Premiere Networks has announced that "The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show," a new three-hour talk radio program will launch Monday, June 21, 2021 on more than 400 stations nationwide, making it one of the biggest launches in talk radio history.
The show will air Monday - Friday in the late Rush Limbaugh's traditional timeslot, from Noon - 3:00 p.m. ET.
Among the major market affiliates are: WOR-AM in New York; KEIB-AM in Los Angeles; KTRH-AM in Houston; WFOM-AM/FM in Atlanta; WXKS-AM in Boston; WIOD-AM in Miami; KFYI-AM in Phoenix; WFLA-AM in Tampa; KTLK-AM in Minneapolis; KDFD-AM in Denver; KEX-AM in Portland, OR; WFLF-AM/FM in Orlando and KFBK-AM/FM in Sacramento.
Julie Talbott
"The reaction from our radio station and advertising partners has been tremendous," said Julie Talbott, President of Premiere Networks. "Clay and Buck are proving to be a winning combination as we prepare to launch their new show in this highly-coveted timeslot."
Airing in the timeslot held by “The Rush Limbaugh Show” for more than three decades, Travis and Sexton will carry on a new form of broadcast excellence in the tradition of the late radio icon as they tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor.
Travis – an entrepreneur, host of FOX Sports Radio’s industry-leading weekday morning program, “Outkick The Coverage with Clay Travis” and founder of the wildly popular sports, pop culture and politics based media company Outkick; (which Travis has agreed to sell to Fox Corporation); and Sexton – host of the Premiere Networks-syndicated weekday program “The Buck Sexton Show,” political commentator, and former CIA officer and NYPD counterterrorism expert, will help guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
“I’ve loved spending the past six years building ‘Outkick The Coverage’ into one of the most-listened-to sports talk shows in the country, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to join Buck Sexton as we launch this new program in the most coveted timeslot in the talk format,” said Travis. “While no one will ever replace Rush Limbaugh, Buck and I are excited to continue advancing the causes he held dear, most importantly American exceptionalism, a fervent embrace of capitalism, and a belief in a robust marketplace of ideas. At a time of rabid cancel culture and toxic identity politics, we will be the voice for many who feel scared to say what they think for fear of the censorious online mob. We can’t wait to get started.”
Clay Travis & Buck Sexton
“I could not be more thrilled – and am deeply humbled – by the opportunity to host this new program with Clay Travis,” said Sexton. “We think it’s important to carry on the tradition of Rush Limbaugh and bring truth to the masses. One thing I can promise all EIB listeners out there: we’re with them and we will always fight for them with the show Clay and I do every day.”
“We couldn’t be happier to have Clay and Buck – two incredibly talented personalities from our Premiere family – at the helm of this new program,” said Talbott. “Rush Limbaugh is irreplaceable, but we’re confident they will continue his legacy by delivering their own brand of intelligent, informed and entertaining talk radio, while providing our partners with a powerful platform to connect with their consumers.”
“The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” will also be available as a podcast on the iHeartRadio Podcast Network. Visit iHeart.com/apps to download iHeartRadio and listen to the program on your favorite device.
➤About Clay Travis: He most recently has been host of “Outkick The Coverage with Clay Travis,” a nationally-syndicated FOX Sports Radio program heard on more than 350 affiliates nationwide. The program joined the network’s lineup in September 2016 and has become one of the most popular sports talk shows in the country reaching millions of listeners nationwide. A multi-platform star, Travis founded the wildly popular Outkick.com, and also currently co-hosts FS1’s first-ever, daily gambling TV show “Fox Bet Live,” in addition to hosting his popular “Outkick The Show” webcast and podcast, and the iHeartRadio Original Podcast, “Wins & Losses with Clay Travis.” A graduate of George Washington University as well as Vanderbilt Law School, Travis is the author of “Dixieland Delight,” “On Rocky Top: A Front-Row Seat to the End of an Era,” and “Republicans Buy Sneakers, Too: How the Left is Ruining Sports with Politics.”
➤About Buck Sexton: He most recently has been hosting “The Buck Sexton Show,” a three-hour weekday talk radio program syndicated by Premiere Networks on more than 200 stations nationwide, in addition to iHeartRadio. Launched in February 2017, the program is also simulcast on Pluto TV’s The First channel. Since February 2020, Sexton has also hosted a live weekday program on iHeartMedia’s 710 WOR in New York. A former CIA officer and NYPD counterterrorism expert, Sexton frequently appears on Fox News Channel and other outlets as a political commentator and national security analyst. Sexton previously served as a national security editor for TheBlaze.com and hosted “The Buck Sexton Show” on TheBlazeTV and TheBlazeRadio. A native of New York City, he holds a B.A. in Political Science from Amherst College.
