SCOTUS Sides With Republicans In Political Ad Ruling

Key Detail:

• The Supreme Court ruled Friday that political parties can receive the same discounted broadcast ad rates as candidates, a decision that benefits Republican committees ahead of the November midterm elections.

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled that political parties are entitled to the same discounted radio/ television advertising rates as candidates, handing Republicans a late-stage victory ahead of the midterm elections.

The unsigned emergency order said Republican Party committees were likely to suffer “irreparable harm” if they had to pay higher rates, which would hamper “their efforts to reach the electorate in the critical weeks leading up to the midterms.” 

The majority said that injury “implicates their First Amendment rights to speak and coordinate their political activities freely.”

The court did not release a vote count, as is common in emergency applications. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

The case turns on the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which requires broadcasters to sell ad time to candidates at low rates in the weeks before an election. The statute does not expressly extend that lowest-unit-rate benefit to party committees. That distinction has generally favored Democrats, whose candidates typically raise more money than their party committees; Republicans have often seen the reverse.

Fox Firing of Maria Bartiromo Getting Messier

• Attorney Claims She's Still FOX Employee

Fox News Media announced Thursday that it has parted ways with Maria Bartiromo, one of its highest-profile anchors, calling the move “a business decision.” A person familiar with the matter said Bartiromo passed a Fox Business Network directive for executive producers to the White House — instructions that may have cautioned staff against amplifying outlandish claims made by President Donald Trump.

However, her attorney, Bryan Freedman, on Friday rejected reports that she had been fired or was no longer a Fox employee. “The irresponsible reports that have been published stating that Maria Bartiromo was fired or is no longer an employee of Fox are absolutely and unequivocally false,” Freedman said. “Make no mistake, we have the receipts and witnesses and they will come out whether through the courthouse or otherwise.” 

He said those accounts showed “a complete and utter reckless disregard for the truth.”

Sharing confidential internal guidance with an outside party would typically violate employment terms. Some details of Bartiromo’s actions were first reported by the media newsletter Status. Fox News declined to make executives available for comment.

Suspended 'Wheel' Announcer Now Terminated

Jim Thornton

Sony Pictures Television has fired “Wheel of Fortune” announcer Jim Thornton, effective immediately, after an investigation into a mid-flight incident in May.

“Following a thorough investigation, Jim Thornton’s employment with ‘Wheel of Fortune’ has been terminated, effective immediately,” the studio said in a statement.

The firing came three days after Sony suspended Thornton and said it would recast the role while it investigated. A spokesperson said at the time that the company had “recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton.”

TMZ first reported the suspension and later published screenshots of chat-room activity a fellow passenger said was captured during the flight. That passenger’s complaint was relayed to a flight attendant and ultimately to the cockpit. 

US Diesel Prices Pushing Up Transportation Costs

Diesel jumped to a record U.S. average of $5.85 a gallon on Friday, the first time the fuel has reached that level, as a six-month war with Iran disrupts global fuel supplies.

Because diesel powers much of the nation’s freight and delivery system, the spike is already raising transportation costs for everyday goods. 

Some businesses have begun passing those costs to customers through extra fees on online orders and mailed packages, and more of the increase is expected to show up on store shelves.

Influential Analyst Bullish On SiriusXM

Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft this week issued a bullish report on SiriusXM, saying the satellite radio company’s stock is mispriced and that upcoming earnings are poised to beat expectations because Wall Street has overlooked growth in digital audio advertising.

Kraft said SiriusXM’s exclusive U.S. audio advertising deal with YouTube has been “completely disregarded” and could generate $2 billion in annual incremental revenue by 2029 at a high-teen margin, lifting EBITDA by $350 million to $400 million. Additional ad growth is expected from an expanded relationship with Amazon’s ad platform announced in July.

“We believe SiriusXM is mispriced based on a large disconnect between consensus estimates and what we believe the company can achieve in 2027 and 2028,” Kraft wrote. “The opportunity is further enhanced by SiriusXM’s return to allocating capital toward share repurchases in the second half of 2026, as well as what we view as conservative 2026 guidance.”

He raised his 2026 forecasts to $8.6 billion in revenue and $2.7 billion in EBITDA, above both his prior estimates and the company’s recently increased guidance of $8.5 billion in revenue and $2.6 billion in EBITDA.

Kraft also expects subscription revenue to remain steady as SiriusXM adds companion subscriptions, more sports programming and a price increase next year. 

Dolly's Tributes Specials Scored Sizeable Numbers

Four broadcast networks have aired Dolly Parton tribute specials since her death on Aug. 25, drawing sizable audiences despite last-minute scheduling during a traditionally slow viewing period.

