101.1 WCBS-FM, the most-listened-to Classic Hits station in America, announces a new morning show featuring Trey Morgan and Loren Raye. “The Morning Show with Trey and Loren Raye” can be heard weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. ET.
“Trey and Loren love radio. They love connecting with people, and each brings a very different take on life to the microphone. Put those personalities in a room, and you’ve got the makings of great conversations and something worth turning up,” said John Foxx, Brand Manager, 101.1 WCBS-FM. “I’m excited for our listeners to get to know them and find a little of themselves in the show every morning."
“There are very few opportunities in radio that feel this special. WCBS-FM has an incredible history and a unique relationship with New York, and I’m grateful for the chance to build this show with Loren Raye,” said Morgan. “I’ve been fortunate to have learned from great mentors and am excited to continue learning from John Foxx, Jim Ryan, and Chris Oliviero. My goal is to make a show Loren and I are proud of, have a lot of fun and earn our place in people’s mornings.”
The Radio Hall of Fame inducts its 2026 class Thursday night in Chicago, honoring eight living broadcasters and nine posthumous Legends at a ceremony hosted by Bobby Bones.
The Museum of Broadcast Communications holds the induction at the Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park. Bones, a 2017 inductee and host of iHeartMedia’s The Bobby Bones Show, serves as master of ceremonies. A portion of ticket sales is a tax-deductible gift to the museum, which houses the hall.
The living inductees are iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman; Boomer Esiason of WFAN-AM/FM in New York; Helen Little of WLTW-FM in New York; Rickey Smiley of Urban One/Reach Media; Shotgun Tom Kelly of SiriusXM’s ’60s on 6; Dennis Green, chief operating officer of Sun & Fun Media/Key Networks and co-chair of the hall; Charlie Van Dyke; and Fred Winston.
Six were chosen by a confidential ballot of more than 950 industry professionals, run by Votem.com and overseen by Miller Kaplan’s Andrew Rosen. The 2026 Nominating Committee selected the other two.
“World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.346 million), Adults 25-54 (1.136 million) and Adults 18-49 (836,000) during the week of Sept. 28, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
“World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (6.894 million, 1.006 million and 689,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+21%/+1.452 million), Adults 25-54 (+13%/+130,000) and Adults 18-49 (+21%/+147,000).
FNC Continues to Beat CBS in Monday – Friday Primetime Year-to-Date
CNN and MS NOW See Losses in Total Viewers and the 25-54 Demo
FOX News Channel (FNC) ended the week of September 28th with nearly 2 million weekday primetime viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research Big Data + Panel. Year-to-date, FNC continues to beat broadcast network CBS (2,698,000 viewers) in Monday – Friday primetime, nabbing 2,733,000 viewers. In Monday – Sunday primetime, FNC claimed over 1.6 million viewers and in total day, FNC notched over one million viewers, posting a two percent growth week-to-week.
Notably, in Monday – Sunday total day, CNN posted 373,000 viewers, seeing a six percent loss in total viewers both week-to-week and year-over-year. In the 25-54 demo, the network claimed only 53,000 viewers which is a five percent loss week-to-week and a 12 percent loss year-over-year. In Monday - Sunday primetime, CNN (554,000 viewers; 97,000 A25-54) and MS NOW (917,000 viewers; 89,000 A25-54) marked week-to-week declines in total viewers and the 25-54 demo. Additionally, episode three of CBS’ 60 Minutes was down three percent year-over-year in the 25-54 demo.
David Ellison, CNN’s new owner, said he supports the network’s legal action against the Trump administration over White House access and will not interfere in its coverage.
“We believe in editorial independence, and we will never interfere,” Ellison said Tuesday, repeating assurances he made while seeking to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. The Warner-Paramount merger took effect that morning, creating a company named Skydance, which he leads as CEO.
At an employee town hall and a later press conference in Los Angeles, Ellison said Skydance will keep CNN and CBS News “completely editorially independent,” build a streaming service that can compete with rivals, and rebuild trust by following through on those promises. Asked how the company would win over merger opponents, he pointed to those commitments.
Skydance executives have told employees that layoffs will be part of integrating Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, days after the companies closed a roughly $110 billion merger and began operating as a single company.
In a memo sent Tuesday, chairman and CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz said combining the two businesses “will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce.” They added that the process would be handled “thoughtfully and respectfully,” but they did not say how many jobs would be cut, which divisions would be hit, or when reductions would begin. The note, reported by Variety and Deadline, was the first clear acknowledgment from leadership after closing that workforce cuts are coming.
The company is targeting at least $6 billion in run-rate cost savings over three years. Executives have previously said most of that figure is expected from non-labor sources: unifying streaming technology stacks, including Paramount+ and HBO Max; consolidating procurement and back-office systems; cutting overlapping marketing spend; and shrinking the real-estate footprint.
An ABC lawyer told a federal judge Tuesday that the network is already tempering its midterm election coverage because of threats from President Donald Trump and FCC Chair Brendan Carr.
Beth Wilkinson, arguing for ABC before U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington, said editorial decisions are being affected now, weeks before the election. “We sit with our head on the guillotine,” she said, calling the risk of losing broadcast licenses a “corporate death penalty” for eight major-market stations owned by ABC’s parent, Disney. “Our editorial decisions are being affected right now,” she said. “We are watching everything that we do.”
