DOJ Probing TWH Press Pool For Not Covering Select Events

The Justice Department is investigating ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC over whether their coordinated refusal to cover certain White House events amounted to an illegal group boycott under federal antitrust law.

The probe, announced Saturday, focuses on the television press pool’s decision to suspend shared coverage of select events after the Trump administration moved to bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House. DOJ spokesperson Emily Covington said in a statement that “members of the television press pool have proudly boycotted covering White House events” and that “group boycotts among commercial competitors can violate the Sherman Act.” The Antitrust Division is examining whether the networks broke antitrust laws.

The networks were contacted Friday about the investigation, according to The New York Times, which cited six people familiar with the matter.

The dispute began Sept. 18, when President Trump said he was barring CNN, Politico, and MS NOW for publishing “purposely negative stories.” The three outlets sued, arguing the ban violated the First and Fifth Amendments. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, later extended through the following Tuesday.

In response, ABC, CBS, Fox News, and NBC declined to step into the rotation to replace CNN, creating gaps in the shared pool footage normally distributed worldwide. Coverage of events including Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit was affected. The pool resumed full rotation on Sept. 25.

TWH Unveils New Press Spox

President Trump on Friday appointed Katie Zacharia, a conservative commentator, as White House press secretary, replacing Karoline Leavitt weeks before the November election.

Zacharia, a California native, is a communications adviser to Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates Truth Social, the platform where Trump frequently posts. She worked briefly at the Department of Homeland Security earlier in Trump’s second term and has appeared as a commentator on CNN, Fox News and Newsmax. Trump said she was also involved in his previous campaigns.

“She has an unblemished record of support, and has been a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “She is, likewise, a devoted fan and member of MAGA!”

Zacharia called serving Trump and the American people “the honor of a lifetime.”

R.I.P.: Mike Ditka, Football Player, Coach and TV Analyst

Mike Ditka, the Hall of Fame tight end and Super Bowl-winning coach who became the face of Chicago Bears football, died at 86, his family said Friday.

No one embodied the franchise more. Ditka was a Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end, the coach of the 1985 Bears — the only team in franchise history to win a Super Bowl — and, for decades afterward, a ubiquitous television analyst and celebrity promoter. His face, once described as “a clenched fist,” even resembled the bear on the team logo and became familiar to millions, first as a player starting in 1961, then as Bears coach from 1982 to 1992, and finally from the broadcast booth.

After the Bears dismissed him following the 1992 season, Ditka moved almost immediately into television, joining NBC as an analyst on NFL Live and as a color commentator. Fired by the New Orleans Saints in 2000, he spent the 2000 and 2001 seasons as a studio analyst on CBS’s The NFL Today. He joined ESPN in 2004, appearing on Sunday NFL Countdown, NFL Live and Monday Night Countdown, and worked the booth for Monday Night Football games in 2007 and 2008 alongside Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic. In 2016 ESPN shifted him to remote SportsCenter analysis so he could work from home. He also appeared regularly on Chicago’s ESPN 1000 radio.

NYC Radio: WFAN's Gio Escorted Off Private Flight

WFAN co-host Gregg Giannotti was barred from a private jet to Chicago on Thursday after he could not produce a REAL ID, preventing him from attending the Radio Hall of Fame ceremony Thursday where partner Boomer Esiason was inducted.

The pilot checked identification for the private flight carrying Esiason, WFAN executives and staff. When he reached Giannotti, the host offered only a standard driver’s license. According to Awful Announcing, the pilot asked if it was a REAL ID or enhanced ID; Giannotti said it was neither. After checking further, the pilot returned and told him, “We’ve got a problem. I can’t take you.” Giannotti was escorted off the plane while the rest of the group continued to Chicago.

Giannotti recounted the episode on Friday’s Boomer & Gio show. 

Carr Says FCC Would Defer To Hegseth On Execution

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr says he would defer to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on whether to livestream the firing-squad execution of the Fort Hood shooter on public airwaves.

Carr, speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” stated that the Federal Communications Commission would ultimately follow Hegseth’s lead. “Ultimately we’re going to defer to Secretary Hegseth and his decision on how to move forward with this,” he said when asked about the proposed broadcast.

Hegseth announced earlier this week that the public would be able to watch a livestream of the execution of former Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan was convicted in 2009 of killing 13 people and injuring 31 others in a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.

Homeland Secretary Has Contentious News Briefing

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sparred with reporters Friday at a Washington briefing on a New York ICE shooting, cutting off questions he said were meant to change the subject and calling the exchange an example of “fake news.”

The briefing, held with ICE officials, was called to defend Thursday’s operation in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx and to blame New York’s sanctuary policies. Officers fired several rounds at 28-year-old Oscar Belgal as he was in a car with his 5-year-old son. Belgal was hit in the neck, treated, and held in a detention facility outside the state. Mullin said agents identified themselves, gave lawful orders, and did not know a child was in the car. He said Belgal accelerated, rammed vehicles, and drove toward officers, and he called Belgal a “gangbanger” and “thug” with a criminal record, including a grand larceny conviction and a pending 2025 drug case. The public outcry, Mullin said, should be aimed at Belgal, not the officers. “I’ll never apologize about our men and women doing their job,” he said.

