Albuquerque: Morning Host Phil Moore Signs-Off At KMGA

Phil Moore

Cumulus/Albuquerque has  announced that veteran Morning man, Phil Moore, has retired after 37 years on air. The last 17 years, Moore hosted “The Moore Music Morning Show” on KMGA 95.5 FM Magicbuquerque. Prior to that, he was on-air at sister station KKOB-FM. The new morning show on KMGA, “Magic in the Morning With Simon & Rachel” debuted today, moving over from KRST, which became the all-new NASH-FM 92.3 KRST last Friday. Moore signed off on Friday morning’s show.

Rachel Michaels has lived the majority of her life in Albuquerque, and her radio career has deep roots at KMGA, dating back to 1999. Scott Simon has a long radio career that includes stops at WKIS in Miami, KUPL and KWJJ in Portland, along with stops in San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Milwaukee and Virginia Beach.

Kris Abrams, Operations Manager for Cumulus Media Albuquerque said: “Phil had a remarkable run… 37 years in one ‘building’. That dedication is something you don’t see any more, in any business. We wish him the very best in his retirement and thank him for his significant contributions to our stations, listeners and community. He is truly one of a kind.”

 Abrams continued: “Rachel and Simon are the perfect follow-up to Phil. In fact, when they sat with Phil on Friday (his last day), you would have thought the three of them had done mornings together for years.” 

Michaels said: “Coming home to Magic is a dream. It is the station where I got my start. And I am the target audience, so I assume I can just do whatever I want.”

Simon said: “Working with Rachel the last year has been great. And her excitement about coming ‘home’ is infectious. It is an honor to follow Phil. Following him is just an honor.”

Kasem Family Feud: Casey Taken To Hospital Sunday

Iconic radio personality Casey Kasem was taken by amulance to a hospital facility in Washington state Sunday afternoon.

Kerri Kasem accompanied her 82-year-old father when an ambulance took him Sunday afternoon to receive care. His condition is not known.

Kerri Kasem said in court Friday that her father is suffering from bedsores and lung and bladder infections.

Amid an ongoing dispute between Kerri Kasem and her stepmother, Jean Kasem, a Kitsap County judge ruled Friday that Kerri Kasem could have a doctor of her choosing examine her father.

Casey Kasem and his wife have been staying with friends west of Seattle.

Casey Kasem's wife, Jean  had a strong reaction when medics loaded the ailing radio legend into an ambulance Sunday afternoon.

KING 5 crews on scene said she was yelling at the media as well as Kasem's daughter Kerri and at one point threw raw meat in her direction.



He was was rolled out on a gurney on Sunday and a spokesperson said he's been taken to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Gig Harbor.

On Friday morning, a Kitsap County judge granted the daughter permission to visit her father one hour a day at a local home where Kasem and his wife are staying with close friends, the affiliate reported.

Jean Kasem

Jean Kasem was displeased with the outcome of Friday's court proceedings and told reporters, "Shame on these children."

She then played an audio recording of what sounded like a groaning man, saying the moaning came from her husband when he heard about Friday's court activity.

"He's crying," Jean Kasem said.

When Kerri Kasem showed up for her one-hour visit Friday evening, she and a companion were met by two security guards with motorcycles in the driveway, KING reported. One man's motorcycle vest said "Combat Veterans" on the back. There was a brief disagreement over whether Kerri Kasem's male companion would be allowed onto the house's premises, but the guard eventually admitted both of them, according to the news outlet.

One hour later, Kasem wiped away tears as she left the house, according to CNN.

WKRP Cast Members to Reunite For Streaming Event

The Paley Center for Media is hosting a “WKRP in Cincinnati” reunion event on Wednesday, June 4.

The event marks the 35th anniversary since the debut of the popular and acclaimed CBS sitcom first delighted audiences. “WKRP” (1978-1982) was set in a struggling radio station with a host of quirky characters.

Tickets are on sale to the public.

Cast and crew expected to attend include series creator and executive producer Hugh Wilson, directors Jay Sandrich and Asaad Kelada as well as cast members Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever), Loni Anderson (Jennifer Marlowe) and Tim Reid (Venus Flytrap.)

