Radio News Weekly: Sept. 14–18, 2026

🗼On Capitol Hill: The House passed the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act on a voice vote Tuesday and sent H.R. 979 to the Senate, where it was placed on the calendar. Broadcasters and the NAB framed it as a public-safety win. The Senate companion already has a large bipartisan cosponsor list; the fight now is floor time before the midterm recess. 

🗼Public safety: FEMA and the FCC set the first nationwide EAS test since October 2023 for Nov. 17 at 2:20 p.m. ET (backup Dec. 3). This year’s test covers EAS only, not Wireless Emergency Alerts. Stations must file ETRS Form One by Oct. 30. 

🗼Ratings fight:  The Second Circuit paused a district-court order that would have forced Nielsen to sell its Nationwide product to Cumulus on court-set terms, with a $50,000-a-day fine attached. Briefing runs through late October. 

🗼Revenue: BIA lifted its 2026 local-ad outlook again, to $186.1 billion, on midterm political spending. Over-the-air radio is projected at $9.79 billion (+1.6%); digital radio at $2.41 billion (+0.8%). Regional buyers kept picking up clusters as national groups sold. 

🗼Acquisitions: MARC Media expanded in Tampa and Gainesville-Ocala; Civic Media added Iowa. Nielsen also issued August 2026 ratings on Friday. 

🗼Programming and People: Westwood One ended America in the Morning after 42 years on Sept. 18 and will replace it Monday with a morning edition of Dan Bongino’s Bongino Report. Bill Mick retired from iHeart’s WMMB Melbourne. Abbi Hess was named GM of Joy 99 and Joy Worship in Western Michigan. 

🗼More News: Country Radio Broadcasters set its 2026–27 board...DejaVu will host the NAB Marconi Awards on Oct. 20 in New York...Ideastream Public Media and PBS Western Reserve agreed to merge, covering more than 4 million people in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania...ESPN Radio’s return to Buffalo, and the Sacramento Kings leaving KHTK after 32 years...SiriusXM’s SXM-11 satellite entered service.

➤What to watch next week (Sept. 21–25)

• Monday: Westwood One launches the morning Bongino Report in the America in the Morning slot.
• Thursday, Sept. 24, 11:59 p.m. ET: FCC FY 2026 regulatory fees are due via CORES. Late payments trigger an automatic 25% penalty, interest, and possible red-light status. Hardship waivers and installment requests are due the same day.
• Watch whether leadership tees up the AM-in-cars bill before the pre-election recess. Odds still favor a lame-duck fight.
• CRS early-bird registration opens Sept. 22
• Radio Hall of Fame induction is Oct. 8 in Chicago; Marconi Awards are Oct. 20.

Radio History: Sep 20

➦In 1921...KDKA Pittsburgh established the world's first radio newsroom.  The first daily radio newscasts featured a reports from The Pittsburgh Post.

Harry Harrison

➦In 1930...NYC Personality Harry Harrison was born in Chicago. (Died January 28, 2020)

Harrison is the only DJ to be a WMCA "Good Guy", a WABC "All-American", and on the WCBS-FM line-up when the New York station flipped to the "Jack" format in June 2005.

He attended a seminary, intending to become a priest. But he decided to make broadcasting his career after spending nearly a year as a teenager glued to the radio while bedridden with rheumatic fever.

Harrison worked at WCFL in the early 50s as a summer replacement, yet remained there eight months, substituting for the permanent DJs. In 1954, Harrison became program director at WPEO, Peoria and hosted the morning show as the "Morning Mayor of Peoria."  In just six months, Harrison made WPEO the top station.

In 1959, Harrison joined WMCA, New York, as the mid-day "Good Guy." Joe O'Brien (mornings) and Harrison gave WMCA a "one-two punch" for over eight years.  In 1965, he recorded the nationally charted holiday narration "May You Always" on Amy Records.

Harrison became popular with his "Housewife Hall of Fame” feature, and participated in the 1966 WMCA Good Guy picnic. Often, he scored the highest ratings on WMCA. WABC program director Rick Sklar took note.