Ella Langley Tulsa Concert Canceled After Threat

Ella Langley canceled her sold-out concert at Tulsa’s BOK Center on Friday night hours before showtime over a “serious security threat,” even though Tulsa police said they found no credible danger after multiple sweeps of the venue, Billboard is reporting.

Statements posted shortly before 5 p.m. CT on both Langley’s and the venue’s social media accounts said the show could not proceed. “Due to a serious security threat involving the safety of my fans, venue personnel, and the artist, Ella Langley’s scheduled performance tonight at BOK Center in Tulsa has been canceled,” the post read. It continued that “the safety and well-being of everyone involved is our absolute priority” and that ticket refund information would be forthcoming.

Skydance Sorting Out Sports Rights For New Company

Skydance is preparing to cut jobs and shed sports rights at the newly combined CBS Sports and TNT Sports, as an $80 billion debt load turns “synergies” on a portfolio that was barely discussed during the Warner Bros. Discovery takeover.

John Ourand of Puck reports that executives already expect the integration to be a bloodbath. CBS Sports president David Berson will run the combined sports group; TNT Sports chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser is leaving. The company, renamed Skydance after Paramount closed the deal this week, has told investors it is targeting more than $6 billion in run-rate savings within three years and wants net leverage down to 3 times by the end of 2029. Sports, long treated as a side issue in a fight over studios, streaming, and CNN, is now part of that math.

D-C Radio: For Sports Radio, Fandom Never Ends

Sports fandom doesn’t stop when the game ends. It continues through podcasts, sports talk, social media, and the hosts fans trust for analysis, debate, and community.

At Advertising Week New York’s Podcast Zone, Audacy President of Digital Sales Michael Biemolt joined John-Paul “J.P.” Flaim and John “Cakes” Auville of 106.7 The Fan in the Washington, DC market's The Sports Junkies to discuss how that always-on fandom is reshaping sports media and opening new ways for brands to reach audiences beyond the live broadcast.

The hosts described how, over 30 years, they have built a loyal community in Washington, D.C., and extended it well beyond the home market through podcasting and on-demand content. They also explained how authentic host endorsements, personalized advertising, and long-term brand partnerships can turn audience trust into real engagement for advertisers.

Former WBD CEO Walks Away With $606M

David Zaslav cashed out $606.1 million in Warner Bros. Discovery stock and options when Paramount closed its takeover.

The Form 4, filed Thursday, covers the exchange that took place when the deal closed on Oct. 6. Paramount paid WBD holders $31 a share in cash, plus a small ticking fee that lifted the effective price to about $31.02. Of Zaslav’s total, roughly $224.4 million came from common stock and restricted stock units converted to cash, and about $381.7 million came from stock options that were in the money and vested at closing. Nearly 15 million other options expired worthless because their exercise prices sat above the deal price.

L-I Radio: Weather Forecaster Pat Pagano Ready To Retire

Forecaster Pat Pagano

Pat Pagano, the meteorologist who has delivered weather on WALK/97.5 FM for 50 years, will deliver his final official forecast next Thursday.

The 75-year-old will also end the daily weathercasts he files for other Connoisseur-owned Long Island stations: WHLI/104.7, WWSK/94.3 and WWWF/103.1. Connoisseur had not named a replacement by Thursday afternoon.

No personality tied to a New York-area station — or to this Patchogue one — has been on the air longer, and few have filed more reports. Pagano records about 10 a day. In a business now defined by layoffs, firings and “rightsizing,” that run makes him an anomaly.

Radio History: Oct 10

➦In 1900...actress Helen Hayes was born Helen Brown in Washington DC. After honing her craft on the stage Ms. Hayes began a 55 year big screen career in 1931. She had her own popular radio anthology series in the 1940′s; on  TV she played one of the Snoop Sisters in the 70′s, and Miss Jane Marple in the 80′s.

The First Lady of the American Theater died Mar 17, 1993 at age 92

Orville Gibson

➦In 1902...Mandolin maker Orville Gibson founded the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. in Kalamazoo, MI.   In 1936 it would create the first commercially successful electric guitar.

Gibson began in 1894 in his home workshop in Kalamazoo, Michigan. With no formal training, Gibson created an entirely new style of mandolin and guitar, with tops carved and arched like the top of a violin. His creations were so different that he was granted a patent on his design.  More importantly, they were louder and more durable than contemporary fretted instruments, and musicians soon demanded more than he was able to build in his one-man shop.

On the strength of Gibson's ideas, five Kalamazoo businessmen formed the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd., in 1902. Within a short period after the company was started, the board passed a motion that "Orville H. Gibson be paid only for the actual time he works for the Company." After that time, there is no clear indication whether he worked there full-time, or as a consultant. Julius Bellson states in his 1973 publication, The Gibson Story, that "Orville Gibson had visions and dreams that were considered eccentric."

Starting in 1908, Gibson was paid a salary of $500 by Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Limited (equivalent to $20,000 a year in modern terms). He had a number of stays in hospitals between 1907 and 1911. In 1916, he was again hospitalized, and died on August 19, 1918, at 62 years of age, in St. Lawrence State Hospital in Ogdensburg, New York.  Gibson is buried at Morningside Cemetery in Malone, New York.