Fox Corp, News Corp Considering Re-Merger

Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch are considering a remeger of Fox Corp. and News Corp., a combination that would reunite the family’s television and publishing businesses and tighten their hold on what remains of the media empire, newly unsealed Nevada court records show. The discussions surfaced in documents and testimony unsealed in recent weeks from the family’s 2023–25 succession fight. 

Reuters reports Probate Commissioner Edmund Gorman released findings at the end of July. An attorney for Lachlan argued in a June hearing that merger-related material should stay sealed or redacted because a deal “still could happen in the future.” 

A combined company would bring together Fox News, the Fox broadcast network (including NFL games), The Wall Street Journal, The Sun and the New York Post. 

In June, Fox, led by Lachlan, agreed to buy streaming platform Roku for about $22 billion to reach more than 100 million households as traditional TV shrinks. That deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027. 

Rupert Murdoch

Court files show Rupert, then chairman of both companies, revived the idea of putting them back together in 2022, less than a decade after he split them. He drafted a letter telling both boards that the family trust would not “vote in favor of any alternative sale, merger or similar transaction involving either company.” 

After a representative for his daughter Elisabeth questioned the plan, he texted her that he would “ram it through … if necessary.” Investors balked and the 2022 effort died. Murdoch split the companies in 2013 after a U.K. phone-hacking scandal, including the hacking of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s phone. He separated the faster-growing television assets from the newspaper business; investors then lifted the value of both. 

The family battle that produced the new filings began in December 2023, when Rupert, then 93, tried to rewrite the family trust so Lachlan would control Fox and News Corp. and three other children — Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch — would be sidelined. 

The siblings sued. They settled in 2025: Lachlan became the designated heir; each of the three received about $1.1 billion and left the trust that controls the companies. 

The New York Times Magazine first reported the dispute last year; the July Nevada findings added fresh remarks from Rupert. When a family representative challenged his push to concentrate control, Rupert replied: “Sorry, Richard! This has been a family-dominated business for 70 years,” and said it would be “a disaster for at least the U.S. and Australia if these assets fell into the wrong hands.” 

News organizations including Reuters petitioned the court to unseal the record.

Baltimore Radio: WBAL Radio Cuts Local Shows For Syndication

WBAL NewsRadio in Baltimore said Thursday it is dropping two local weekday talk shows and filling midday hours with nationally syndicated programs from Premiere Networks. 

Local midday host T.J. Smith is leaving the 10 a.m.–2 p.m. slot. Glenn Beck will air from 10 a.m. to noon, followed by The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show from noon to 3 p.m. 

Afternoon host Angelette Aviles, who joined the station a little more than a year ago, is also departing. 

The station will air The Sports Lounge from 3 to 5 p.m., then WBAL News Now with longtime anchor Robert Lang from 5 to 7 p.m. WBAL has not named a Sports Lounge host or explained the exits. 

The Hearst-owned news/talk station (1090 AM and 101.5 FM) still plans local programming in morning drive with C4 (Clarence Mitchell IV) and Bryan Nehman, plus evening news with Lang. Mark Levin and Lars Larson remain in nights. 

The station also carries Orioles and Ravens games. Some Baltimore reports said the radio newsroom had been “gutted”, 

WBAL 1090 AM (50 Kw)

The shift gives Premiere five consecutive midday hours and cuts the amount of locally produced talk between morning drive and evening news. WBAL posted the new schedule on its website and social accounts Thursday.

Spotify Reports Surge In Dolly Parton Songs

Dolly Parton, the country music icon, died Tuesday at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer, her representatives confirmed. Her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, first announced the news in a video posted to her social media accounts. Streams of her catalog surged immediately. 

On U.S. Spotify, they jumped 2,320% the day she died compared with her average over the prior week; globally, they rose 1,260%. 

• “Jolene” climbed 1,225% in the United States and 630% worldwide. 
• “9 to 5” rose 1,030% in the U.S. and 630% globally.

She also swept digital charts. On Apple Music in the United States, “Jolene” hit No. 1, followed by “9 to 5” at No. 2, “Islands in the Stream” at No. 4 and “I Will Always Love You” at No. 5. 

On iTunes, her original “I Will Always Love You” led the songs chart, the rest of the top 10 were hers as well, and 11 of the top 12 albums were Parton titles (a Post Malone album sat at No. 8).

