined to get in the middle of. At any rate, they argued, the FCC has never found such increases to equate with a public-interest harm.
They also pointed out that retrans bucks are what help provide the stable revenue stream that allows them to produce all that local news and to pay the salaries of the news employees.
As to Apollo Global Management having an attributable interest in Tegna, they said there were several reasons why that wasn't the case, including that AGM, which is helping finance the deal, would have to be 10 times larger to trigger FCC attribution rules, and then only in the four markets where Tegna and CMG both own stations.
For those reasons, they told the FCC, the petitioners have failed to make a case that the grant of the license transfers is not in the public interest. Quite to the contrary, they said, the deal has obvious public-interest benefits.
They said the deal creates “the largest minority-owned and female-led television station group in U.S. history and dramatically increases minority broadcast ownership and viewpoint diversity.” Certainly promoting diversity in media ownership is a big priority for the FCC, given the dearth of minority and women station owners.
Tegna owns 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets. It also owns multicast networks True Crime Network, Twist and Quest, as well as advanced-advertising company Premion.
Rogers Communications complicated its chances of getting antitrust approval for a C$20 billion telecom merger after Friday's massive outage highlighted the perils of Canada's effective telecom monopoly and sparked a backlash against its industry dominance, reports Reuters.
The Rogers network outage disrupted nearly every aspect of daily life, cutting banking, transport and government access for millions, and hitting the country's cashless payments system and Air Canada's call center.
Consumers and opposition politicians called on the government to allow more competition and enact policy changes to curb telecom companies' power. Rogers, BCE Inc and Telus Corp control 90% of the market share in Canada.
Smaller internet and wireless providers rely on their infrastructure network to deliver their own services.
"The reality is in Canada there is a serious monopoly of our telecommunications," New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh said in a TikTok video as he launched a petition to halt Rogers' merger plans and "break up these monopolies".
"The impact of this outage makes it clear this monopoly cannot continue," he added.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, calling the outage "unacceptable", said on Sunday that he would meet with Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri and other industry executives to discuss improving the "reliability of networks across Canada." High cellphone bills have been a hot-button issue in recent Canadian elections.
The disruption in internet access, cell phone and landline phone connections meant some callers could not reach emergency services via 911 calls, police across Canada said.
"Because of the Rogers outage, millions of Canadians couldn't call 911 yesterday. Hospitals couldn't call in staff. There was no way to call families so that they could say goodbye to their loved ones at end of life," tweeted Amit Arya, director-at-large at the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians.
Rogers, which blamed a router malfunction after maintenance for the disruption, said on Sunday it was aware that some customers were still facing disruptions. It did not comment on whether the outage could impact the merger proceedings.
The mainstream media has largely ignored a leaked voicemail President Joe Biden purportedly left for his son Hunter Biden about his overseas business dealings, maintaining that any materials that allegedly originated from his son’s now-infamous laptop would not be discussed, reports Fox Digital News.
President Biden has repeatedly denied discussing Hunter's business ventures with him, but on June 27, the Daily Mail first published a bombshell voicemail that many feel contradicts previous claims.
"Hey pal, it’s Dad. It’s 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you have a chance give me a call. Nothing urgent—I just wanted to talk with you," Biden is heard saying in a voicemail from 2018. "I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you’re clear."
President Joe Biden purportedly left for his son Hunter Biden about his overseas business dealings, maintaining that any materials that allegedly originated from his son’s now-infamous laptop would not be discussed.
The article Biden was referring to was published by the New York Times in December 2018 and reported a private meeting between the chairman of a now-defunct Chinese energy company, CEFC, and Hunter at a Miami hotel in May 2017.
The blackout has continued, and the story has received little attention, even online.
The New York Times has not mentioned Hunter since May 14, according to a search of its website. The Washington Post has not covered the latest in the story, either, according to a search.
Lourdes Ubieta, who had been a popular host of Radio Mambí in Miami for over two years, joining the station when iconic host Martha Flores died, resigned after her program, “Noticias y Más,” aired July 1.
In an interview with the Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald on Thursday, the Miami-based Venezuelan journalist discusses the reasons for her departure from the Miami Spanish-language radio station that was recently sold to a new media group, Latino Media Network.
Asked why she was departing, Ubieta stated: “I am leaving because I do not want to be part of the new company ruling the station.” She said she was given a confidentiality agreement that she needed to sign to stay as a host during the transition to new ownership. Other hosts have also received the agreement, but she is the first to announce her departure, she said. Her lawyer told her that if she signed it, it meant that “I would be compromised with the sale transaction and don’t want to be part of this deal.”
She said she did not want to be part of it because she disagreed with the sale.