Good Karman Brands' WMVP 1000 AM has added an FM signal. The FM coverage began Friday night thanks to an agreement with Hubbard Radio. WMVP is now simulcasting on 100.3 HD2, the main frequency is home to Hubbard's AC WSHE.
Sports WMVP airs ESPN content and is the radio home of Chicago White Sox baseball.
“Our partnership with Hubbard Chicago will allow fans to hear our ESPN 1000 shows and White Sox baseball in crystal clear, digital FM,” said Mike Thomas, ESPN Chicago market manager.
According to Chicago Media watcher Robert Feder, the expansion comes as ESPN 1000 is seeing an uptick in the ratings attributed to its White Sox broadcasts. In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, the station tied for eighth place in evenings among men between 25 and 54.
Jeff England, vice president and market manager of Hubbard Radio Chicago, said in a statement: “We are pleased to partner with Mike and his team at ESPN 1000 to provide Chicagoans another option to hear the best sports talk and the first-place White Sox.”
ESPN 1000’s main rival, Audacy sports/talk WSCR 670 AM, also airs on 104.3 HD2, which is connected to classic hip hop WBMX 104.3-FM.
One of the most local sports radio shows in the country is leaving radio.
Jim Dunaway, Ryan Brown, and Lance Taylor Are exiting WJOX 94.5 FM and the JOX Roundtable to start up a show on a digital platform.
The guys on the show confirmed Friday that their last show on JOX was Wednesday.
Brown said the four long-time radio personalities are planning to launch a digital platform, and the split from the Cumulus radio station was amicable.
“The decision for us to leave JOX, frankly, was an incredibly difficult decision,” Brown told AL.comon Friday. “There are no hard feelings. We are not upset with Cumulus or WJOX. In fact, they have been phenomenal to us. It has been among the greatest 21 years of our lives. Combined, we have worked there for 77 years. We are heavily invested in that station, and they are heavily invested in us. But, for anyone who has any sort of entrepreneurial spirit, you stop and say what would it be like if I worked for myself? I think that was the question a lot of us had over the last year.”
Brown said WJOX offered a chance at a sendoff show, but it really wasn’t something they were interested in.
“They were very gracious and offered any number of ways to leave,” he explained. “They offered the concept of doing a good-bye show, several good-bye shows, a week of good-bye shows. They were very generous in offering that. It was much appreciated. Frankly, I just don’t know if that is good radio. Nobody tunes in to hear sappy calls or people complaining or celebrating or whatever. It isn’t the nature of what we do on a daily basis. I just don’t think it was overly appealing to us to do a good-bye show.
“We’re leaving radio but we are still going to be around, and people will still have access to us.”
Wednesday’s final show marks the end of an 11-year run of “The Roundtable” in its current form. Brown, who started at WJOX in 2001, said the move was a surprise for WJOX management.
Real Radio 104.1 and iHeartMedia reported Friday the signing long time radio show host Russ Rollins to a new multi year deal. The deal will keep the “Monsters in the Morning” show broadcasting on the highly popular FM talk station for another three years. The amount of the new contract and a signing bonus was not disclosed.
"I am so very happy and proud of the show we have now. The program has always made a lot of changes and now is very enjoyable for me. I truly love this company and the cast members that make me look good every day. The overwhelming talent of Angel, Carlos, Ryan, Angelique, Savannah and D-Strong keeps me excited to keep broadcasting here at IHeartRadio. I am Real Radio for life!" said Russ Rollins.
Rollins has been a popular main stay in Central Florida for close to three decades. Bringing local and national attention to WTKS Real Radio. Russ has been named one of the top 100 radio hosts in America by Talkers Magazine several years in a row.
When asked about signing Russ Rollins again, Senior Vice President of Programming-Orlando Rick Everett said, “I’m excited for the next chapter of the “Monsters in the Morning” on Real Radio 104.1. I’ve been amazed over the last 24 years that I’ve worked with Russ and watched him reinvent the “Monsters” brand and see the show continue to perform as one of the top morning shows in Central Florida.”
Russ Rollins and the "Monsters in the Morning" can be heard on WTKS Real Radio 104.1 FM from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. and on IHeartRadio.
Max Media Denver has promoted Sean Rhoads to the role of General Manager/ President for KJHM-FM & KFCO-FM, Max Media in Denver, Colorado.
Sean Rhoads
Sean Rhoads began his radio career at iHeartMedia in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as an Account Executive. In 2010 he joined Max Media serving as a Senior Account Executive, Digital Sales Director, General Sales Manager and most recently as Vice President of Sales from 2016-2021.