Red carpet arrivals begin at 6 p.m. The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Paley Center (465 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210).

The event will also be live streamed on the Paley Center website starting at 7:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. Eastern)

For more information, click here.

Albuquerque Radio: KOB's Judith Jenkins To Be Honored

Judith Jenkins

Cumulus/Albuquerque has announced that longtime morning show news anchor Judith Jenkins has been elected to the New Mexico Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.

Jenkins is the first-ever African-American elected to the NMBA Hall of Fame. Her induction is Saturday, June 7, during the annual New Mexico Broadcasters Association convention.

Jenkins began her journalism career in the early '80's at KOB-TV in Albuquerque. For the past 20 years, she has served Albuquerque as morning news anchor on KKOB 770 AM. A native of Cincinnati, Jenkins has won numerous Associated Press and New Mexico Broadcasters Association awards.

Pat Frisch, Operations Manager, Spoken Word Programming, for Cumulus Media Albuquerque said: “Judith Jenkins has served our community and state with outstanding news coverage for more than 30 years. She is a respected journalist who has set the highest journalistic standards over the course of her accomplished career. We congratulate her for this well-deserved distinction.”

Glenn Beck Invokes Constitution Libel Defense

Glenn Beck

Radio host Glenn Beck says in a recent legal filing that his on-air remarks inaccurately linking a Saudi Arabian student to the Boston Marathon bombings were protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and that a federal judge should dismiss a libel case the student brought against Beck and his employers, according to The Boston Business Journal.

In April 2013, Abdulrahman Alharbi was a Saudi Arabian student living outside Boston. He was near the finish line when the bombs exploded and acted in a way that drew the scrutiny of investigators.

In the days after the attack, Beck called Alharbi a "bad, bad" person and said he was the financier for the attacks. Just before the first anniversary of the bombings, Alharbi filed a libel suit against Beck, TheBlaze Inc., Mercury Radio Arts and Premiere Radio Networks.

Beck's lawyers, in their recent filing in U.S. District Court for Boston, don't question Alharbi's innocence. But they argue that courts have set a high standard for libel in similar cases and that Alharbi's grievances fall short of that standard.

The talk show host's lawyers argue that to prevail in court against their client, Alharbi would have to prove "actual malice," including that Beck deliberately made false accusations against Alharbi.

Read More Now

'Tell-All' Music Biz Book To Name Names

Dorothy Carvello

A blockbuster manuscript is making the rounds about the “power, greed and ego” of the music business from a female executive’s perspective that could have top industry players quaking in their boots, Page Six at The NY Post has learned.

Dorothy Carvello — who started as a secretary to Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun and became the first female A&R exec at the ­label in 1985 — has penned “Anything for a Hit,” dishing on the excesses of the industry at its peak.

“At the time, there was so much money involved,” explains Carvello, who also worked for RCA and Columbia, among other imprints. Some “high-level executives had multiple mistresses who got anything from record deals to apartments. I had to buy one a refrigerator.”

The book proposal catalogues bad behavior, including an exec who was so depressed on vacation with his family that his wife sent for not one, but two, of his girlfriends to join them.

Money was no object. As Ertegun’s assistant, the author says she was asked to book a company jet to fly her boss a case of Clamato to Turkey because it wasn’t sold there. Some execs pirated their own labels’ CDs by selling thousands of “cleans,” copies of hit records, with no bar codes, to stores for a 50 percent cut. The dough paid for “second homes and lavish lifestyles.”

The book promises to “name names”.

In 2008, Carvello left Columbia to become a p.r. pro and crisis manager.

Read More Now

NYC Radio: Joan Hamburg OUT At WOR 710 AM

Joan Hamburg

CCM+E/NYC and longtime talk host Joan Hamburg have parted company.  A daily fixture on WOR fir 35+ years, Hamburg was moved to weekends-only this past January.

The 79-year-old Hamburg started her radio broadcasting in 1979 with small consumer (bargain shopping) segments on the long-running Rambling With Gambling morning show, eventually earning her own show. She grew up on Long Island and attended Barnard College before embarking on an advertising career.