In 1968, when WABC morning man Herb Oscar Anderson left the station, Rick Sklar hired Harrison to replace him. Harrison was followed in the WABC day by Ron Lundy.

WH Begins Denying Entry To Banned Outlets

White House security blocked MSNOW and CNN reporters from entering the grounds Saturday morning as President Donald Trump’s ban on three news outlets took effect.MSNOW reporter Akayla Gardner said her White House press pass would not scan at the press entrance. 

A security officer then ordered her to surrender the badge as she tried to pass through magnetometers. Gardner said the officer told her the decision was “above him.” An MSNOW photographer also had a press badge confiscated.

🚨 NEW: White House’s ban on MS Now just came into operation!

Here's MS NOW reporter @gardnerakayla describing how
she was denied access at the White House this morning. Her badge didn't work.

"The officer asked me to hand over my badge. He said that it was disabled. I asked…

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) September 19, 2026

The ban does not stop the outlets from covering Trump, but it cuts off the White House access reporters use to question the president and speak with administration officials.

MSNOW said it “intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy.” The network added that the White House belongs to the American people and that decisions made there are funded by taxpayers.

CNN said the ban is “an illegal assault” on its constitutional right to report without government interference and that it will keep covering the administration “without fear or favor.”Democrats and First Amendment advocates immediately criticized the policy. 

Trump himself, speaking to reporters Friday, called the action a “ban on the free press.”

In the 1977 case Sherrill v. Knight, a federal appeals court held that the White House cannot arbitrarily deny press passes based on the content of coverage once it has opened its facilities to the press.

The episode fits a longer pattern: Trump has often attacked individual reporters and outlets over coverage he considers unfair. In his second term, he has also invited nontraditional conservative commentators into the briefing room and Oval Office to question him.

Trump Tantrum: Bans Three 'Fake News' Outlets

President Donald Trump said Friday he is “banning” CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House “effective immediately,” citing what he called “fake news,” though there was no sign the administration had carried out the threat.

CNN reporters remained in their White House workspace into Friday evening, and a CNN crew continued traveling as the assigned television pool with Vice President JD Vance. Trump did not identify any specific stories that prompted the announcement or describe concrete steps to exclude the outlets.

Leading First Amendment organizations said any such ban would be unconstitutional. “A ban like this would be flatly unconstitutional,” said Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “The First Amendment is clear that once the White House invites in some journalists, it can’t ban others because it doesn’t like their reporting. This is textbook viewpoint discrimination and will be quickly struck down by the courts if challenged.”

Aaron Terr of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said press credentials “aren’t a reward for loyalty to the government” and that “a free, even adversarial, press is a sign of our country’s strength.”

CNN said it “stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting” and called any ban “an illegal assault” on a constitutionally protected right. Politico said it would “continue to fairly report on this White House and future ones” and “vigorously defend our First Amendment rights.” 

Report: Paramount Already Talking With Calif AG's Office

9:00 AM Saturday UPDATE:  Among the concessions under discussion is the formation of an editorial board or monitor that would independently oversee CNN, ostensibly to protect the news network from becoming too friendly with the Trump Administration. 

Original Early Morning Story...

Paramount is reported to be in advanced settlement talks with California officials to resolve the antitrust lawsuit blocking its $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to The Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter. A deal is not guaranteed. 

The talks are aimed at clearing the last major legal obstacle to a combination that would unite two of Hollywood’s oldest studios, the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services, and dozens of television networks. 

Twelve Democratic-led states, headed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, sued in July to block the transaction, arguing it would concentrate too much power in theatrical films and cable channels. 

Paramount is under growing financial pressure to close. Its agreement with Warner includes a “ticking fee” of about $650 million a quarter, or roughly $7 million a day, that begins accruing next month if the deal has not closed. 

