Good Morning! The Pulse Has Your Briefing For Tuesday, Oct 20

Radio Broadcasting

Radio's Biggest Night: The 2026 Marconi Radio Awards will be presented Tuesday night at New York’s Edison Ballroom, serving as the unofficial kickoff for NAB Show New York, a two-day conference that begins Oct. 21 at the Javits Center. MORE

Signing Off: Carter Alan, the longtime midday host on Boston’s 100.7 WZLX, will retire after a 47-year career on the city’s airwaves, iHeartMedia Boston announced Monday. MORE

Gone Country: Audacy Has flipped Fromats for WTDY 96.5 In Philadelphia. MORE

Media Industry

Netflix Growth Stalls: Netflix ousted two of its top creative executives in recent days, signaling that co-CEO Ted Sarandos and other leaders believe the company must overhaul its television and movie slate to reverse a slide in U.S. viewer engagement. MORE

Correspondent Exit: Christiane Amanpour will leave CNN in June 2027 after 43 years with the network, the cable news outlet announced Oct. 19. MORE

Major Markets Lead The Way: MLB’s local TV rights are still worth a lot—about $1.6 billion in 2026, which is 43% of all the money the league makes from broadcasting. National deals add another $2.1 billion on top of that. However, there's a problem.  MORE

U-S News

Will He Run? Vice President JD Vance said there is a chance he will not run for president in 2028, citing family considerations and his dislike of making big decisions, while a recent poll shows him as the leading Republican hypothetical nominee.

World Series Set: The Tampa Bay Rays clinched the American League Championship by beating the Cleveland Guardians 7-3 in Game 6, securing their third World Series appearance and setting up a matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Out For The Season: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has been diagnosed with bilateral pulmonary emboli and will miss the rest of the 2026 season while undergoing treatment with blood thinners.

NAB Show NYC: Marconi Presentations Tonight

The 2026 Marconi Radio Awards will be presented Tuesday night at New York’s Edison Ballroom, serving as the unofficial kickoff for NAB Show New York, a two-day conference that begins Oct. 21 at the Javits Center.

The event draws leaders from broadcasting, sports, streaming, technology and the creator economy for discussions centered on the business of media and the technologies shaping its future. The National Association of Broadcasters positions the gathering as a radio-focused meeting place following the end of its annual co-produced Radio Show with the Radio Advertising Bureau. This year’s edition again emphasizes technology and a broader, non-traditional approach to radio.

Boston Radio: Carter Alan to Retire from WZLX After 47 Years

WZLX's Carter Alan (Boston Globe photo)

Carter Alan, the longtime midday host on Boston’s 100.7 WZLX, will retire after a 47-year career on the city’s airwaves, iHeartMedia Boston announced Monday.

Alan will continue hosting his weekday show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. until his final broadcast on Friday, Dec. 18. WZLX program director Chris Tyler will take over the midday slot following his departure.

Viewer Engagement Has Stalled For Netflix

Netflix ousted two of its top creative executives in recent days, signaling that co-CEO Ted Sarandos and other leaders believe the company must overhaul its television and movie slate to reverse a slide in U.S. viewer engagement.

Content chief Bela Bajaria was replaced last week, hours after a 1,000-person layoff she helped plan. Film chief Dan Lin was removed yesterday. The moves come as Netflix prepares to report third-quarter earnings today and face Wall Street questions about its content strategy.

After 43 Years, Christiane Amanpour To Exit CNN

Christiane Amanpour will leave CNN in June 2027 after 43 years with the network, the cable news outlet announced Oct. 19.

The 68-year-old chief international anchor said she reached the decision after “many months of thought and a few sleepless nights.” Her daily CNN and PBS programs will end in December. She will continue hosting a weekly CNN show through May 2027 and assist with the transition through June.

