ESPN Audio is now collaborating with voice-over artist and host Cayman Kelly to bring his contemporary sound to the network.
Kelly will work closely with ESPN Audio on a variety of sound for the network’s programming including updates, promotions and much more. In August, listeners will begin hearing Kelly’s dynamic work across everything from ESPN Radio’s new weekday lineup to digital podcasts and live event content.
Cayman Kelly
Kelly’s multi-platform career has included work across ESPN and other TV networks, radio stations of all genres, video games, live concerts and events and corporate presentations.
“I am super excited to be working with such an amazing team that I have turned to for sports as a fan for years,” said Kelly. “Now, to suddenly be a part of the sports magic is surreal! I'm extremely thankful for the opportunity.”
David Roberts, ESPN senior vice president, production said, “Cayman brings an unmatched sound and prime-time feel to everything he does. We are excited to work with Cayman and look forward to his voice differentiating the sound of ESPN Audio.”
Kelly started his voice-over career when he became the voice for BET and their digital networks after working on other projects for the network. Since then, he has voiced television promos for TV Land, TV One, Bounce TV, Cartoon Network and more. After receiving much recognition for his work, he became the imaging voice of numerous radio stations across the country, including for POWER 105.1 in New York and successful radio show, “The Breakfast Club,” in addition to hosting a national show on SiriusXM.
He was a voice on “Grand Theft Auto V” and worked with artists on tour including Usher, Mary J. Blige, Wiz Khalifa, Boyz II Men and Bruno Mars. Kelly has hosted numerous events across the globe that include festivals attended by 10,000-30,000 plus individuals.
Facebook Inc. has completed a series of deals for the right to show music videos, according to people familiar with the matter, vaulting the social network into a medium dominated by YouTube.
Bloomberg reports partnerships with the three largest music companies -- Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group -- are expected to be announced soon, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Music videos are one of the most popular genres on Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube, and Facebook has long sought the legal rights to allow its billions of users to watch and share them on its platform. Facebook had previously inked deals with rights holders in order to use the audio -- useful when people upload clips that include background music, for example -- but didn’t have permission to show the official videos.
Now, Facebook has approached some artists and music companies about acquiring exclusive rights to some music videos, even if just temporarily, the people said. In some cases, Facebook has said it would be willing to pay the video production costs, and that it would promote the video on its service to increase viewership, they said.
Facebook has been looking for more ways to increase video consumption on its service, tapping into a promising market. Video advertising is often more lucrative than other types of ads, and video-based rival TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., has been gaining users at a rapid clip. At the same time, music video consumption has soared on YouTube during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday’s earnings call, Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the company is trying to expand into video features where creators can build a “community” of fans or supporters, not just gather views. It’s “something that is just a lot harder to do on a YouTube or a Twitch or other products like that,” he said.
Fox News's Laura Ingraham has taken over this year as the most-watched female cable news host.
According to The Washington Examiner, the host of The Ingraham Angle at 10 p.m. on weeknights since October 2017 has experienced a large boost in ratings in 2020, and it has propelled her past other female hosts, including MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who had been the most-watched.
In every month since December 2019, Ingraham has beaten Maddow in nightly audience size, according to Nielsen Media Research. Additionally, in that same time frame, Ingraham's monthly ratings never dropped below 3 million viewers a night, which is a marker she had never topped prior to this stretch. Ingraham similarly topped Maddow in the key 25-54 age demographic, which is coveted by advertisers, during the same time.
Ingraham, a conservative, espouses opinions that are usually opposed to those of Maddow, a liberal who often dedicates her show to criticizing President Trump and his administration.
Maddow's nightly audiences beat out those drawn in by Ingraham for much of 2017-2019, which covered a period that included the Trump-Russia investigation and the Trump impeachment fight. But Ingraham's ratings have skyrocketed this year, as have the other prime-time hosts at Fox News.