Powerhouse Podcaster Audiochuck Plagued With Internal Turmoil

Ashley Flowers’ Audiochuck, the Indianapolis company behind the No. 2 U.S. podcast Crime Junkie, has lost about 30 of its roughly 100 employees over the past year — including a CEO, chief legal officer and chief growth officer — while internal surveys show staff satisfaction collapsing from +27 in April 2025 to –34 by the second quarter of 2026. 

The flagship show is still growing. Average weekly unique listeners are up 71% year over year, YouTube views have jumped about 400%, and episode downloads are at an all-time high, the company told Bloomberg. Crime Junkie remains second nationally behind Joe Rogan. 

That audience success sits beside a workplace described by current and former staff as exacting, overworked and unstable. One employee said they vomited from nerves before presenting ideas to Flowers. In June, Flowers canceled The Deck, Audiochuck’s second-most popular show, even though it regularly drew more than 300,000 downloads a week. 

Ashley Flowers

She told staff the decision was about her work-life balance after her young daughter said how unhappy she was that her mother worked so much. “I’m sad and happy,” Flowers said in a recorded all-hands meeting. “And I know it’s the right decision.” The cancellation cut jobs and reduced programming available for a new distribution deal. 

Audiochuck has cycled through three non-founder CEOs in three years. Matthew Starker, hired after a 2025 investment round, lasted about a year. In June 2026 the company named Evelyn Webster, then CEO of SoulCycle, as his successor. 

Cable News Channel Viewers Are Loyal...And Older

In living rooms across America, the television still flickers with the same three familiar names: Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC (rebranded as MS NOW). Yet the people sitting in front of those screens tell a story of a medium that has grown old along with its most loyal audience. The typical cable-news viewer is now in their late sixties.

In living rooms across America, the television still flickers with the same three familiar names: Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC (rebranded in places as MS NOW). Yet the people sitting in front of those screens tell a story of a medium that has grown old along with its most loyal audience.

Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN

The typical cable-news viewer is now in their late sixties. Nielsen data repeatedly places the median age of an MSNBC viewer around 70, Fox News around 69, and CNN around 67 or 68. These are not the 25-to-54 “demo” advertisers once chased; they are Baby Boomers and older Gen Xers who still treat the evening news as appointment television. Cable news as a category has a median viewer age in the high 60s. Younger adults have largely left the linear feed for TikTok, YouTube, and X.

ABC Says FCC Is Hanging Death Threat For Broadcasters

ABC on Thursday opposed the Federal Communications Commission’s bid to dismiss its First Amendment lawsuit, arguing that the agency’s early license-renewal review of eight Disney-owned stations is a “broadcaster death penalty” meant to punish the network’s speech.

In a filing meeting a Sept. 17 reply deadline, ABC said the FCC’s “plain purpose” in opening the process was to gain leverage “by hanging the threat of the broadcaster death penalty of license non-renewal or revocation over Plaintiffs’ every editorial decision.”

 The network accused the commission of trying “to license viewpoints,” not investigate discrimination, and said the government’s motion “improperly conflate[s] the nature of Plaintiffs’ retaliation claims” while ABC and its affiliates suffer.“

Disney Increases Tech Focus

Key Takeaways

• These are not typical media executives. A year ago, Disney sent Character.AI a cease-and-desist letter. Now Karandeep Anand and members of his technical team will shape how the company uses AI. Adam Smith, meanwhile, has spent more of his career at Google and YouTube than inside traditional media companies.
• The shakeup advances CEO Josh D’Amaro’s bid to make Disney a tech-forward company, with Disney+ as the digital hub. The longer-term aim is a super app that lets fans manage their entire relationship with Disney — park tickets, merchandise, streaming, and more. AI is likely to be a core engine of that strategy.

Disney has created its first companywide chief technology officer role and filled it with Karandeep Anand, the outgoing CEO of Character.AI. Anand starts Oct. 2 as senior executive vice president and CTO, reporting directly to CEO Josh D’Amaro. A day earlier, Disney Entertainment elevated Adam Smith — a two-year Disney veteran after more than two decades at Google and YouTube — to chairman of Direct-to-Consumer. 