“We have an incredible team here in Denver and we’re ambitious to take Denver to new heights. Our company has always placed the highest value on results for advertisers, enjoyment for listeners and happiness of employees. I’m excited and honored to carry on with this mission”- Sean Rhoads
Max Media Denver’s, Jeff Silver, was also promoted from General Sales Manager to Vice President. Jeff Silver is a veteran sales leader with over 20 years of experience leading sales teams for Entercom Denver and Lincoln Financial.
Steel City Media Hot AC WLTJ Q92.9 FM in /Pittsburgh hires Monica Salazar to take over its morning show, weekdays from 6-10am, effective Monday, June 21.
Monica Salazar
The 20-year radio vet replaces Tim Murphy and comes to Q92.9 from Radio United in Laredo, TX, where she was PD/MD and an air personality for CHR KNEX-FM. She was also heard on international pop station XAVO-FM in McAllen and Classic Hits KESO/South Padre Island, TX.
PD Zak Szabo said, "So excited to see how Monica makes her new home here in Pittsburgh on Q92-9. She brings a contagious form of energy and enthusiasm that I have not seen for a long time in this business, and I am psyched."
Salazar added, "It"s a long way from Texas but I am thrilled to join the exceptional team at Steel City Media, Pittsburgh. Big thank you to MC Media's Charese Fruge, Zak Szabo and Gregg Frischling for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Spotify said Friday that it has acquired Podz, a tech startup backed by the likes of Katie Couric and Paris Hilton.
According to The NY Post, Podz will help the company “accelerate” its growing podcast business through its machine-learning algorithms, which help users easily discover content they want to listen to. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Powered by state-of-the-art machine learning technology, Podz generates high-quality clips that give users the opportunity to preview key moments from podcast episodes, encouraging them to discover and listen to new podcasts,” Spotify said.
Podz’s tech is expected to be integrated into Spotify’s network of over 2.6 million podcasts before the end of the year.
Spotify has beefed up its podcast offering within the last two years, inking multimillion-dollar deals for podcasts from Joe Rogan, Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian and sportscaster Bill Simmons, among others.
New York-based Podz was founded by tech entrepreneur Bruce Imbruce in January 2020. The 10-employee company raised $2.5 million in seed funding.
“We believe that Podz’s technology will complement and accelerate Spotify’s focused efforts to drive discovery, deliver listeners the right content at the right time, and accelerate growth of the category worldwide,” Spotify said in a blog post announcing the acquisition.
Facebook is about to become the next company to board the podcast hypetrain, as the world’s largest social network is preparing to roll out its own podcast product next week.
According to an email sent to podcast page owners, hosts can link their show’s RSS feed to their Facebook page, enabling followers to listen to new episodes directly on the platform through a new podcasts tab.
“Starting June 22, 2021, Facebook will be the place where people can enjoy discuss and share the podcasts they love with each other,” the announcement reads, clearly emphasizing the social aspect of listening to podcasts on Facebook. Adding to that, Facebook will also let publishers decide whether users will be able to share short clips of their favorite podcasts, a feature aimed at boosting visibility and engagement.
As the chart shows, Americans have plenty of options of where to listen to their favorite podcasts. Based on a survey conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Spotify is the most widely used podcast app, although there is no clear number 1. In recent years, more and more high-profile podcasts have signed exclusive agreements with certain platforms, forcing many listeners to switch between apps for different podcasts.
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper has enough cash on hand to continue operating as normal only for a couple of weeks, according to Bloomberg citing a person familiar, after authorities used a sweeping national security law to freeze company assets and arrest top editors and executives.
To continue print operations and pay staff, the quarter-century-old tabloid is planning on seeking relief through the courts and is also looking to use its Taiwan operation to manage digital donations through GoFundMe.com and PayPal, said the person, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of a police investigation into the company.
Executives are now examining the practicalities of keeping the newspaper running, including checking supplies of ink and paper in its warehouse, the person said. It’s unclear how the newspaper can pay staff and even whether regular suppliers and vendors will continue doing business with it, the person added, after local news outlet HK01 reported that authorities warned more than a half dozen banks not to deal with the company’s bank accounts.
It’s uncertain if the newspaper can access that cash given the various court orders and warnings to financial institutions to avoid handling accounts linked to alleged national security violations.
Some staffers are concerned about getting paid and planning to leave for other jobs after the raid on Thursday, according to three reporters who asked not to be identified. They are also worried that companies or media outlets won’t hire anyone who worked at Apple Daily.
Roughly 500 police officers on Thursday descended on the headquarters of Apple Daily, which is owned by the now-jailed democracy activist and Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai. Police searched the company’s offices, barred journalists from their desks and eventually carted away nearly 40 computers belonging to journalists, the paper said.