The divide between Ingraham and Maddow was particularly prominent in the first three months of the year when Ingraham eclipsed 3 million nightly viewers, but Maddow never did. The MSNBC host has since bounced back with average audience sizes ranging from 3.01 million-3.3 million viewers but still trails. Ingraham beat out Maddow in July by less than 100,000 average viewers, which is the closest Maddow has been to Ingraham since she last led the Fox News host in November.
Charleston WC Radio personality Charlie Cooper died Wednesday at the age of 74.
Cooper, who was born Howard Russell, Jr, began his career as a student disc jockey at the campus radio station of Hiram College where he originally enrolled to become a physicist or an electrical engineer, reports WOWK-TV13.
Cooper worked at a number of radio stations in Akron, Ohio, New York City, and then back to Akron, Ohio before coming to West Virginia
He began working at WKAZ-AM in Charleston in 1973 and remained with the station thru 1980, becoming one of the station’s most popular afternoon drive-time Top 40 DJs. He also hosted hundreds of “Disco Scene” teen dance parties throughout southern West Virginia during the 1970s.
He was inducted into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2007 and was a member of the board of directors of the WV Broadcasting Hall of Fame’s Museum of Radio & Technology.
➦In 1912...Irving "Irv" Kupcinet born (Died at 91 – November 10, 2003) was an newspaper columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, television talk-show host, and radio personality. He was popularly known by the nickname "Kup".
His daily "Kup's Column" was launched in 1943 and remained a fixture in the Sun-Times for the next six decades. In addition to writing his newspaper column and talk-show hosting duties, from 1953 to 1977 Kupcinet provided commentary for radio broadcasts of Chicago Bears football games with Jack Brickhouse (and was affectionately mocked for the signature phrase, "Dat's right, Jack").
Bill Todman
➦In 1916...Game show producer Bill Todman was born in New York City. Todman teamed up with Mark Goodson for radio shows.
According to radio historian J. David Goldin, among their early work together was the show Treasury Salute, a program syndicated by the Treasury Department that honored military members. They later collaborated in producing game shows for radio, then moved into television, where they produced some of the longest-running game shows in history.
Their many shows included Beat the Clock, Card Sharks, Family Feud, Match Game, Password, Tattletales, The Price Is Right, To Tell the Truth and What's My Line?.
He died from a heart condition July 29 1979, two days short of his 63rd birthday.
➦In 1919...Curtis Edward Gowdy born (Died from leukemia at age 86 – February 20, 2006). He was a sportscaster, well known as the longtime "voice" of the Boston Red Sox and for his coverage of many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s. His accomplishments include coining the nickname "The Granddaddy of Them All" for the Rose Bowl Game, taking the moniker from the Cheyenne Frontier Days in his native Wyoming.
Curt Gowdy
In November of 1943, recovering from back surgery, Gowdy made his broadcasting debut in Cheyenne calling a "six-man" high school football game from atop a wooden grocery crate in subzero weather, with about 15 people in attendance. He found he had a knack for broadcasting, and worked at the small KFBC radio station and at the Wyoming Eagle newspaper as a sportswriter (and later sports editor).
After several years in Cheyenne, he accepted an offer from CBS's KOMA radio in Oklahoma City in September 1945. He was hired primarily to broadcast Oklahoma college football (then coached by new-hire Bud Wilkinson). In 1947-1948, in addition to calling football and basketball on KOMA, Gowdy was also broadcasting the baseball games of the Texas League Oklahoma City Indians, on station KOCY. When Gowdy announced in early 1949 that he was leaving Oklahoma to work in New York, his replacement was fellow Oklahoma City sportscaster Bob Murphy.
Gowdy's distinctive play-by-play style during his broadcasts of minor league baseball, college football, and college basketball in Oklahoma City earned him a national audition and then an opportunity with the New York Yankees in 1949, working with (and learning from) the legendary Mel Allen for two seasons.