Days before her death, Parton told People she was facing “hard times with my health,” saying she had neglected her own issues while caring for her husband, Carl Dean, who died last year. She postponed Las Vegas shows last year, citing “health challenges,” and said in May that her immune and digestive systems had been “out of whack” for three years.

Tributes poured in from celebrities and politicians. Goddaughter Miley Cyrus wrote on Instagram that losing her “Aunt Dolly” felt beyond what she could share publicly, adding that their “most sacred moments were private and they’ll stay there behind the stage, beneath the glamour & between our hearts.”

Jesse Watters Interview With Progressive Rated Highest

Jesse Watters Primetime drew 3.3 million viewers Monday and led all of television in primetime, beating ABC, NBC and CBS.

The Aug. 24 episode of Fox News Channel’s Jesse Watters Primetime, featuring Watters’ interview with Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, averaged 3.3 million total viewers at 8 p.m. ET. 

In the key 25-54 demographic, the hour delivered 295,000 viewers.

The first half-hour, from 8 to 8:30 p.m., was stronger still: nearly 3.7 million total viewers and 332,000 in the 25-54 demo.

Compared with the program’s August average, Monday’s telecast was up 17% in total viewers and 18% among adults 25-54. Versus the third-quarter 2026 average, it was up 15% in total viewers and 14% in the demo.

🚨 NEW: Dan Bongino to Jesse Watters: “That interview you did with El-Sayed was one of the great moments in cable TV history.”

“When you ask a major party from the state of Michigan how much money the government spends in a year and he doesn’t know the answer? It’s his job to… pic.twitter.com/tm4bj2jBeg

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) August 27, 2026

Katz: Radio Remains King In the Connected Car

AM/FM radio still accounts for 55% of all in-car listening time, more than three times the share of streaming services, Edison Research finds.

Drivers have more audio options than ever in connected cars, but they have not abandoned the dashboard habit. Edison Research’s Q1 2026 Share of Ear study shows broadcast radio captures 55% of every minute spent listening in the car—more than half of in-vehicle audio time.

Streaming services account for 16%. Podcasts, YouTube, SiriusXM and owned audio combined still fall well short of radio’s share.

The study frames the result as current consumer behavior, not nostalgia: more choices have expanded the in-car menu, but AM/FM remains the clear leader.

Two-thirds of radio listeners say AM/FM is the easiest audio option in the car, and one in four drivers still turns it on first, new industry surveys show.

Radio’s staying power in connected vehicles is less about habit than about utility, according to Jacobs Media’s 2026 Techsurvey and a May 2026 Nielsen/iHeart in-car radio study. 

Sixty-six percent of radio listeners say broadcast is the easiest thing to listen to behind the wheel. While four in 10 drivers say connecting a phone via Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay or Android Auto is the first thing they do, 25% still start with AM/FM.

Listeners are not necessarily choosing radio instead of streaming, podcasts or other digital options. They use it when it does the job better: it is immediate (no searching or downloading), local (traffic, weather, news and personalities), live, effortless (one button) and easy for everyone in the car.

That mix helps explain why broadcast remains central on the modern dashboard. Consumers appear less loyal to a particular technology than to experiences that work with little friction.

According to Katz, Connected-car technology has not forced an either/or choice between broadcast and digital audio. It has created an ecosystem in which each option serves a different need. The implication for automakers, the analysis argues, is that innovation need not mean subtraction: the most useful dashboard keeps the simple, immediate choice drivers already use while adding the options they also want.

Creator Video Outpaces TV For Daily Attention

Americans spend an average of 3 hours and 54 minutes a day with YouTube, TikTok and other social video—more than the 3 hours and 20 minutes they spend with live TV and streaming services combined—according to Attest’s 2026 Attention Economy Report. 

The study, based on surveys of 1,000 U.S. and 1,000 U.K. adults plus five years of tracking data, concludes that creator content is now more popular than streaming or traditional television. “YouTube hasn’t just become an alternative to TV, it’s already ahead of it,” the report states. Twenty-three percent of Americans primarily watch YouTube on their televisions.

On a typical weekday, 90% of Americans access YouTube, compared with 79% for streaming services and 73% for live TV. Time spent on those platforms is closer: streaming averages 1 hour 49 minutes, YouTube 1 hour 46 minutes, and live TV 1 hour 31 minutes.

Younger viewers drive the gap. Gen Z watches 2 hours 25 minutes of YouTube a day on average, ahead of Millennials (1 hour 55 minutes), Gen X (1 hour 18 minutes) and Boomers (53 minutes). Men watch more than women overall (2 hours 9 minutes versus 1 hour 23 minutes).