A Hong Kong court on Saturday denied bail to Editor-in-Chief Ryan Law, and Cheung Kim-hung, the newspaper’s publisher and chief executive officer of Next Digital. The others arrested included Chief Operating Officer Royston Chow and Apple Daily deputy editors, Chan Pui-man and Cheung Chi-wai.
The Apple Daily arrests generated criticism from the U.S. and Japan, as well as human-rights groups and press-freedom advocates. The move marked an escalation by China, which warned journalists that press freedom wasn’t a “shield” and that their “professional status” wouldn’t protect them if they violated the national security law.
Mike Manley, a nearly 30-year Chico radio personality who hosted the popular morning show “Manley in the Morning” for the past 20-years on KMXI The Mix 95.1, died Wednesday night.
Dino Corbin, general manager of Deer Creek Broadcasting, said Manley’s loss was like losing a member of the family.
“He has entertained and woken up with thousands of listeners over the years and has done incredible and wonderful things in our community,” Corbin said. “He was simply the pure essence of a broadcaster. He didn’t have any family, we were his family. He loved what he did every single day.”
Dozens of dedicated community listeners commented on the loss of Manley with heavy hearts as they said goodbye to their favorite morning host. One listener, Rhonda Glenn Johnson of Oroville, said “I feel like I have lost a friend. I laughed with him every morning on the radio.”
“He was big and full of life and full of smiles. Everybody that was around him felt comfortable and enjoyed being with him,” Corbin said. “Every single day was a special day when Mike Manley was in the building.”
➦In 1912...Narrator and actorMartin Gabel was born in Philadelphia.
His signature work was on May 8, 1945 as narrator on the CBS radio broadcast of Norman Corwin’s epic poem On a Note of Triumph, a commemoration of the fall of the Nazi regime in Germany and the end of WW II in Europe. The broadcast was so popular that the CBS, NBC, Blue and Mutual networks aired a second live production five days later. He was the most frequent guest on TV’s Sunday night fixture What’s My Line, because he was married to regular panelist Arlene Francis.
He died after a heart attack May 22 1986 at age 73.
➦In 1934...Communications Act of 1934 created Federal Communications Commission
➦In 1960...WMCA 570 began using “The Good Guys”. Led by program director Ruth Meyer, the first woman to hold the position in New York City radio, this was the beginning of the high-profile Top 40 disc jockey with an exuberant personality aimed at a certain audience segment. With the advent of the Good Guys format, WMCA became more "on top" of new music and started to become known for "playing the hits."
The classic Good Guys era lineup included:
Joe O'Brien, an industry veteran whose humor appealed to multiple generations. (6am-10am)
Harry Harrison, whose show was aimed at housewives of that era. (10am-1pm)
Jack Spector, whose closing line was "Look out street, here I come!" (1pm-4pm)
Dandy Dan Daniel a lanky, smooth-talking Texan, and his daily countdown. (4pm-7pm)
Gary Stevens and his "Wooleyburger" bear, aimed at teenagers listening on small transistor radios in their rooms. (7pm-11pm - First show was in April, 1965)
B. Mitchel Reed, "BMR, Your Leader" Reed was the evening personality on WMCA from 1963–1965. He was part of the team that took WMCA to the top in 1963. He left the station in the spring of 1965, to return to L.A.'s troubled KFWB, where he had worked before WMCA. His on-air hours were the same as Gary Stevens.
Barry Gray, a talk show host who had been on WMCA before the Top 40 era and continued after it. (11pm-1am)
Dean Anthony, "Dino on your radio" with his "Actors and Actresses" game (1am-6am).
Weekends and fill-in, Ed Baer, Frank Stickle and Bill Beamish.
Owner R. Peter Straus was one of the first station owners to frequently read editorials, commenting on current events.
➦In 1965...Since WINS went all-news in April, New York’s remaining rockers have been going at it - head to head. It’s the WMCA Good Guys vs. the WABC All-Americans.
The post-WINS Pulse ratings showed the stations neck-in-neck - WABC at a 16 and WMCA at a 16.3 rating. But WMCA has about one-third the signal of WABC, so it performs better with no WMCA competition - in the outlying suburbs.
WMCA was running a “Good Guy Derby” contest where you have the guess the WMCA Good Guy who will win his race “in the sport of kings.” Go-Go radio, WABC is doing a “prize of the day” A prize a day goes into the “Go Go Grab Bag” for end-week awarding.
Both stations were battling airplay of the new Beatles album -“Beatles VI” - and both stations were saying they had the exclusive on the album. Actually, WABC had the album three hours before WMCA did - a rarity. WMCA usually scoops WABC on most records, including the Beatles.