Gowdy began his Major League Baseball broadcasting career working as the No. 2 announcer to Mel Allen for New York Yankees games on radio and television in 1949–50. There, he succeeded Russ Hodges, who departed to become the New York Giants' lead announcer when the Yankees and Giants decided to broadcast a full slate of 154 games, instead of sharing the same radio network and announcers for the 77 home games of each team that had been broadcast (no away games of either team were broadcast).
In April 1951 at the age of 31, Gowdy began his tenure as the lead announcer for the Red Sox. For the next 15 years, he called the exploits of generally mediocre Red Sox teams on WHDH radio and on three Boston TV stations: WBZ-TV, WHDH-TV, and WNAC-TV (WBZ and WNAC split the Red Sox TV schedule from 1948 through 1955; WBZ alone carried the Red Sox from 1955 through 1957; and WHDH took over in 1958). During that time, Gowdy partnered with two future baseball broadcasting legends: Bob Murphy and Ned Martin. He also did nightly sports reports on WHDH radio when his schedule permitted.
Gowdy called Ted Williams' final at-bat where he hit a home run into the bullpen in right-center field off Jack Fisher of Baltimore. He also called Tony Conigliaro's home run in his first at-bat at Fenway Park on April 17, 1964 at the age of 19.
He left WHDH after the 1965 season for NBC Sports, where for the next ten years he called the national baseball telecasts of the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week and Monday Night Baseball during the regular season (and the All-Star Game in July), and the postseason playoffs and World Series in October.
➦In 1933...Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy first aired. It was a radio adventure series which maintained its popularity from 1933 to 1951. The program originated at WBBM in Chicago on July 31, 1933, and was later carried on CBS, then NBC and finally ABC.
Armstrong was football hero at fictitious Hudson High School who saved the day from dastardly villains. Somehow, these adventures would take Jack and his cousins, Betty and Bill Fairfield, to exotic locales where they would make use of industrialist Uncle Jim’s yacht and a hydroplane they referred to as the Silver Albatross.
➦In 1964...Country Music Hall of Famer James Travis Reeves died (Born - August 20). With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville sound (a mixture of older country-style music with elements of popular music). Known as "Gentleman Jim", his songs continued to chart for years after his death. Reeves died in the crash of his private airplane.
Jim Reeves
Reeves began to work as a radio announcer in 1943, and sang live between songs. Influenced by such Western swing-music artists as Jimmie Rodgers and Moon Mullican, as well as popular singers Bing Crosby, Eddy Arnold and Frank Sinatra, it was not long before he was a member of Moon Mullican's band, and made some early Mullican-style recordings like "Each Beat of my Heart" and "My Heart's Like a Welcome Mat" from the late 1940s to the early 1950s.
He eventually obtained a job as an announcer for KWKH-AM in Shreveport, Louisiana, then the home of the popular radio program Louisiana Hayride.
Reeves scored his greatest success with the Joe Allison composition "He'll Have to Go", a success on both the popular and country music charts, which earned him a platinum record. Released during late 1959, it scored Number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart on February 8, 1960, which it scored for 14 consecutive weeks.
On Friday, July 31, 1964, Reeves and his business partner and manager Dean Manuel (also the pianist of Reeves' backing group, the Blue Boys) left Batesville, Arkansas, en route to Nashville in a single-engine Beechcraft Debonair aircraft, with Reeves at the controls. While flying over Brentwood, Tennessee, they encountered a violent thunderstorm. According to Larry Jordan, author of the 2011 biography, Jim Reeves: His Untold Story, musician Marty Robbins, recalled hearing the wreck happen and alerting authorities to which direction he heard the impact.
When the wreckage was found some 42 hours later, it was discovered the airplane's engine and nose were buried in the ground due to the impact of the crash. The crash site was in a wooded area north-northeast of Brentwood approximately at the junction of Baxter Lane and Franklin Pike Circle, just east of Interstate 65, and southwest of Nashville International Airport where Reeves planned to land.