The shift does not mean audiences only want short clips. Two-thirds of people regularly watch YouTube videos longer than 15 minutes; 53% do so on Facebook or Instagram and 39% on TikTok. Platforms that launched short-form products with strict length limits have repeatedly expanded those limits, the report says, “visibly chasing consumer demand for longer content, not just short clips.”

Attention to traditional TV itself is fragmented. Only 12% of viewers give TV their full attention with no other activity. The other 88% multitask; 68% are second-screening—scrolling social media, shopping, searching, messaging or gaming.

Ad tolerance has stayed relatively consistent even as viewing has moved to streaming and social platforms that now carry more ads. People say ads become excessive every 14 minutes on streamed TV and every 12 minutes on social video, a threshold that barely changes by generation. 

Behavior does differ: 82% of Gen Z always or usually skip ads on social video, versus 46% of Boomers; on streamed TV the figures are 68% versus 36%. When ads cannot be skipped, only 44% keep watching as intended, 34% look elsewhere, 17% mute the ad and 3% stop watching.

CNN Uses Photo of Vegas Impersonator To I-D Dolly Parton

CNN has apologized to Dolly Parton’s family after airing a photo of Las Vegas tribute artist Kelly Vohnn instead of the country star during a report on Parton’s death.

The error occurred Tuesday night on “Laura Coates Live” in the 11 p.m. ET hour. A Getty Images photo of Vohnn, taken Dec. 16, 2025, at a Las Vegas screening of “Song Sung Blue,” appeared in a montage that also included five images of Parton herself.

“We regret the error and apologize to the Parton family,” CNN said in a statement to Variety.

Vohnn told the New York Post she learned of the mix-up from friends’ texts. “I was already heartbroken at losing Dolly because of how much she has given to me as a woman and an artist. But then to see these images of me on screen was just weird.”

Parton died Tuesday, Aug. 25, at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer, her representatives said. 

Over seven decades she wrote and recorded hundreds of songs, including “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5,” “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “Here You Come Again.” 

A secret song she recorded remains sealed in a time capsule at Dollywood, scheduled to be opened in 2045.

ESPN Digital & Social 2026: No. 1 in July

Throughout a busy month across the sports media landscape in July, ESPN Digital & Social was once again No. 1 in the U.S. Sports Category with 227.5 million unique users, up 21% YoY and reaching 83% of U.S. adults across digital, YouTube and social media platforms, according to recently released Comscore data.

The ESPN App also remained No. 1 in July, reaching 27.8 million unique users, more than the next 10 non-ESPN apps combined and nearly 4.5 times its closest competitor in the Mobile Sports App category.

The ESPN Fantasy App was No. 1 among fantasy sports apps in July with 4.4 million unique users.

ESPN Social reached 900 million engagements in July, roughly 29 million per day. ESPN.com was No. 1 across the web in July with 58.5 million unique visitors, up 20% YoY.

July’s most-engaged-with post across ESPN’s X account drove 29.2 million views, 144 thousand likes, 4.4 thousand saves, and 29 thousand reposts.

ESPN offers its full suite of networks and services directly to fans on the ESPN App with an ESPN Unlimited subscription, providing more choice, flexibility and access to all of ESPN, including more than 47,000 live events per year, on-demand replays, industry-leading studio shows and original programming, and more. 

CRS Has Released Video Of August's Webinar

Country Radio Seminar has released a new CRS360 webinar that shows music and radio professionals how to turn vague AI requests into usable, high-quality results. 

The session, “Prompt Me Like You Mean It: From Vague Requests To Powerful AI Conversations,” features Stan Marczewski, Director of National Promotion at Stoney Creek Records. It is now available to stream online and is aimed at professionals at every level of AI experience, from first-time users to people already folding generative tools into daily work. Marczewski focuses on prompt writing as a practical skill, not a technical specialty. 

The webinar walks through how clearer instructions can improve efficiency, communication, creativity and everyday workflows across promotion, programming and related music-business jobs. Rather than treating AI as a replacement for radio promotion, he frames it as a complement to the human relationships, judgment and instincts that still drive the format. 

The session is part of CRS360’s August Workshop Series, which brings selected educational sessions from CRS 2026 back to a wider audience after the March seminar in Nashville. Marczewski originally presented the material as a “Prompt Writing” workshop in CRS 2026’s AI Classroom track on Friday, March 20. 