➦In 1966...WOR 98.7 FM said it would drop duplicating talk WOR 710 AM on June 30 and go rock ‘n’ roll - the first FM station to go full-time rock . Robert S. Smith, vice president of both WOR AM/FM stated - “We will not have shouting disk jockeys on FM, but if there can be a quality rock station, that is, what we will be. We’re going after the WABC and WMCA audience.” The change in policy was a result of a recent FCC rule that FM stations in major cities may no longer duplicate more than 50% of their AM affiliates.
➦In 1966...Isaiah Edwin Leopold died from throat cancer at age 79 (Born - November 9, 1886). He was best known as Ed Wynn, noted for his Perfect Fool comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a dramatic actor.
Ed Wynn
In the early 1930s Wynn hosted the popular radio show The Fire Chief, heard in North America on Tuesday nights, sponsored by Texaco gasoline. Like many former vaudeville performers who turned to radio in the same decade, the stage-trained Wynn insisted on playing for a live studio audience, doing each program as an actual stage show, using visual bits to augment his written material, and in his case, wearing a colorful costume with a red fireman's helmet.
He usually bounced his gags off announcer/straight man Graham McNamee; Wynn's customary opening, "Tonight, Graham, the show's gonna be different," became one of the most familiar tag-lines of its time; a sample joke: "Graham, my uncle just bought a new second-handed car... he calls it Baby! I don't know, it won't go anyplace without a rattle!"
Near the height of his radio fame (1933) he founded his own short-lived radio network the Amalgamated Broadcasting System, which lasted only five weeks, nearly destroying the comedian. According to radio historian Elizabeth McLeod, the failed venture left Wynn deep in debt, divorced and finally, suffering a nervous breakdown.
Ed Wynn first appeared on television on July 7, 1936 in a brief, ad-libbed spot with Graham McNamee during an NBC experimental television broadcast. In the 1949–50 season, Ed Wynn hosted one of the first network, comedy-variety television shows, on CBS, and won both a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award in 1949. Buster Keaton, Lucille Ball, and The Three Stooges all made guest appearances with Wynn. This was the first CBS variety television show to originate from Los Angeles, which was seen live on the west coast, but filmed via kinescope for distribution in the Midwest and East, as the national coaxial cable had yet to be completed. Wynn was also a rotating host of NBC's Four Star Revue from 1950 through 1952.
➦In 1973...Wolfman Jack, heard on KDAY Los Angles announced he's moving to WNBC 660 AM, New York.
➦In 1973...93KHJ-AM program director Paul Drew confirmed that the Real Don Steele and Mark Eliot had departed the station.
Billboard 1973
➦In 1973...WLS 890 AM program director Tommy Edwards said the station was expanding its playlist and cutting back on the use of jingles to five key jingles. Plus, - elimination of meaningless chatter by jocks, day-parting of music (more rock at night for example). At the time, WCFL was giving WLS a run in the ratings.
Dixon's Wrecked Auto
➦In 2005...legendary southern DJ, Mason Dixon, was injured in an auto accident which practically split his car apart.
Dixon suffered a collapsed lung, 2 broken ribs and a ruptured spleen. Dixon has been affiliated with legendary stations including Tampa's WRBQ-FM, where he was still employed at the time of his accident.
When his wife finally showed him pictures of his prized 1971 Dodge Challenger convertible, split in half in a crash over the weekend, there were more tears.
"There were angels watching out for me," he told reporters huddled around his bed at St. Joseph's Hospital. "They wanted me to learn something, and I have. Now, I've got to go back out there and do their work. And I'll be happy to."
Dixon, 55, whose real name is Jimmie Crawford, was critically injured after leaving a Father's Day promotional event.
➦In 2009…Radio/TV announcer Ken Roberts died of pneumonia at age 99 (Born - February 22, 1910). He was best known for his work during the Golden Age of Radio and for his work announcing the daytime television soap operas The Secret Storm, Texas and Love of Life, each for a two-decade span.
Ken Roberts
His first announcing job was at WMCA in New York lasting three weeks. Next at WLTH in Brooklyn. In an interview for the book The Great American Broadcast, Roberts told Leonard Maltin that he had started at the Brooklyn station in 1930, where his responsibilities included answering phones and sweeping the floors, in addition to on-air roles playing piano and reading poetry.
During the 1930s and 1940s, at the height of the radio era, Roberts' voice appeared widely in live programming to introduce programs, moderate game shows and do live reads for commercials. Despite his Errol Flynn-like good looks and the frequent broadcasts featuring his voice, as often as several times each day, few listeners knew who he was or would have recognized him in public.