Hamburg has been scribbed from the WOR website and reportedly potentital advertisers have been told her show is "no longer available".

Hamburg frequently broadcast from her favorite places instead of a studio -- Sardi's, the Hamptons, Canyon Ranch, The Villages, Florida.

Report: The Hypocrisy In Performance Royalties Battle

In a blog posting over the weekend, Radio/Media writer Darryl Parks opined about what he calls the hypocrisy in radio's battle over performance royalties.

Read the full blog: Click Here.

Darryl Parks

Parks also unveils what he calls a few 'dirty little secrets'.

According to Parks, each year radio stations pay millions in music licensing fees to the composers of songs. "You may have heard of BMI, ASCAP or SECAC.  These are organizations that collect the licensing fees, which are then paid to songwriters or composers.

Not only do radio stations that play music pay these licensing fees, so do stations that are talk formats – stations that don’t play music.  Depending on the revenue a station brings in, in certain markets the radio station paying the most in licensing to BMI/ASCAP/SESAC may be an AM talk station.  Parks asks: that doesn’t seem fair, does it?"

Another dirty little secret of the music industry.  "There are times a song artist will be listed as the composer or co-writer on a song they didn’t write."

Why?

"When a song is recorded by a big star, the tune has a better chance of getting played on the radio.  The song gets that free advertising on the radio so it can be heard in hopes someone will buy the song.  To record the song, the artist demands his or her name be listed as a composer to get a cut of the music licensing fees radio stations pay.  This takes money from the true composer of the song."

Again, Parks writes: "That doesn’t seem fair, does it?"

Parks concludes: "Organized crime had its fingers sunk deep into the record industry back in the 60′s and 70′s, because they knew the good deal record labels had with radio and vice versa.

Today’s modern day crime syndicate, known as Congress, is blind to a good thing when they see it. The relationship between radio and record labels built on “mutual respect” and a quid pro quo."

Read More Now

Fort Wayne Radio: Adams Names Shel Leshner Market Manager

Shel Leshner

Adams Radio Group has announced that Shel Leshner has been appointed Market Manager in Fort Wayne, IN.

Adams begins control of the Fort Wayne Cluster today and includes WBTU-FM, WJFX-FM, WXEK-FM, WNHT-FM, WGL-AM, WLYV-AM and translators 103.3 and 96.9.

Leshner most recently served as Market Manager for Artistic Media/South Bend, IN, a group he also ran from 1999 to 2003. Prior to Artistic, he served as GSM for WJLB and WMXD in Detroit for 17 years.

Adams Radio Group President/CEO Ron Stone said, "Shel and I knew each other in the 1990s in Detroit. We reconnected recently and he became the leading candidate for Fort Wayne. Shel brings to Fort Wayne a solid radio background and I cannot imagine anyone more prepared to launch the Adams cluster with. I am very excited for Shel and his family."

Leshner added, "When an opportunity like this one knocks you best answer! Fort Wayne is a very exciting and growing market. I am anxious to get started. Being part of a growing company like Adams and having the chance to lead its flagship market is a rare opportunity. I look forward to relocating, getting settled and becoming active in the community."

CA Radio: KWAV, KBOQ Sold In Monterey

Two Monterey radio stations, KWAV 96.9 FM and KBOQ 103.9 FM, have new owners in deals announced last week, according to The Herald.

KWAV 96.9 FM (18Kw) 54dBu Coverage

Mapleton Communications is buying KWAV from Buckley Broadcasting for an undisclosed price, increasing its holdings in the Monterey area that include KPIG 107.5 FM, KKHK 95.5 FM, KCDU 101.7 FM and KHIP 104.3 FM.

To clear the way for the KWAV acquisition, Mapleton is selling KBOQ to Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters of Los Angeles.

KBOQ 103.9 FM (1.5Kw) 60dBu Coverage

Mount Wilson's other Monterey radio holdings are KYZZ 97.9 FM, KMZT 95.9 FM (Big Sur) , KNRY 1240 AM and two other FM translators.

Mapleton president Jim Shea said with KWAV the company will even be more of "an impact player in the Monterey market."