That track also included sessions on efficiency tools, creative tools and a rapid survey of tech platforms. In the original workshop, Marczewski demonstrated structured prompt frameworks designed to reduce guesswork. One example, the RACE model, asks users to define the AI’s role, specify the action, set the context and describe the expected result. A typical radio-promotion prompt might assign the tool the role of a promotions director, then ask it to generate contest ideas that can run on air, on social media or in a station app. The point is simple: vague input produces vague output; specific input produces work people can actually use. 

That approach fits a broader CRS 2026 emphasis on AI as a workplace tool rather than a novelty. Event organizers expanded hands-on workshops this year in part to help stations and labels cut busywork, ease burnout and leave more time for programming, artist development and relationship-building. 

CRS360 is Country Radio Seminar’s ongoing education series, built around the organization’s “Learn. Connect. Advance.” mission. Recent episodes have covered listener research, in-car measurement, on-air personality, contracts and other format issues. The August installment keeps that practical focus, offering a replay-ready primer for anyone in country radio or records who wants better results from AI without surrendering the human core of the business. The webinar is available to stream through CRS’s online platforms.

R.I.P.: Paul Stagg, MN Hall of Fame Broadcaster

Paul Stagg ('43-'26)

Paul Stagg, a former WCCO Radio and television announcer and 2017 Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee, died Sunday at the Montevideo Veterans Home. He was 83. 

Stagg, born Paul Steigerwald, spent more than six decades on Minnesota airwaves in roles ranging from on-air talent to station owner. Colleagues remembered his baritone delivery and professional presence across markets large and small. 

Funeral arrangements remain pending. 

He spent 18 years at WCCO in Minneapolis as a staff announcer, music director and program director, reading news and weather and later serving as general manager of WCCO-FM. Under his leadership the station became WLTE, now country station KMNB (102.9 The Wolf). 

After WCCO he worked at KLBB in St. Paul. Stagg began broadcasting in 1957 as a 15-year-old part-time announcer at KWLM in his hometown of Willmar. He later worked at WDAY in Fargo, North Dakota, and WWTC in the Twin Cities before joining WCCO in 1969. A Vietnam-era Army veteran who served two years in Korea, he returned to KWLM in 2007 and hosted “Live at 5” until retiring in March 2019 after 61 years on the air, signing off at the same station where he started. 

He also owned several Minnesota stations, including KLLR in Walker, WQPM in Princeton and WKLK in Duluth, and did freelance voice work that included industrial films for companies such as Medtronic. In Willmar he was a frequent volunteer for charity events.

Radio History: Aug 28

➦In 1922...In February, the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) announced it planned to begin establishing stations that would be dedicated to selling their airtime to interested parties, which AT&T called "toll broadcasting".

Its primary station, WEAF in New York (now WFAN), aired its first paid $100 for a 10-minute radio commercial on August 28, 1922 for the Queensboro Corporation, advertising a new apartment complex in Jackson Heights, Queens, near the just-completed #7 subway line.

Based on a series of industry cross-licensing agreements, AT&T initially claimed that its patent rights gave it a monopoly on commercial radio transmissions. Although the courts upheld this contention, the practice was widely disliked, and AT&T soon came up with a licensing scheme to allow individual stations to begin selling airtime.

➦In 1954...Elvis Presley got Memphis airplay on his first official release “That’s All Right (Mama)” b/w “Blue Moon of Kentucky”.  Local DJ Dewey Phillips had debuted the single on his “Red Hot and Blue” radio show on WHBQ.

➦In 1961...Cousin Brucie Morrow started at 77WABC. 

Morrow's first stint in radio was in Bermuda at ZBM-AM, where he was known as "The Hammer."

Morrow began his stateside career at New York Top 40 station WINS in 1959. In 1960, he moved to Miami for a brief stint before returning to the New York airwaves the following year on AM 770 powerhouse WABC, another Top 40 outlet. Morrow's return to New York City came at the precise moment that rock and roll music was exploding across the Baby Boom demographic and Morrow found himself on the most powerful radio station on the East Coast. His main competition came from his previous station WINS, which featured "Murray the K."

"Cousin Brucie" quickly became a success on WABC's teen-oriented evening shift in the 6:15 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. slot. Morrow became a commercial radio powerhouse and household name through his ability to maintain a rapport with his listeners while smoothly mixing the diverse musical genres of the time (Motown soul, pop, hard rock, surf music, novelty records), and then seamlessly segueing into commercials for youth-oriented sponsors and events such as concerts and drag-strip races.