Radio credits include The Shadow (including the 1937-38 season on the Mutual Broadcasting System with a 22-year-old Orson Welles starring in the role of Lamont Cranston), the comedy Easy Aces, along with soap operas Joyce Jordan, M.D. and This is Nora Drake. He also announced or hosted a number of game shows, such as What's My Name? and the parody It Pays to Be Ignorant, in which he would pose questions to actors portraying contestants such as "Who came first: Henry I or Henry VIII?" that would be answered incorrectly.
In 1941, he achieved his goal of hosting his own quiz show, with Quick As a Flash on the Mutual network. Among the elements of the program, Roberts would dramatize an historic event which contestants would have to correctly identify. Other prizes were awarded for identifying the common element in three songs played by the orchestra and for solving descriptions of staged crimes.
On television, he was the original announcer for Candid Camera and introduced popular soap operas Love of Life from 1951 to 1980, The Secret Storm from 1954 to 1974 and Texas from 1980 to 1982. On Jan Murray's comedy game show Dollar a Second, Robert's on-air duties included advertisements for sponsor Mogen David wines.
He was also one of the founders of the broadcast performers' union now known as AFTRA.
Ann Wilson is 71
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Gena Rowlands is 91.
Singer Spanky McFarlane of Spanky and Our Gang is 79.
Actor Phylicia Rashad is 73.
Singer Ann Wilson of Heart is 71.
Keyboardist Larry Dunn (Earth, Wind and Fire) is 68.
Actor Kathleen Turner is 67.
Paula Abdul is 59
Country singer Doug Stone is 65.
Singer Mark DeBarge of DeBarge is 62.
Singer-dancer Paula Abdul is 59.
Actor Andy Lauer (“Caroline in the City”) is 58.
Singer-guitarist Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe is 57.
Actor Mia Sara (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) is 54.
“Good Morning America” host Lara Spencer is 52.
Guitarist Brian “Head” Welch of Korn is 51.
Actor Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”) is 49.
Actor Robin Tunney is 49.
Actor Bumper Robinson (“Sabrina The Teenage Witch”) is 47.
Actor Poppy Montgomery (“Unforgettable,” ″Without a Trace”) is 46.
Singer-banjoist Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers is 45.
Actor Ryan Hurst (“The Walking Dead,” “Sons of Anarchy”) is 45.
Actor Zoe Saldana is 43.
Actor Neil Brown Jr. (“SEAL Team”) is 41.
Actor Lauren Lee Smith (“CSI”) is 41.
Singer Macklemore of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis is 39.
Actor Paul Dano is 37.
Actor Giacomo Gianniotti (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 32.
U.S. ad spending continued to rebound in May, according to a new, enriched database from Standard Media Index, reports Mediapost. The data, which is derived from SMI's expanded pool of actual media buys contributed by major agency holding companies, includes IPG Mediabrands, which announced in February that it was rejoining SMI's cooperative pool, and which beginning this month has been reincorporated.
The addition of IPG Mediabrands means that SMI's U.S. database is more representative and less modeled for total media spending volume among the major agency holding companies.
The new data, meanwhile, shows the U.S. ad market surged 56% in May, following a 53% gain in April and a 22% increase in March, which was the first to show a year-over-year rebound from the pandemic-influenced advertising recession, which began a year earlier.
The data also reveals most media have benefitted from the rebound, with the exception of consumer magazines, which remained in decline in May, although another print medium, newspapers, have been on the rise since April.
The biggest resurgence, however, has been to media expected to benefit from the resumption of out-of-home behavior changes among U.S. consumers -- out-of-home advertising and radio (see data below) -- which is something an unrelated tracking study from GroupM's Mindshare also seems to support.
Meanwhile, SMI estimates its expanded pool now empirically represents 94% of national ad spending, based on nearly $90 billion in U.S. ad spending processed by the major agencies.
"This expansion delivers true census-level insights across all platforms and is immediately actionable for all players in the ecosystem," asserts SMI Global CEO James Fennessy.
Nielsen on Thursday announced that it had moved a step closer toward cracking one of the great questions of the modern entertainment world: How big, exactly, is streaming?
In recent years, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, Hulu, Disney+ and Apple TV have revolutionized the viewing habits of millions of Americans, but the streaming companies have been fiercely protective of their numbers, sharing data on how many people are watching very selectively, if at all.
Now reports The NYTimes, Nielsen, the 98-year-old research firm that for decades has had an effective monopoly on measuring TV ratings in the United States, has a new metric that it says allows it to make an apples-to-apples comparison, on a percentage basis, of how many people are streaming shows and films on their TVs versus how many are watching traditional cable and broadcast channels.
For the time being, Nielsen reports, people are spending more time watching TV the old-fashioned way — but streaming is gaining fast.