ABC’s Sunday, Aug. 30, airing of the 1980 film 9 to 5 averaged 4.275 million viewers in live-plus-same-day ratings, making it the most-watched movie on a broadcast network in nearly four years and ABC’s most-watched film since The Sound of Music on Dec. 20, 2020.

On the day Parton died, ABC’s Dolly Parton: An American Original — Special Edition of 20/20, hosted by David Muir, averaged 4.051 million viewers. It won its time slot, beating CBS’s competing Parton special, and was the highest-rated non-sports 10 p.m. telecast in three months, since NBC’s Chicago P.D. season finale in May.

Counting viewing on ABC, Disney+, Hulu and other digital platforms, that 20/20 special reached 6.556 million viewers and was the most-watched title on Disney+ and Hulu on Aug. 26.NBC’s Dolly: An NBC News Special, hosted by Lester Holt and aired the same day, started just under 4 million viewers and has grown to 4.5 million with Peacock included. CBS and The CW also aired tributes.

Joplin Radio: One Media to Acquire AM/FM Combo

A Pittsburg-based media company led by William Wachter has agreed to buy a Joplin, Mo.-area AM/FM combination and an FM translator for $225,000, expanding its footprint across the four-state region. 

One Media, headed by Wachter, is acquiring sports-formatted 1560 WMBH and its 101.3 K268CP translator in Joplin, along with 101.7 KHST in nearby Lamar, Mo., from Michael Landis’ Land Go Radio Group LLC. The stations are marketed as “SoMo Sports Radio.” 

The deal, reported in industry filings this week, would give Wachter’s company a stronger presence in the Joplin-Pittsburg market. WMBH is a historic Joplin AM signal; the FM translator provides a modern on-FM presence that industry observers often describe as a “revitalization” tool for AM stations facing reception challenges in cars and buildings. 

Raid City Radio Riverfront Broadcasting To Add KIMM To Holdings

Yankton-based Riverfront Broadcasting, led by Doyle and Carolyn Becker, has agreed to buy Fox Sports Rapid City from Nate Brown’s Black Hills Broadcasting, adding the sports station and its FM translator to the company’s growing South Dakota cluster. 

The $200,000 deal covers 1150 KIMM and 106.7 K294BT. Riverfront has already begun operating the station under a local marketing agreement that took effect Aug. 1, pending FCC approval and closing. 

Once the sale is complete, the Beckers will fold Fox Sports Rapid City into a new Riverfront Sports Network with news/talk 1380 KOTA and oldies 980 KDSJ. 

Fox News Media To Commemorate 9/11

FOX News Media will honor the 25th anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks with extensive multiplatform special programming. On Friday, September 11th and in the days leading up to it, network personalities and correspondents will present commemorative packages and interviews while reporting live from locations across New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

During the week of September 7th, FOX News Channel’s (FNC) signature morning show FOX & Friends (6-9 AM/ET) will broadcast live from several locations and feature interviews with guests about their experiences 25 years ago. Starting on Monday, co-host Steve Doocy, who was broadcasting live alongside co-host Brian Kilmeade on the morning of the attacks, will host the program’s flagship “Breakfast with Friends” series live from the historic O’Hara’s Pub in downtown Manhattan just two blocks from Ground Zero. Doocy will travel to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday and speak with Tunnels to Towers Foundation chairman and CEO Frank Siller, as the Steel Across America tour, a historic coast-to-coast campaign honoring those who sacrificed their lives on 9/11, arrives at the White House. Throughout the show on Thursday, Doocy will broadcast live from Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93.

On Friday, September 11th, special coverage will commence with FOX & Friends co-hosts Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt and Lawrence Jones broadcasting live from the Hyatt House in Jersey City, overlooking the New York City (NYC) skyline, while Doocy will contribute live from Ground Zero. America’s Newsroom (9-11 AM/ET) co-anchors Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino will broadcast live from Brookfield Place overlooking the World Trade Center campus in downtown Manhattan. The program will carry the live reading of the victims’ names from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. From 11 AM – 3 PM/ET, The Faulkner Focus (11-12 PM/ET), Outnumbered (12-1 PM/ET), and America Reports (1-3 PM/ET) will all feature special segments and interviews with a wide range of guests including families of 9/11 victims, military officials, 9/11 survivors, and founders/CEOs of 9/11-related foundations. Martha MacCallum, host of The Story (3-4 PM/ET), will report live from the Hyatt House and feature interviews with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the New York Police Department (NYPD) co-chief chaplain, and Jessica Tisch, the NYPD Commissioner. Additionally, The Will Cain Show (4-5 PM/ET) will honor the anniversary with guests who will recount their experiences on 9/11.