He served at WABC for 13 years and 4,014 broadcasts until August 1974, when he jumped to rival station WNBC.

➦In 1966...the Beatles played Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It was their next-to-last live performance.  The Beatles performed before 45,000 people in Los Angeles. Tickets were priced at $3, $4.50, $5.50 and $6. The cheapest were reserved for members of the US Army.

The support acts for the concert were The Remains, Bobby Hebb, The Cyrkle and The Ronettes. The Beatles performed a set consisted of 11 songs: Rock And Roll Music, She's A Woman, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper, Baby's In Black, I Feel Fine, Yesterday, I Wanna Be Your Man, Nowhere Man, Paperback Writer and Long Tall Sally.

➦In 1967...WCBS 880 AM flipped to all news.

By the early sixties, WCBS had evolved into a Middle of the road (MOR) music and personality format, which included limited talk programming. Personalities included legendary morning host Jack Sterling, Bill Randle and Lee Jordan. Like many MOR stations at the time, WCBS did mix in softer songs by rock-and-roll artists, as its ratings at the time were ordinary compared to the higher ratings at WOR and WNEW, both of which also had MOR formats and more distinct identities. Through it all, the variety show "Arthur Godfrey Time" remained a weekday mid-morning staple. Eventually, WCBS gained a foothold in local news coverage (WOR and WNEW's strengths) bolstered by its standing as CBS's flagship radio station.

'Astounding Coincidence': Tropical Storm Dolly Forms

Tropical Storm Dolly formed Thursday morning in the central Atlantic, becoming the fourth named storm of the 2026 hurricane season, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was located about 1,555 miles east of the Caribbean’s Leeward Islands at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday, moving west at 24 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. Forecasters said it organized overnight but is expected to be short-lived. Hostile environmental conditions beginning Friday, Aug. 28, are likely to prevent further development.

The name Dolly comes from a rotating World Meteorological Organization list used for Atlantic storms and has no connection to singer Dolly Parton’s death on Aug. 25. 

Retired NOAA meteorologist Roger Edwards called the timing an “astounding coincidence.”

AccuWeather meteorologists said Atlantic conditions this season have generally limited tropical storm growth. Lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva said that if the system held together long enough, it could become worth watching for the U.S. East Coast, though that assessment was issued before the storm was named.

TV Ratings: FNC Outpaces ABC And CBS In Weekday Primetime

FOX News Channel (FNC) ended the week of August 17th with nearly 2.4 million weekday primetime viewers and 212,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo, outpacing broadcast networks ABC (2.3 million viewers) and CBS (2 million viewers) according to Nielsen Media Research Big Data + Panel. 

In Monday–Sunday, FNC nabbed 2 million primetime viewers, surpassing CBS (1.9 million viewers), and 1.3 million viewers during total day. CBS Evening News (3,965,000 viewers) continued its downward trend, posting its third consecutive week under four million viewers. CNN delivered its lowest rated week of the year in total day, garnering only 412,000 viewers with FNC easily tripling this number. Additionally, MS Now saw its second lowest rated week of the year in total day in the 25-54 demo (48,000 viewers), the 25-54 demo in primetime (66,000 viewers), and primetime total viewers (850,000 viewers).

Ratings Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

The Five continued to dominate the week, averaging nearly 3.2 million viewers and 276,000 in the 25-54 demo. In the 6 PM/ET hour, Special Report with Bret Baier notched 2.3 million viewers and 164,000 in the 25-54 demo. During the 7 PM/ET hour, The Ingraham Angle claimed 2.1 million viewers and 141,000 in the 25-54 demo. At 8 PM/ET, Jesse Watters Primetime drew almost 2.7 million viewers and 211,000 in the 25-54 demo. In the 9 PM/ET hour, Hannity secured over 2.2 million viewers and 198,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo.

Buffalo Radio: WBEN Shuffles Line-Up

WBEN-AM is shrinking its weekday local talk roster from three hosts to two after firing afternoon host Tom Bauerle, station owner Audacy confirmed, with Joe Beamer and David Bellavia swapping time slots starting Monday. 

“A New Morning with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski” remains in place from 5 to 9 a.m. Beamer, who had been in the 1 to 3 p.m. slot, moves to an expanded 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. show. Bellavia, previously on at 9 a.m., takes the 1 to 5 p.m. block that had been split between Beamer and Bauerle. 