In another announcement, Mount Wilson said it is expanding coverage of K-MOZART, its all-classical FM station, with the addition of KNRY as a simulcast of K-MOZART.

MI Radio: Personality Robin VanDyke Resigns WCXT The Coast

Robin VanDyke

Robin Van Dyke has resigned her position at Mid-West Family Broadcasting' Hot AC WCXT 98.3 FM The Coast, where she began in career in 1991, according to WSBT-TV.

Most recently, she was on the air with 98.3 The Coast FM where she established the "Diva Drive at Five," allowing listeners to request their favorite female artists for the ride home.

The station website posted a special message from Robin Van Dyke to her listeners:

After nearly 23 years on the air with Mid-West Family Broadcasting, I have elected to resign my position effective today, May 30, 2014. 

This has been in the works for a few weeks, so it is not a "snap" decision and management here at the Radio Stations has been fully supportive of my decision to step down. 

I have no immediate plans. At this point, I feel it is simply in my best interests to step back and evaluate a new direction. This is exciting, yet bittersweet to leave the airwaves, co-workers and YOU! 

Thank you so much for being the best part of my time on Rock 107 WIRX and 98.3 The Coast. Your loyalty and friendship is treasured beyond measure. 

So, even though you won't "hear" me any longer, I look forward to seeing you out and about in Southwest Michigan in the days to come. 

With love,
Robin Van Dyke

WCXT 98.3 FM (3.7Kw) 60dBu Coverage

Cumulus Announces Several Promotions And Moves

Cumulus Media has announced multiple promotions and moves at its Cincinnati, Topeka, Reno and Boise stations. In a move that resembled a major league baseball trade, the company transferred several programmers, and recruited several new program directors into the company.

• Cincinnati Program Director Chris Huneke of AC formatted WRRM becomes Program Director of Country formatted WNNF (NASH), replacing Mike Scott who departs the company. Huneke will continue to work with several Cumulus AC stations in a music advisory capacity. Greg Dunkin moves from Program Director of Topeka stations KMAJ (AC) and KWIC (Classic Hits) to his new position as Program Director of WRRM.
• Topeka Operations Manager and KDVV Program Director Forrest Smithkors segues to Cumulus co-owned Classic Rock KKGL in Boise as Program Director. Steve Mills joins Cumulus Topeka from Clear Channel Allentown as new Program Director of KWIC and KDVV. Amber Lee is promoted from APD to Program Director of both KMAJ and KTOP.
• WMIM Toledo/Monroe (AC) Program Director/Morning personality Ryan Nutter transfers to KNEV-FM (AC) Reno as Program Director/Morning personality. He replaces Doug Daniels.

SVP/Programming Mike McVay said “These promotions and transfers underscore the quality of programmers within Cumulus. We congratulate Chris, Greg, Forrest, Ryan and Amber on their new positions and we welcome Steve to the family.”

Aussie Mel Greig Opens Up About 2DayFM Hoax

Mel Greig

The Australian radio DJ who made the prank call to the London hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated during her pregnancy has admitted she 'should have tried harder' to stop the call going to air, according to The Daily Mail.

The hoax by Mel Greig and her colleague Michael Christian in December 2012 was linked to the death of British nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who blamed them in her suicide note.

Ms Greig's mother has since received death threats, while the former 2DayFM personality has battled depression.

'I felt like a failure as a human being,' Ms Greig said in a tearful interview with Channel Seven's Sunday Night.

'I am ashamed of myself. I should have tried harder to not let that prank call air.'



The duo were pretending be the Queen and Prince Charles during the call, when they found out the sensitive news that Kate was being treated for acute morning sickness.

Ms Greig has now revealed how she urged senior managers at 2DayFM to alter the recording but they ignored her.

The nurse at King Edward VII Hospital - who transferred Ms Greig's call to the Duchess's ward - was found hanged three days after the prank, on 7 December.

Information about how Ms Greig tried to stop Mrs Saldanha’s voice being used has only emerged now, as she was previously legally gagged from revealing details about the day.

'I think of the Saldanha family all the time, I just want them to see that I’m sorry.’