On Thursday, the firm reported that 64 percent of the time American viewers used their television sets in May 2021 was spent watching network and cable TV, while they watched streaming services about 26 percent of the time. Another 9 percent of the time, they were using their TV screens for things like video games or watching programs or films they had saved on DVR.
The streaming share is increasing rapidly. It stood at about 20 percent last year, Nielsen said; in 2019, it was about 14 percent. A Nielsen spokesman said that the firm anticipates the streaming share could go up to about 33 percent by the end of the year.
Netflix and YouTube are the streaming leaders, the research firm said, with each capturing 6 percent of total TV time. They are trailed by Hulu (3 percent), Amazon (2 percent) and Disney+ (1 percent).
Nielsen calls its new metric The Gauge. It comes in addition to its previous method of measuring how many people are watching streaming platforms, which relies on audio-recognition software included in Nielsen devices that are now in 38,000 households across the country. Both metrics measure only what is viewed on television screens and do not count what is watched on phones or laptops.
The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the Affordable Care Act -- also known as Obamacare -- for a third time yesterday, rejecting the latest Republican argument to kill the more than decade-old health care law. The justices ruled 7-2 that Republican-led states and two individuals had no standing to bring their lawsuit in federal court. The challenge had argued that after Congress reduced the penalty for not having health insurance to zero, essentially eliminating it, that the entire law should be wiped away because the mandate was a pillar of the law when it was passed. The ruling didn't weigh in on the merits of the argument, since it dismissed the case based on the plaintiffs not having standing.
Today’s SCOTUS decision in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a Victory for Catholic Social Services, Foster Care and for the Religious Freedom for Every American! 🇺🇸https://t.co/tKXvDbs1Xb
➤AVERAGE DAILY U.S. COVID DEATHS BELOW 300 FOR FIRST TIME SINCE MARCH 2020: The average daily deaths in the U.S. from Covid-19 has fallen below 300 for the first time since March 2020, in the early weeks of the pandemic. That seven-day average is now 286 daily deaths. The last time it below 300 was March 27, 2020. Case numbers are also down to numbers not seen since March 2020. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said yesterday, "These numbers make it clear. Getting vaccinated gets us back to normal." At the same time, experts are worried about the Delta variant, which emerged in India, and is spreading in the U.S. It's more infectious than even the U.K. variant, and may be more severe. There's concern it could cause outbreaks in areas where the vaccination rates are low.
➤BIDEN SIGNS LEGISLATION MAKING JUNETEENTH FEDERAL HOLIDAY: President Biden signed legislation Thursday making Juneteenth, which is June 19th, a federal holiday. It's the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. The Senate passed the bill via unanimous consent on Tuesday and the House passed it with just 14 Republicans voting against it on Wednesday. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S., marking when the last slaves learned they were free on June 19, 1865. Union soldiers brought the news of the Confederate surrender two months earlier to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas.
➤ONE DEAD, 13 INJURED IN ARIZONA DRIVE-BY SHOOTINGS: One person was killed and 13 others injured in what appeared to be a series of drive-by shootings yesterday afternoon. Police had a suspect in custody. There were eight separate incidents within about an hour and a half in the shooting spree, which officials believe began at around 11:10 a.m. At least four of the victims were shot, and others were injured either in car accidents caused by the rampage or by shrapnel. The wounded are all expected to survive. Peoria police Sergeant Brandon Sheffert said, "We don't know what the motive was. We don't have an idea of what this person was thinking when he went out and did this." A man who was not identified was taken into custody after he pulled into a parking lot and didn't try to fire at police.
➤IF ‘CAVE SYNDROME’ IS KEEPING YOU FROM GOING IN PUBLIC, HERE’S HOW TO COMBAT IT: It’s been over a year of mostly staying at home, so it makes sense that many people are reluctant to step back into society. But some people are downright terrified of doing so. Psychiatrist Dr. Arthur Bregma calls this fear “cave syndrome.” He says when he notices one of his patients is afraid to leave their home, he teaches them his MAV system, which stands for “Mindfulness, Attitude, and Vision.” He explains the first step is to be mindful about what’s bothering you, then you must develop a positive attitude (believe good things can happen to you when you leave your house), and finally, visualize your goals and what you can accomplish when you leave your “cave.” He adds the sooner you’re able to leave your “cave” the better off you are. Other experts say experiencing anxiety does not mean you have a disorder or syndrome, but if you aren’t able to leave your house and resume your regular life you should seek professional help.