➦In 1970…News Anchor Chet Huntley retired from NBC-TV, ending the 14-year run of the popular "Huntley-Brinkley Report." The network renamed the program the "NBC Nightly News".
Huntley began his radio newscast career in 1934 at Seattle's KIRO AM, later working on radio stations in Spokane (KHQ) and Portland. His time (1936–37) in Portland was with KGW-AM, owned by The Oregonian, a Portland daily newspaper. At KGW he was writer, newscaster and announcer. In 1937 he went to work for KFI in Los Angeles, moving to CBS Radio from 1939 to 1951, then ABC Radio from 1951 to 1955. In 1955, he joined the NBC Radio network, viewed by network executives as "another Ed Murrow". He died in 1974..
➦In 1977...Johnny Dark aired his final show on WRKO 680 AM, Boston.
Johnny Dark
Dark grew up in South Florida and went on to become one of radio’s many jocks named Johnny Dark. This one, however, started out along Florida’s west coast and was Program Director, Music Director, and jock at Sarasota’s WYND in 1966. After a couple years there, he wanted to get closer to home, so he took at job on the air at Top 40 WSRF 1580 AM in Ft. Lauderdale and handled the music for its then-sister station, Easy Listening/AC WSHE.
Johnny moved to another Miami outlet, WMYQ 96.3 FM, in 1972 and then on to Bartel’s legendary WOKY, The Mighty 92, in Milwaukee in 1974 as combo Music Director and afternoon drive jock. The next year he landed at Boston’s WRKO where he survived five PD’s in three and a half years before leaving for WNBC in New York in 1978.
In 1985 it was back to Beantown as Johnny segued to CBS-owned WHTT 103.3 FM. (1985 Aircheck) He also made the dream of owning his own station a reality with WHQO Oldies 108 in Skowhegan, Maine. By 1990 it was time to move back home to South Florida so he began what turned out to be 12 years doing afternoon drive for Miami’s 97.3 WFLC, South Florida’s Coast.
➦In 1981...WXLO 98.7 FM NYC adopted its “Kiss” format.
➦In 1995…Disney announced the $19-billion acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC. Created in a merger in March, 1985, Capital Cities/ABC owned the most profitable TV network, eight of the best-managed television stations in the country--which reach 25% of the nation’s viewers--21 radio stations, the ESPN sports cable networks, a gaggle of trade magazines and interests in cable networks, including Lifetime and A&E.
➦In 2010...Mitch Miller, the Coluimbia Records executive who nurtured the early careers of Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day and Rosemary Clooney died at the age of 99. As part of the CBS Symphony, Miller participated in the musical accompaniment on the infamous 1938 radio broadcast of Orson Welles's Mercury Theater on the Air production of The War of the Worlds. He also hosted a Sunday evening CBS Radio interview show in the late 1950’s, headed up the early 60’s NBC TV show ‘Sing Along with Mitch’.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY:
Annie Parisse is 45
Singer Lobo is 77.
Actor Geraldine Chaplin is 76.
Singer Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis and the Playboys is 75.
Actor Lane Davies (“Lois and Clark”) is 70.
Actor Barry Van Dyke (“Murder 101,” “Diagnosis Murder”) is 69.
Actor Alan Autry (“In the Heat of the Night,” “Grace Under Fire”) is 68.
Jazz pianist-actor Michael Wolff (“The Naked Brothers Band’) is 68.
Actor James Read (“Legally Blonde”) is 67.
Actor Michael Biehn (“The Terminator,” ″Aliens”) is 64.
Singer-guitarist Daniel Ash (Love and Rockets, Bauhaus) is 63.
Actor Dirk Blocker (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) is 63.
Drummer Bill Berry (R.E.M.) is 62.
Actor Wesley Snipes is 58.
Country singer Chad Brock is 57.