The stunt drew widespread criticism around the world. The hospital's boss John Lofthouse said: 'This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore.'

Read More Now

TN Radio: WDVW's Tom Mapes Collects The Hits

Tom Mapes (Jackson, TN Sun photo)

While some collected baseball cards for a hobby, Tom Mapes of Humbolt, TN made it his business, or passion, to collect every hit record Billboard anointed as No. 1 — all 1,075 — and growing.

The Jackson, TN Sun reports the numbers skyrocket when boxes of albums, singles, compactdiscs and eight-track tapes he has accumulated are inventoried of basically every recording artist from A to Z.

“I’ve always had a love for music, especially Top 40, and I grew up in the ’50s when rock and roll began in the summer of 1955,” Mapes said. “Bill Haley and the Comets (‘Rock Around the Clock’) had the first No. 1 record on the Billboard music charts.”

“Billboard was the Bible of the music magazines, the Sporting News of the music business industry,” Mapes said. “When I was a kid, I could not wait for the mail to come, and I would run to the mailbox.”

Mapes said history will be made today when Australian rapper Iggy Azalea does something that has been accomplished only once since Billboard began rating records.

“She will have the No. 1 (‘Trace’) and No. 2 hits (‘Problem’) this week,” Mapes said. “It was 50 years ago, March 1964, when The Beatles had two songs, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘She Loves You,’ No. 1 and No. 2.

“It was their first releases to Billboard, and the releases are her first, also.”

Mapes, an on-air personality for WDVW 105.3 FM The Dove, began his journey in the early 1970s.

WDVW 105.3 FM (4.7Kw) 60dBu Coverage

“I have collected every No. 1,” Mapes said. “Starting in vinyl with the old 45 rpms (revolutions per minute). After they stopped producing vinyl records in 1990, it became single cassettes and now the compact discs.”

Mapes has amassed over 15,000 singles and 5,000 albums — numbers that do not include hundreds of compact discs.

Read More Now

NB Radio: KZMC Flips From Rock To Classic Country

On Friday, KZMC 102.1 FM radio in McCook, NB owned by Legacy Communications LLC changed formats to Classic Country from rock, according to Jesse Stevens, Operations Manager.

Stevens said "the demand for a Classic Country format is at an all-time high in our region." He added that the station's 9 O'Clock Request hour on sister station KIOD (Coyote Country 105.3) has been flooded with requests from the '80s and '90s Country Artists as of late, and that a switch to a full-time Classic Format just made sense.

The station will be playing artists like George Strait, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and artists that date back as far as the 1960s.

KZMC 102.1 FM (100Kw) 60dBu Coverage

The line-up includes a new morning show from National Personalities Big D & Bubba that will begin airing on Monday.

LA Radio: KROQ Weenie Roast Was Sold-Out

The 22nd Annual KROQ 106.7 FM Weenie Roast was staged Saturday to a sell-out crowd.  Besides hot dogs, fans enjoyed hour of music provided by 14 acts,  headlined by  LA's own Beck and Avicii.

R.I.P.: Radio, Voice-Over Artist Bill Young Has Died

Bill Young

According to a message on the Bill Young Productions website, its founder, Bill Young, has passed away.

Young was an icon in the radio and voice over industry, and author of the book 'Dead Air: The Rise and Demise of Music Radio.'

He was also the voice of ABC-13 in Houston for several years.

This is the message posted on the Bill Young Productions site:

"It is with great sadness we must inform you of the passing of our founder, leader, and mentor Bill Young. Bill was not only the driving force of our industry - he created it, and most certainly was the voice of it. We will miss Bill's incredible voice and big heart every day. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a contribution be made to the Alpha-1 Foundation, or to the charity of your choice. Tributes may be left on the website of the Settegast-Kopf Funeral Home at Sugar Creek." 

In addition to his life as a well known deejay, Bill Young programmed KILT - the McLendon Houston powerhouse for over 14 years.

The station consistently led the market in audience growth and was a programming leader in the national business of music radio.