“The purchase of Mambí is not to fight against disinformation but to silence conservative voices. It’s a political move.” Part of the agreement contemplated was that she would remain as a Radio Mambí host during the transition and FCC approval process of the $80 million purchase.
Messages of shock and sadness flooded social media in the wake of the news that longtime local sports radio engineer Ted Nichols-Payne died Sunday.
Nichols-Payne, 56, collapsed in the Globe Life Field parking lot before Sunday’s Texas Rangers game, according to the Forth Worth Star-Telegram citing a reports from the Associated Press.
He later died at a hospital.
He had worked Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers broadcasts for more than 30 years, first at KRLD-AM and then 105.3 “The Fan.”
“Ted Nichols-Payne has been a fixture in the Texas Rangers home radio booth for most of the last 30 years,” the Rangers said in a release. “Ted’s dedication and attention to detail made him an expert engineer who provided an outstanding technical quality to our broadcasts. All of us with the Rangers’ organization send our deepest sympathies to Ted’s family. He will certainly be missed.”
Rangers radio play-by-play voice Eric Nadel said “we are all devastated.” “Ted was a great friend and a kind, compassionate and caring person,”
Nadel posted on social media. “He so adored his three daughters. Can’t imagine what it will be like for all of us without him. RIP Ted.”
We are all devastated. Ted was a great friend and a kind, compassionate and caring person. He so adored his three daughters. Can’t imagine what it will be like for all of us without him. RIP Ted. https://t.co/MRKLYAy1vo
The Cowboys radio team, including play-by-play voice Brad Sham, analyst Babe Laufenberg and sideline reporter Kristi Scales each offered memories and condolences on Twitter.
“When people work together for decades, they are family,” Sham posted in a Twitter message. “We lost a family member today. The BELOVED engineer of @dallascowboys and @rangers radio broadcasts, Ted Nichols-Payne, died suddenly at 56. We are speechless. Perfect at his job. Better human. Gutted.”
Nichols-Payne was the primary engineer and technical director on Rangers radio broadcasts from 1995-2010, first on KRLD-AM and then on 105.3-FM “The FAN.” He resumed that role when the Rangers’ English radio rights returned to 105.3 in 2015.
The family of longtime programmer and consultant Steve Smith has announced news of his death Thursday.
Smith had a career in broadcasting spanning decades, in that time earning multiple awards and building up radio stations as a programming director, reports The Focus.
The statement reads:
“The industry is mourning the devastating loss of veteran programmer and broadcast executive Steve Smith. Steve unexpectedly passed away peacefully at home, in his sleep, on July 7th, 2022. Steve’s highly successful career spanned 40 years and has broken countless records, won countless awards and has irrevocably changed the landscape of American radio for the better.”
After graduating with his JD from Pepperdine School of Law in 1986, Steve Smith ventured down a different path, pursuing a career in radio. A year after his graduation, he burst onto the radio scene, launching rhythmic KQHT (Hot 97.7)/San Jose and taking it to No. 1 in just three months. This would be the start of a lengthy and successful career in radio.
After two years with KQHT, Smith became the Vice President of Programming at KKFR-FM in Phoenix, Arizona. He was with the network from 1990 to 1993, before moving to New York to work with Emmis Communications. It was here that Steve Smith worked with Hot 97 New York.
Smith was the VP of Programming at Emmis and his work in the ’90s involved creating the hip-hop format on Hot 97 NY, turning Hiss-WRKS NY into a smooth R&B and classic soul station, as well as overseeing the bicoastal radio station Ran Power 106 LA and NYC. He built both stations to be No.1 in both cities.
Smith bounced between Clear Channel and CBS before founding his own company, Steve Smith Talent & Consulting in 1998. He later moved to Cox Media Group as a VP of Programming in 2011, not returning to his own company until January 2022.
Back in April 2022, Steve Smith and Tim Richards united to launch the radio consulting group, the Smith Richards Collective. They launched this group alongside Heidi McIvor-Allen. The Smith Richards Collective focused on podcast and radio talent coaching services, brand growth and strategy, music strategy and scheduling, production, and talent services.
➦In 1906...Harry Von Zell born in Indianapolis (Died of cancer at age 75 – November 21, 1981), He was an announcer of radio programs and an actor in films and television shows. He is best remembered for his work on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, and for once mispronouncing President Herbert Hoover's name on the air, a slip that was exaggerated on a later comedy record album.
Von Zell broke into show business as a singer and announcer at radio station KMIC in Inglewood, California in the mid-1920s. Later, auditioning for Paul Whiteman's radio show in 1929, he was chosen from a field of 250 announcers. When that series came to an end in 1930, he headed for New York and became a CBS staff announcer, working with Fred Allen, Phil Baker, Eddy Duchin and Ed Wynn. He also announced for The Aldrich Family, The Amazing Mr. Smith, and The March of Time. During the 1920s and 1930s von Zell served as announcer on some 20 shows a week.