Smith now oversees Disney+ and Hulu product, engineering, advertising technology, programming strategy, viewer experience, partnerships, and data and analytics. His former co-president, Joe Earley, moves to a new post as president of Disney Entertainment Television franchise and content strategy. Taken together, the two appointments are the clearest sign yet of how D’Amaro, who became CEO in March, wants Disney run: as a technology company that also makes entertainment, not a studio that also has apps. 

Anand will own enterprise technology, infrastructure, data and AI platforms, product, and engineering across the company and will work with segment tech teams to modernize how Disney builds and ships software. A number of Character.AI engineers are expected to follow him. Smith’s promotion puts a product-and-platform operator, not a traditional programming executive, at the top of the streaming business D’Amaro has called Disney+ the digital centerpiece of a more connected fan relationship. 

Indy Radio: WIBC Launching New Late Morning Talk Show

93.1 WIBC will launch a new weekday midday show Monday, Oct. 5, with Johnette Cruz and Brian Baker hosting the 9 a.m. to noon slot. 

Program Director David Wood announced the pairing live on “The Hammer and Nigel Show.” The program does not yet have an official name. Cruz is already a familiar WIBC voice as a newscaster and digital reporter. Wood said her strength is deep-dive local storytelling. 

“It’s super important that we still connect with the local people out here,” Cruz said. 

Baker, a former WIBC host, is returning to Indiana from Georgia. His background includes financial radio and work as a television stunt driver. “We both want Indianapolis to be the hero of the story,” he said. Wood said the pairing won out after the station tested several combinations.

“What attracted me to this combination was their complementary skill set. Johnette is a great storyteller. She really digs into stories, and Brian is so multifaceted,” he said. 

The 9 a.m.–noon daypart had been hosted by Rob Kendall and Casey Daniels before both left the station earlier this year. Kendall departed after contract talks stalled; Daniels exited later, leaving the slot open.

Radio Listening Spikes On NFL Opening Day

NFL Logo History

NFL flagship radio stations saw sharp listening spikes on Opening Sunday, with post-game audiences rising most.

Local stations carrying live coverage of 12 NFL teams recorded an average 60% jump in overall Sunday audience share compared with prior weeks, according to real-time connected-car data analyzed by the DTS AutoStage Broadcaster Portal for Sept. 13, 2026. 

Pre-game listening rose an average 111% heading into kickoff. After the final play, listening climbed an average 152% as drivers stayed with highlights, locker-room reaction, and analysis.

Pat McAfee Suspected of Smoking Pot During Show

Pat McAfee

Pat McAfee is facing scrutiny after a viral clip from Thursday’s live ESPN show appeared to show him smoking or handling a lit item, prompting former ESPN host Jason Whitlock to warn that the moment normalizes drug use for young viewers.

McAfee later posted that it was sage, writing, “Little sage never hurt nobody.” Whitlock rejected that framing. Responding to analyst Sean Salisbury’s defense of McAfee on X, Whitlock said: “I disagree, Sean. I care. And I used to smoke weed. But when you look at the damage drugs have done to American society, I think it’s wrong to normalize this behavior for young people.”

Pat McAfee being caught on air smoking weed shows the lack of restraint that ESPN has on him… pic.twitter.com/wM4chSao6V

— Jason Whitlock (@jasonwhitlock) September 18, 2026

McAfee’s reach gives the criticism weight. His daily show draws about 575,000 viewers, he has nearly three million YouTube subscribers, and College GameDay reaches 2.7 million viewers with a large youth audience. Under a multi-year ESPN deal valued at more than $60 million annually, he keeps creative and editorial control while licensing the show to the network.

Meanwhile,  McAfee denied smoking marijuana on Thursday’s episode of his ESPN/YouTube show after viewers accused him of lighting a joint on air, saying the smoldering item in his hand was sage.

FL Radio: Bill Mick Exits iHM's WMMB Melbourne

Bill Mick Retires At WMMB

Longtime Brevard County, FL conservative talk radio host Bill Mick announced his retirement during his Sept. 18 broadcast on WMMB, ending more than 25 years on iHeartRadio.