Musician Fatboy Slim is 57.
Guitarist Jim Corr of The Corrs is 56.
“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling is 55.
Actor Dean Cain (“Lois and Clark”) is 54.
Actor Jim True-Frost (“American Odyssey,” ″The Wire”) is 54.
Actor Loren Dean (“Space Cowboys”) is 51.
Actor Eve Best (“Nurse Jackie”) is 49.
Actor Annie Parisse (“How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days”) is 45.
Actor Robert Telfer (“Saved By The Bell”) is 43.
Country singer Zac Brown of Zac Brown Band is 42.
Actor B.J. Novak (“The Office”) is 41.
Rapper Lil Uzi Vert is
26. Actor Rico Rodriguez (“Modern Family”) is 22.
Actor Don Murray is 91.
Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell is 89.
Actor Susan Flannery (“Bold and the Beautiful”) is 81.
Legendary radio personality Frank Ski is bringing his widely popular radio show to the DMV taking over afternoons at WHUR 96.3 FM. “The Frank Ski Show with Nina Brown” airs weekdays from 3 pm to 7 pm starting Monday, August 3.
“The Frank Ski Show with Nina Brown” will deliver up-to-date commentary on trending headlines, entertainment news, and all things important to the Black culture while providing fun, edgy, and interactive engagement. Known for their ability to connect with the audience on relevant issues with transparency, Ski and Brown are a force to be reckoned with on-air. The pair promises to provide just the right mixture designed to inform, inspire, and entertain.
“Connecting to the Washington, DC listeners is extremely important to me during this challenging time in our history,” said Ski.
Ski is no stranger to the DMV. He began his radio career in the District in the early 1990s before moving on to Baltimore and then to Atlanta and back to DC for a stint at WHUR in 2013. Brown has worked in radio and television for nearly two decades and has produced several of Ski’s #1 rated radio shows.
“Frank Ski has dominated ratings and has an incredible legacy of community enrichment wherever he is on the air. He is a media icon and adding his name to WHUR once again completes our DMV Dream Team,” said WHUR Program Director Al Payne.
The addition of the “Frank Ski Show with Nina Brown” to WHUR’s weekday line-up takes the programming line-up to a whole new level. WHUR’s weekday programs also include, “The Steve Harvey Morning Show” from 6 am to 10 am, “Autumn Joi’s Live Squad” from 10 am to 3 pm, “The Daily Drum with Harold Fisher” from 7 pm to 7:30 pm, and “The Original Quiet Storm with John Monds” from 7:30 pm to midnight.”
“Now more than ever, it’s crucial to have knowledgeable trustworthy voices on the air. Frank and Nina have a proven track record of success and adding them to the WHUR team is a huge win for us,” said WHUR General Manager Sean Plater.
Entercom today unveiled a new weekday morning show on KAMP 97.1 FM, Los Angeles’ millennial station. Beginning August 3, the station will debut a special Los Angeles edition of “The Morning Mess,” featuring Joey Boy, Aneesh Ratan, Jeana Shepard and Karla Hernandez, weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PT.
The show, currently on sister station Live 101.5 (KALV-FM) in Phoenix, will feature curated local content for Los Angeles listeners, including lifestyle, news, daily traffic and weather updates, as well as city-specific COVID updates. Listeners in L.A. will also hear popular segments like “Nachoo’s Revenge,” featuring Joey Boy’s alter ego prank calling unsuspecting listeners.
“Joey Boy and The Morning Mess are a true reflection of Southern California,” said Jeff Federman, Regional President, Entercom. “They are diverse, dynamic, socially responsible and completely transparent."
Joey Boy, also known as ‘Nachoo,’ joined Entercom in 2013 as an original co-host for “The Morning Mess” on Live 101.5, and has served in various roles in Phoenix radio since 2002. Considered the ring leader of the pack, Joey is never afraid to share his family life and stories on-air. Joey Boy was raised in Los Angeles.