“Buffalo’s Evening News” now begins an hour earlier, at 5 p.m. Bauerle, 62, was dismissed this month after 24 years at WBEN and 42 years combined at WBEN and sister station WGR. He said he was fired the day after returning from a sold-out listener trip to Italy, about a week before his contract was due to expire. 

A year earlier, his show had already been cut from drive-time length to 3 to 6 p.m. so Beamer could take a permanent 1 to 3 p.m. shift. Beamer had been viewed as Bauerle’s most likely successor or as a candidate for a longer shift. He previously co-hosted mornings and filled in across the schedule before getting his own afternoon program in July 2025. He said he is looking forward to returning to mornings while keeping the show built in the early-afternoon slot. 

The shuffle leaves WBEN with two local talk voices after mornings instead of three, eliminating Bauerle’s salary and handing more hours to a younger, lower-cost host. Industry coverage has treated the firing and the leaner lineup as a cost-cutting move by Audacy, which has also restructured local management in Buffalo this year. Bauerle has said he briefly considered calling the exit a retirement, then rejected that framing and indicated he intends to compete with WBEN in a future project.

Radio Too Slow to React To Passing of Country's Queen

(1946-2026)

Many country radio stations were slow to react when Dolly Parton’s death was announced just before 2 p.m. ET on Aug. 25, radio programmer Mike McVay writes in Radio Ink— a delay he says exposed staffing, technology and leadership gaps that raise questions about how stations would handle a weather emergency, disaster or other crisis.

McVay, monitoring country outlets on a smart speaker, heard some stations go hours without mentioning Parton. Several major-market stations took nearly three hours to promote tribute audio or switch to all-Dolly music. One market manager texted that a competing country station played no Parton and never noted her death. A major broadcast group left a “Dolly Parton Shares Health Updates as She Continues Recovery” headline on websites more than a day after she died.

Some stations moved immediately. WYCD Detroit was all-Dolly and all-tribute among the first McVay checked. Brand manager Tim Roberts, reached while driving to a TV interview, told him: “That’s what the audience expects from us.” 

Mike McVay

Stations in California, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama also responded quickly. McVay argues country radio “owns” Parton and that being two or three hours late after the death of a format cornerstone should be unacceptable.

National television treated the story as breaking news. NBC Nightly News opened with 15 minutes on Parton. Fox News featured country stars; CNN framed her as “an American gift”; Entertainment Tonight devoted its show to her. President Trump ordered flags at half-staff for a week.

McVay traces the radio lapses to skeleton programming staffs, unmanned studios, weak remote and cloud setups, programmers split across formats and markets, and no clear chain of command to flip to 100% Dolly. He notes that when Michael Jackson died, WCBS-FM New York went all-Jackson and saw a ratings spike. The tools exist now — remote voice-tracking, home studios, cloud music logs, instant website and social updates — so empty buildings should not be the excuse.

Parton, he writes, was not only a country icon but an actress, business leader, theme-park operator and philanthropist, and the rare artist in both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Her death produced grief; it also, in his view, showed which stations were ready to serve an audience in a moment that demanded it.

Hawaii Radio: Rick Thomas Named SVP/Programming For Malama

Rick Thomas has been named Senior Vice President of Programming at Malama Media Group, where he will oversee the company’s Hawaii radio cluster and guide programming strategies for future acquisitions. The veteran programmer returns to Honolulu after previously serving as VP of Programming for Ohana Broadcasting in the market. 

Malama’s current stations include Country 97.5 KHCM, Classic Hits Decades 107.9 (KKOL), Christian Talk 99.5 The Word (KGU-FM), Sports-Talk KGU-AM 760, and Conservative Talk KHNR-AM 690.

Thomas most recently worked as Brand Manager for Beasley Media Group’s Tampa cluster, where he programmed classic hits WRBQ (Q105) and country WQYK until departing in May 2026. His earlier roles include National Format Leader at SummitMedia (overseeing CHR, AC, and Hot AC stations, plus PD duties at WWST Knoxville), VP/Programming for Max Media in Denver, Operations Manager for Cox Media Group in Tampa, and programming positions with CBS Radio in New York and Los Angeles. He has also programmed high-profile stations such as KYLD San Francisco, KSFM Sacramento, XHRM and XHTZ San Diego, KRTH and KTWV Los Angeles, and WBMP New York.