France Is Burning, Fox News Knows Who's Behind It

A Fox News Digital investigation has identified 54 organizations and movements that organized, supported, or amplified France’s October student protests and the wider wave of riots and unrest that followed, according to a report published Monday.⁠

Of those 54 groups, only 16—roughly one-third—are student or youth organizations. These include communist youth groups and a Muslim student association. The remaining 38 consist of adult-led communist organizations, labor unions, political parties, revolutionary-left groups, advocacy organizations, and international propaganda outlets.

Local MLB Broadcast Rights Are Worth $1.6B Each Year

• Chunk of change: MLB’s local rights are worth $1.6 billion per season by themselves.
• Slice of the pie: The Dodgers and Yankees account for 23% of that revenue, presenting a challenge to a combined regional streaming platform.

MLB’s local TV rights are still worth a lot—about $1.6 billion in 2026, which is 43% of all the money the league makes from broadcasting. National deals add another $2.1 billion on top of that.

The problem is that the value is really uneven. Just the Dodgers and Yankees account for 23% of all that local money. So if MLB tries to roll out one big streaming service for in-market games, those big clubs don’t have much reason to jump in if it means taking less than they’re getting now.

SCOTUS Refuses to Overturn Landmark Termination Rights Ruling

The Supreme Court on Monday basically said it won’t step in to overturn a big ruling that lets musicians take back not just their U.S. copyrights, but the foreign rights too—years after they sold them away. That decision, from a lower court, stands for now.

The justices used an unusual move to turn down an appeal from Universal, Sony, Warner, and BMG. Four of them sat it out, and the rest said they couldn’t get to the case this term. So the earlier win for songwriter Cyril Vetter over his 1963 song “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love)” stays in place.

KROQ’s Iconic Almost Acoustic Christmas Returns

KROQ-FM, Audacy’s influential alternative rock station in Los Angeles, is bringing one of Southern California’s most enduring music traditions back for its 35th year. KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas returns to the Kia Forum on December 12, featuring performances by Foo Fighters, Weezer, Sublime, Interpol, Joyce Manor, Julia Wolf, Almost Monday and The Linda Lindas.

Radio History: Oct 20

Lee DeForest

➦In 1906...Radio pioneer Dr. Lee DeForest demonstrated the electrical vacuum radio tube. DeForest disliked the term "wireless" and chose a new moniker, "radio."

In 1902 he and his financial backers founded the DeForest Wireless Telegraph Company. In order to dramatize the potential of this new medium of communication, he gave public demonstrations of wireless telegraphy for businessmen, the press, and the military.

A poor businessman and a poorer judge of men, de Forest was defrauded twice by his own business partners. By 1906 his first company was insolvent, and he had been squeezed out of its operation. But in 1907 he patented a much more promising detector (developed in 1906), which he called the Audion; it was capable of more sensitive reception of wireless signals than were the electrolytic and Carborundum types then in use. It was a thermionic grid-triode vacuum tube—a three-element electronic “valve” similar to a two-element device patented by the Englishman Sir John Ambrose Fleming in 1905. In 1907 de Forest was able to broadcast experimentally both speech and music to the general public in the New York City area.

De Forest is credited with the birth of radio broadcasting when on January 12, 1910, he conducted experimental broadcast of part of the live performance of Tosca and, the next day, a performance with the participation of Italian tenor Enrico Caruso from the stage of Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

Arlene Francis

➦In 1908...Arlene Francis was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  Francis became a well-known New York City radio personality, hosting several programs. In 1938 she became the female host of the radio game show "What's My Name?" although several men appeared as co-hosts over the years, Francis was the sole female host throughout the program's long run (on ABC, NBC and Mutual networks) until it ended in 1949.

In 1940, Francis played Betty in Betty and Bob, an early radio soap opera broadcast.

Philly Radio: Audacy Has Gone Country On WTDY 96.5 FM

There’s a new home for country in Philadelphia starting today with the launch of US 96.5, delivering a mix of the biggest country hits and newest releases, including music from top artists such as Morgan Wallen, Ella Langley, Luke Combs and Jelly Roll. 

The new US 96.5 is commercial-free until October 24 and begins its weekday programming on October 26.