Radio History: Sep 5

➦In 1910...Kenneth Howard Delmar born in Boston (Died at age 73 - July 14, 1984, Stamford, Connecticut). He was an actor active in radio, films, and animation. An announcer on the pioneering radio news series The March of Time, he became a national radio sensation in 1945 as Senator Beauregard Claghorn on the running "Allen's Alley" sketch on The Fred Allen Show.

Kenny Delmar

The character Delmar created was a primary inspiration for the Warner Bros. cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn.

By the late 1930s, Delmar was an announcer on such major radio series as The March of Time and Your Hit Parade. He played multiple roles in The Mercury Theatre on the Air's October 1938 radio drama The War of the Worlds.

Delmar is notable for creating the character Senator Beauregard Claghorn on Fred Allen's radio program Allen's Alley, which he did while also serving as the show's regular announcer. Senator Claghorn made his radio debut October 7, 1945, and six months later was called "unquestionably the most quoted man in the nation" by Life magazine. The role inspired the Warner Bros. animated character Foghorn Leghorn, first seen in the Oscar-nominated cartoon Walky Talky Hawky (1946).

"During the late 1940s, Mr. Delmar captivated 20 million radio listeners every Sunday night with his burlesque of a bombastic, super-chauvinistic legislator who drank only from Dixie cups and refused to drive through the Lincoln Tunnel," wrote The New York Times. "His stock expression, 'That's a joke, son,' was for many years one of the nation's pet phrases, mimicked by children and businessmen alike.

Delmar was also announcer and voice performer on The Alan Young Show in 1944. In 1953 he returned to radio replacing Hans Conried's character on My Friend Irma, as the Professor's cousin, Maestro Wanderkin and as Conried's Schultz on Life with Luigi.

➦In 1938…'Life Can Be Beautiful' began airing.  It was a daytime drama broadcast on NBC and CBS during its 16-year run. The program was billed as "an inspiring message of faith drawn from life" and remained one of the leading soap operas through the 1940s. Sponsored by Procter & Gamble and Spic and Span, it premiered September 5, 1938 on NBC and moved two months later to CBS, where it was heard from November 7, 1938 to June 21, 1946. Concurrently, it was also airing on NBC from 1939 to 1941. The final run was on NBC from 1946 to 1954.

➦In 1957...WPOW 1330 AM became one of the first NYC stations to air Rock & Roll regularly. Today the station airs a Spanish Christian music and teaching format and is owned by Radio Vision Cristiana Management.

Reports: Here's What Triggered The FOX Exit of Maria Bartiromo

Maria Bartiromo

Fox News Media parted ways with longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo on Thursday after she shared internal network guidance with the White House telling staff to avoid amplifying President Donald Trump’s latest 2020 election claims, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

The company announced that Bartiromo was “no longer with Fox News Media,” effective immediately, and thanked her for 12½ years of work. It gave no public explanation beyond later describing the move as a “business decision.”  On Thursday Fox News Media issued a statement: 'Effective today, Maria Bartiromo is no longer with FOX News Media. We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.”

The trigger, according to reporting first published by Status and corroborated by the New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal, was a July incident. After Trump’s prime-time speech on election integrity — in which he revived allegations involving China and the 2020 vote — Fox issued written guidance instructing senior staff not to give those claims airtime. Bartiromo, who wanted to pursue related coverage, shared a text or screenshot of that instruction with senior White House officials. Fox executives learned of the disclosure after the White House contacted the network. Leadership viewed it as a violation of her employment agreement and decided in August to remove her.

D/FW Radio: The Fan Is New Home The NBA Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks announced today a multi-year partnership with Audacy, designating 105.3 The Fan the official flagship radio station of the franchise. The new partnership with Audacy will make Mavericks games available to more than nine million listeners across North Texas, with additional distribution in outer markets via the Texas State Network.

“105.3 The Fan has built tremendous equity in the market with sports fans across North Texas, and we’re excited to bring the Dallas Mavericks to the Audacy family,” said Dallas Mavericks Chief Communications Officer Gina Miller. “This partnership is about giving Mavs fans more ways to connect with the team, from game broadcasts to weekly programming, while significantly expanding our reach across Texas. Plainly put, we want to give our fans more Mavs content, wherever they are.”

Legendary sportscaster Chuck Cooperstein, in his 22nd year as the radio voice of the Mavericks, will call the play-by-play action alongside analyst Brian Dameris for all regular season games live.