In 2011, Young, who was the longtime program director for Houston’s KILT 610 AM published "Dead Air, The Rise and Demise of Music Radio", a memoir of his career in radio that spanned from his first jobs on the air at his hometown station in Lufkin to his 15 years as program director at KILT, which during his heyday was one of the country’s most prominent Top-40 stations.



In 1966, KILT’s first manager, Bill Weaver, hired him as program director, where, at 25, he was given a group of air personalities at included Chuck Dunaway, Alex Bennett and Russ Knight, the Weird Beard, all who became legends in their own right. At KILT, he brought in such personalities as the original Hudson & Harrigan team and Beau Weaver.

He started Bill Young Productions in 1981 with an $88,000 loan at 21 percent interest. Young’s business was growing so fast, he paid off the loan in six months. Young sold 80 percent of BYP to employees in 1996, and for years continued to produce commercials and provide voice talent.

Media Mogul Dies In Plane Crash

WCVB Photo

Lewis Katz, 72, new co-owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com, died Saturday night in the crash of a private plane at a Massachusetts airfield, according to philly.com.

All seven people were killed aboard the private plane that crashed at Hanscom Field and erupted into a fireball, authorities said Sunday.

The Gulfstream IV crashed about 9:40 p.m. Saturday as it was departing for Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey, said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the air field.

"There were no survivors," Brelis said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people on board and their loved ones."

Lewis Katz

The names of the other victims were not immediately released.

Just last Tuesday, Katz and H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest bought out their partners for $88 million, gaining control of the media company that owns the Inquirer.

"We all deeply mourn the loss of my true friend and fellow investor in ownership of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com," Lenfest said. "It is a severe loss, but I am pleased to announce that Drew Katz, Lewis's son, will replace his father on the board of our new company."

Read More Now

WBZ 1030 AM  reported that Katz had attended an event in Concord, Mass., Saturday afternoon at the home of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and her husband, Richard Goodwin.

Katz was also a minority-owner of the New York Yankees.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board ares continuing to investigate. The NTSB will determine the probable cause of the accident.

During a Sunday morning news conference, Director of Aviation Ed Freni said all new information will be released by the NTSB.

Hanscom Field is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Boston. It was used by the Army Air Corps and military operations dominated until it became both a military and civilian facility in the 1950s. It's now a regional airport serving mostly corporate aviation, private pilots, commuter air services and some light cargo.

June 2 In Radio History

In 1896...Marconi files full specs for first wireless patent.

Marconi operating apparatus similar to that used by him to transmit the first wireless signal across the Atlantic Ocean, 1901


In 1933...WNJ 1450 AM, Newark, New Jersey went off the air.

This station originally went on the air as WRAZ in June 1923, located at 1290 AM.
It was owned by former naval radio operator Herman Lubinsky, who established the Radio Shop of Newark at 58 Market St., for the home of WRAZ. In April 1924, calls were changed to WCBX.

Then, on October 15, 1924, Lubinsky requested the calls WNJ, which he said stood for "Wireless New Jersey," and received his third set of call letters in 16 months.

In 1925, Lubinsky built a studio in the Paradise Ballroom in Newark and operated a shortwave transmitter for local remote pick-ups.

In July of that year, WNJ moved to 1190 AM and shared time briefly with New York station WGCP.
In July 1926, WNJ broadcasted "unauthroized" on 850 and 860 AM.

In April 1927, the station moved to 1070 AM and shared time with WGCP and Newark station WDWM.

Later that year, WNJ moved to 1120 AM and finally in November 1928, the station settled on 1450 AM, sharing time with Fort Lee station WBMS, Elizabeth staation WIBS and Jersey City station WKBO.

WNJ, "The Voice Of Newark", presented programming in Polish and Lithuanian and featured some of the earliest Italian programming in the New York metropolitan area, featuring Ben D'Avella.

In November 1932, the FRC (Federal Radio Commission) denied WNJ's request for license renewal. Lubinsky fought the action in the federal courts, but lost and was ordered off the air.

(H/T: Angelfire.com)

In 1959...DJ Alan Freed did his first show on WABC 770 AM, New York after being fired from WINS 1010-AM, New York. He left WABC in November of that same year.