His longest-running radio partnership was his nine seasons with veteran comedian Eddie Cantor. From October 1940 to June 1949 von Zell served as Cantor's commercial spokesperson and straight man. As Cantor cast member Dinah Shore's solo career began to blossom, she brought von Zell in as announcer on her Birds Eye Open House program.
As a young announcer, von Zell made a memorable verbal slip in 1931 when he referred to U.S. President Herbert Hoover as "Hoobert Heever" during a live tribute on Hoover's birthday. Hoover was not present at this tribute. Zell's blooper came at the end of a lengthy coverage of Hoover's career, in which Zell had pronounced the President's name correctly several times.
➦In 1934...the first appointments to the newly created Federal Communications Commission were made. The governing body was first served by seven men named as commissioners.
➦In 1938...Orson Welles brought his Mercury Theatre Players to CBS radio network for a critically-acclaimed 60-minute weekly series that Campbell’s Soups sponsored.
➦In 1951...Alan Freed debuted his "Moondog Rock 'n' Roll Party," playing mostly rhythm & blues records, on WJW 850 AM in Cleveland.
Freed had been inspired by an offbeat instrumental called "Moondog Symphony" that had been recorded by New York street musician Louis T. Hardin, aka "Moondog". Freed adopted the record as his show's theme music. His on-air manner was energetic, in contrast to many contemporary radio presenters of traditional pop music, who tended to sound more subdued and low-key in manner. He addressed his listeners as if they were all part of a make-believe kingdom of hipsters, united in their love for black music.He also began popularizing the phrase "rock and roll" to describe the music he played.
➦In 1970...Dandy Dan Daniel did his final show on WMCA 570 AM, NYC.
Roger Christian
➦In 1991...Los Angeles radio personality/lyricist Roger Christian died of kidney and liver failure at age 57.
Christian worked as a radio personality in Los Angeles in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was one of the original "Boss Jocks" when 93KHJ debuted in 1965. His radio career started in Buffalo, New York in the mid-1950s.
He moved to the west coast and worked for other radio stations in Los Angeles, including KFWB, KGBS (AM-FM), KBLA, KDAY, KRTH-FM, KRLA, and KIQQ-FM. Christian was also one of the writer/narrators on the 1964 Capitol Records documentary LP The Beatles' Story.
Christian suffered from periodic depression. He was the only original KHJ "Boss Jock" not to appear at the 25th reunion on May 9, 1990.
➦In 2005...singer Frances Langford died of heart failure at age 91. She sang weekly on Bob Hope’s NBC radio show in the 1940’s, and co-starred with Don Ameche in the wildly popular radio skit “The Bickersons”.
➦In 2010...the inimitable Yankee Stadium PA announcer for an incredible 56 years Bob Sheppard died at age 99. He was also the in-house voice for a half-century of NY Giants football games.
Debbie Dunning is 56
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Singer Jeff Hanna of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is 75.
Ventriloquist Jay Johnson (“Soap”) is 73.
Actor Bruce McGill (“Animal House”) is 72.
Actor Stephen Lang is 70.
Actor Mindy Sterling (“Austin Powers”) is 69.
Actor Sela Ward is 66.
Singer Peter Murphy of Bauhaus is 65.
Reggae singer Michael Rose of Black Uhuru is 65.
Actor Mark Lester (“Oliver”) is 64.
Alessia Cara is 26
Jazz saxophonist Kirk Whalum is 64.
Guitarist Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) is 63.
Singer Suzanne Vega is 63. Actor Lisa Rinna is 59.
Bassist Scott Shriner of Weezer is 57.
Actor Debbe Dunning (“Home Improvement”) is 56.
Actor Greg Grunberg (“Heroes,” ″Alias,” ″Felicity”) is 56.
Wildlife expert Jeff Corwin (“The Jeff Corwin Experience”) is 55.
Actor Justin Chambers (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 52.
Actor Leisha Hailey (“The L Word”) is 51.
Actor Michael Rosenbaum (“Smallville”) is 50.
Rapper Lil’ Kim is 48.
Actor Jon Wellner (“CSI”) is 47.
Rapper Lil’ Zane is 41.
Actor David Henrie (“Wizards of Waverly Place”) is 33.
Actor Connor Paolo (“Revenge”) is 32.
Singer Alessia Cara is 26.
🕇DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
Former First Lady of the U.S. Lady Bird Johnson, who was married to President Lyndon Johnson, died on this day in 2007. She was 94.
British actor Sir Laurence Olivier died on this day in 1989. He was 82.