“To everything there is a season,” Mick said on his daily “Mick Nugget” after signing off for the last time.  “25-plus years is a good run and this one’s been no exception.”

Mick said he plans to launch a daily live podcast with calls and texts as early as next week at billmick.com. He posted photos of a new home studio and said he intends to keep discussing news, politics, sports, social issues, and how they intersect.

Mick was a fixture on WMMB and a frequent FLORIDA TODAY contributor, known for a conversational style that built a loyal call-in audience. Former FLORIDA TODAY reporter Wayne Price, a periodic guest on Mick’s morning show, said Mick “certainly got people fired up” and was willing to criticize even supportive listeners — something Price said is uncommon in talk radio and cable news.

Raleigh Radio: 99.9 The Fan Extends Hockey Rights Deal

Capitol Broadcasting Company and Hurricanes Holdings have announced a multi-year extension of their partnership to broadcast Carolina Hurricanes games on radio and audio platforms across the Carolinas.

All preseason, regular-season and postseason games will air live on the team’s flagship station, 99.9 The Fan (WCMC-FM), with Mike Maniscalco and Tripp Tracy on the call. The station will also produce the pregame show “Storm Watch” and the postgame show “Aftermath.”

CBC will continue the after-every-game podcast “Canes Corner,” hosted by Adam Gold, and will carry exclusive interviews and daily Hurricanes content on “The Adam Gold Show,” “The Drive with Tim Donnelly” and “Next Up with Paul Ihander,” as well as on the station’s social media channels.

Woman Who Caused Accident Prior To Helicopter Crash Charged

A Los Angeles woman under the influence of drugs was speeding the wrong way down a busy avenue, ran a red light and slammed into a city bus Tuesday, killing two passengers, prosecutors said Thursday as they charged her with murder. A television news helicopter covering the wreck then crashed, killing both people aboard and a man on the ground.

Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, faces two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. Rios was being held on $4.1 million bail. Hochman said Rios was impaired when she drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way, struck another vehicle and then plowed into the bus.

The helicopter crash killed pilot George Marciniw, reporter Eliana Moreno and Edy Gutierrez Mejia, who was on the ground. At least four cars and two storage containers burned after the aircraft caught fire.

R.I.P.: Mike Bowe, Longtime Philly-Area Personality

Mike Bowe ('50-'26)

Mike Bowe, a longtime Philadelphia-area disc jockey whose calm, familiar voice defined decades of local radio at WMGK, WPEN, WHAT and other stations, died Monday, Sept. 14, at his home of complications from cancer. He was 76.

An Army veteran, devoted Phillies fan and proud son of Gloucester City, N.J., Bowe spent more than 40 years as a host and DJ in studios and at remote broadcasts, dance parties, fundraisers and other events. 

He was best known for music shows at WMGK from 1977 through the early 2000s, a stint at KISS 100 in the 1990s, and work at WPEN and WHAT from 2000 to 2011. After 2011 he continued on other local stations and iRadioPhilly.com.

Colleagues and listeners credited him with making WMGK’s Saturday Night ’70s show a mid-1990s hit. “He was the very foundation of that success,” fellow DJ Chris McCoy said. McCoy added that Bowe “had something intangible. He made you feel like he knew you, and you knew him.”

R.I.P.: Duncan Sheik, Singer-Songwriter

Duncan Sheik, the Tony- and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter known for the enduring 1990s radio hit “Barely Breathing” and the score to Broadway’s “Spring Awakening,” died Thursday in Manhattan. He was 56. 

His mother, Suzanne Sheik, told The New York Times the cause was organ failure, with some reports specifying heart failure that led to cardiac arrest. A statement posted Friday to Sheik’s Instagram said he “passed away last night surrounded by love” and called him “a singular talent, and deeply influential voice in music and theater.” 

Sheik first became widely known with “Barely Breathing,” the breakout single from his 1996 self-titled debut. The song reached No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, stayed on the chart for 55 weeks, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.