Aneesh Ratan joined Entercom in 2015 as an original co-host for “The Morning Mess” on Live 101.5. Raised in the Valley, Aneesh is an avid advocate on behalf of local LGBTQ+ organizations and considers himself a top of the line twerker, body positive, retro gaymer.
Jeana Shepard, ‘The Desert Mama’ on “The Morning Mess,” is the show’s voice of reason, often playfully jabbing at her co-hosts when they get too crazy. Born and raised in the Valley, she loves being plugged into local events and spending time with her friends, family and listeners. She joined Entercom in 2014 as a programming intern, and was later promoted to morning show producer. In 2016, she began as on-air talent for sister station KMLE Country@107.9 (KMLE-FM) and Live 101.5, hosting various timeslots including the station’s midday show. She joined “The Morning Mess” in January 2019.
Karla Hernandez, often referred to as “Joey Jr,” puts the mess in “The Morning Mess,” with her witty attitude and charm. She keeps the rest of the mess on their toes. The only thing crazier than this Napa, CA native is her dating life. You can catch her out late at the club, but still up early for work. Named Miss Arizona Latina 2020, Karla moved to Phoenix to pursue her degree at Arizona State University where she found her true passion in radio. She joined Entercom in January 2018 as a promotions assistant and was elevated to on-air talent for Live 101.5, joining “The Morning Mess” in January 2019.
"We knew when he was first hospitalized with COVID-19 that this was going to be a rough fight," a spokesperson said on his website. "He had trouble breathing and was taken to the hospital by ambulance. We all prayed that the initial meds they gave him would get his breathing back to normal, but it became clear pretty quickly that he was in for a battle.".
Officials said they were not sure how Cain contracted the virus. He attended President Trump’s rally in Tulsa June 20 as a campaign surrogate.
Cain’s staff announced June 27 that he had tested positive for the virus.
Cain was the host of The Herman Cain Show at HermanCain.com and Herman Cain’s American on NewsmaxTV.
Cain left his show on WSB’s News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB in 2018 but continued to appear on the stations doing daily commentary.
Cain started his career as a civilian employee of the Navy and went on to climb the corporate ladder. During the 1980s, Cain was a successful business executive at Burger King, which prompted Pillsbury to appoint him as chairman and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, a role he held from 1986 to 1996.
Cain went on to be chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Omaha Branch from 1989 to 1991 before entering politics.
He served as a senior economic adviser to Bob Dole’s presidential campaign, ran for U.S. Senate in 2004 and was a contender for the Republican presidential nominee in the 2012 election.
Cousin Bruce Morrow shocked his SiriusXM listeners Wednesday evening when he announced he it departing the 60s On 6 music channel concluding a 15-year run.
His last show will be this coming Saturday.
The 84-year-old radio legend noted he's not retiring and urged fans to follow his Facebook page for further news.
Morrow adopted the moniker “Cousin Brucie” in 1959, while working at WINS/New York. He left WINS for Miami radio in 1961 before returning to WABC/New York, where he broadcast for 13 years.
During his time at WABC, “Cousin Brucie” was known for hosting the famous Palisades Park rock concerts,. In August of 1965, he had the distinction of introducing the Beatles during their historic Shea Stadium concert.
Morrow moved to WNBC/New York, where he spent two years on radio and television before leaving the airwaves to concentrate on business ventures. In the 1980s, “Cousin Brucie” returned to radio, joining the staff of WCBS-FM/New York. From 1987 to 1993, Morrow was heard nationally on the weekly series, Cruisin' America. He currently hosts two weekly programs for WCBS, Cousin Brucie’s Yearbook and Cousin Brucie’s Saturday Night Oldies Party.
In 1994, he became the only on-air personality in New York with his own street, when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani proclaimed West 52nd Street “Cousin Brucie Way.”
Bruce Morrow was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.