Cable industry groups told the FCC they will sue to block the agency’s repeal of the National Television Ownership Rule, arguing the change will let large broadcast companies demand higher retransmission fees and raise consumers’ monthly TV bills.
The groups, which represent Comcast, Charter, and other cable operators, said in a filing that the repeal order “arbitrarily and capriciously ignores the harms that will surely follow from allowing broadcast station groups to exceed the National Cap.” They also asked the FCC to keep the limit in place until litigation over the agency’s authority ends.
Disney+ will livestream Super Bowl LXI on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2027, in the United States and more than 55 international markets, adding another platform for ESPN’s first Super Bowl production.
All U.S. Disney+ subscribers can stream the English-language telecast also airing on ESPN and ABC, with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge calling the game, plus the Spanish-language presentation on ESPN Deportes. Disney+ and ESPN announced the plan Wednesday with the NFL.
The New York Times and other outlets have reported U.S. military adjustments in Europe in 2025 and 2026. A Times analysis published Wednesday framed some moves as a forced retreat tied to the war with Iran.
David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt wrote that strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025 limited rather than expanded American reach. Middle East bases have been closed or restricted, and use of at least one British base curtailed. Bombers must now fly from the continental United States, and carriers outside the Persian Gulf require more distant support, including from Diego Garcia.
YouTube remains the platform U.S. weekly podcast consumers use most often, according to Edison Research’s Q3 2026 Podcast Metrics from SSRS.
The latest findings show YouTube with the largest share of weekly podcast consumers who name it as their primary place to listen to or watch podcasts. Edison said the growth of podcast content on YouTube has reshaped the ecosystem as the video platform continues to gain ground as a destination for podcast consumption.
Spotify ranks second, cited by 17% of weekly podcast consumers as the platform they use most often. Apple Podcasts is third at 9%, still ahead of many other services but holding a smaller share than in the past.
Simply the Best: The Radio Hall of Fame inducts its 2026 class Thursday night in Chicago, honoring eight living broadcasters and nine posthumous Legends. MORE
Saga Promotes: Saga Communications has named John Hakim General Manager of its Charleston, South Carolina, operations, succeeding Paul O’Malley. MORE
Podcast Access: YouTube remains the platform U.S. weekly podcast consumers use most often, according to Edison Research’s Q3 2026 Podcast Metrics from SSRS. MORE
Global ad spend is forecast to grow 11.9% to $1.34trn in 2026, according to the latest data from WARC Media. This comes on the back of strong 10.0% growth in 2024 and 2025.
Advertising investment continues to grow despite consumer pressure and geopolitical uncertainty, fueled by significant corporate AI investment and major events including the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and US mid-term elections. While the economy has remained resilient to date, further escalations of global tensions pose potential downside risks.
Suzy Young, Head of WARC Media Data, says: "These are unusual times for advertising. Investment is accelerating even as many consumers face cost-of-living pressures and become more cautious with spending. This apparent contradiction reflects an increasingly uneven economy, where growth – particularly from the AI boom – is benefiting some companies, sectors and consumers more than others."
Saga Communications has named John Hakim General Manager of its Charleston, South Carolina, operations, succeeding Paul O’Malley. Hakim had served as Director of Sales for the Charleston cluster for the past five years. Before joining Saga, he held positions with Cox Media Group in Jacksonville.
➦In 1906..William N. Robson born in Pittsburgh (Died at age 88 – April 10, 1995). Robson spent most of his career involved with radio. His radio debut came in 1936 as director of Big Town. He succeeded Irving Reis as head of the Columbia Workshop.
William Robson
Perhaps the most notable of Robson's productions was Suspense, followed closely by the similarly formatted Escape. Suspense lasted more than two decades on the air with more than 900 episodes broadcast. Ronald L. Smith wrote about Suspense and Escape in his book, Horror Stars on Radio: The Broadcast Histories of 29 Chilling Hollywood Voices: "Both used the same format: a challenging (if anonymous) host introducing a story of murder or perhaps classic horror. Robson favored adaptations of anything from Poe tales to a good yarn in the latest issue of Esquire magazine."
Robson left CBS in 1939 to become director of an advertising firm's radio department, and after the United States entered World War II he helped to prepare broadcasts for the Office of Emergency Management and the War Production Board. He returned to CBS in May 1942 to help the network prepare programs related to the war.
On June 22, 1950, a pamphlet called Red Channels appeared, focusing on the field of broadcasting. Robson was among 151 entertainment industry professionals (erroneously) named in the context of "Red Fascists and their sympathizers". During the ’50′s he wrote TV dramas, and in 1961 joined The Voice of America, where he was reunited with Edward R. Murrow, and won four Peabody Awards.
➦In 1935...“The O’Neills” first aired. The serial drama also aired on Mutual, CBS and NBC Red and Blue from 1934 to 1943. Created by actress-writer Jane West, the series was sponsored at various times by Gold Dust, Ivory Snow and Standard Brands.
➦In 1937...The radio series Grand Central Station started a long run long run on the major networks from 1937 to 1954. Each program opened with an announcer intoning that Grand Central was "the crossroads of a million private lives, a gigantic stage on which are played a thousand dramas daily."
➦In 1944...the first broadcast of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet was heard on the CBS radio network. The show would continue on radio until 1953 and on ABC-TV from 1952 to 1966.