➤SURVEY..NEARLY HALF PLAN TO SPEND MORE THIS SUMMER THAN PAST TWO COMBINED: Americans are getting out and about again, ready to see people and have some fun after a year cooped up, and part of that means spending money. A new OnePoll survey found that 45 percent of Americans plan to spend more this summer than they did the past two combined. Many don't feel they're being reckless by doing so, with 48 percent believing they saved enough money during the pandemic to being able to spend guilt-free this summer. At the same time, 40 percent are worried they might spend irresponsibly. The top activities Americans are looking forward to spending on this summer include: vacations (43%); going out to restaurants, bars, happy hours, etc.(39%); hosting friends and family at home (30%); attending a sports game (22%); attending a concert (21%); going on dates (21%) and graduation/birthday parties (20%).
SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER ISN’T JUST A WINTER THING: You may have heard of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and associate it with the dark days of winter, but it turns out it can also be a problem during the summer months. The Mayo Clinic explains, “SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year…. And [while] in most cases, seasonal affective disorder symptoms appear during late fall or early winter and go away during the days of spring and summer [some] people experience the opposite pattern. [They] have symptoms that begin in spring or summer.” SAD affects about four to six percent of the U.S. population, but about 10 percent of sufferers get SAD symptoms during the summer season. The symptoms can consist of feelings of depression that happen daily or near-daily, a loss of interest in one-enjoyable activities, changes in weight or eating habits, low energy or changes in sleeping patterns, trouble concentrating, and more. Treatments differ, depending on the severity of symptoms. If you think you might be suffering with SAD you should seek professional help. It’s not clear what causes the condition, though it’s believed numerous factors can contribute, including a drop in melatonin and/or serotonin levels or a change in the body’s circadian rhythm.
Nation's Teenage Boys Suddenly Much Less Interested In Finding Victoria's Secret Catalog In The Mailhttps://t.co/vQOngrISbk
➤VICTORIA’S SECRET SAYS GOODBYE TO ANGELS IN ATTEMPT TO REDEFINE ‘SEXY’: Victoria’s Secret has gotten rid of its world-famous Angels supermodels. Instead, the brand has launched a campaign with high-profile women known for their accomplishments. Soccer star Megan Rapinoe, freestyle skier Eileen Gu, model, advocate Paloma Essler, actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and transgender model Valentina Sampaio are among the women who will spearhead the campaign. The women will work with the retailer to redefine what the word “sexy” means.” Victoria’s Secret chief executive Martin Waters said, “When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond. We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.” The new campaign will be known as the VS Collective and the women involved will focus on advising the brand, appearing in ads and promoting the retailer on social media.
➤SUPREME COURT RULES FOR CATHOLIC FOSTER CARE AGENCY IN DISPUTE OVER LGBTQ COUPLES: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor yesterday of a Catholic foster care agency in Philadelphia that doesn't want to work with LGBTQ couples because of the beliefs of the Catholic church. The city had cut ties with the agency, Catholic Social Services, when it learned about the policy. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his opinion, "CSS seeks only an accommodation that will allow it to continue serving the children of Philadelphia in a manner consistent with its religious beliefs." CSS said it actually never turned away a same-sex couple, because it was never approached by one.
➤MORE THAN 30 WOMEN SUE PORNHUB, CLAIMING NON-CONSENSUAL CLIPS, CHILD PORN PUBLISHED: More than 30 women sued Pornhub yesterday, claiming that it published non-consensual video and child porn. The suit accuses Pornhub's parent company MindGeek of violating federal sex trafficking laws, distributing child porn, racketeering and other crimes. It contends the women were victims of sexual exploitation, rape and trafficking, and then were, quote, "victimized . . . by the defendants in this case" by unauthorized videos that were uploaded and disseminated by Pornhub. Pornhub denied the allegations. The company suspended all videos by nonverified users in December as it faced a ban by Visa and Mastercard. Visa has resumed processing some transactions.
WATCH: Rafael Nadal has opted out of Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics, saying he took the difficult decision after consulting his team. The 35-year-old said his body needed more time to recuperate from a punishing claycourt season https://t.co/SPhDSezbfNpic.twitter.com/C0pT1XHyob
Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the #Wimbledon championships for personal reasons but her agent said that the world number two will be ready for the #Tokyo2020 Olympics https://t.co/hVzHG2I4fb
🏀CLIPPERS' LEONARD TO MISS GAME 6 AGAINST UTAH: Clippers star Kawhi Leonard will miss tonight's Game 6 of L.A.'s second-round playoffs series against the Utah Jazz with a sprained knee. The Clippers lead 3 games to 2. Leonard already missed Game 5 on Wednesday after spraining the knee in Game 4 Monday.
🏀NBA PLAYOFFS: Results from second-round games yesterday:
Milwaukee Bucks 104, Brooklyn Nets 89 - Series tied at 3-3
🏒NHL PLAYOFFS: Results from Conference Finals yesterday:
Tampa Bay Lightning 2, New York Islanders 1 - Tampa Bay leads series 2 games to 1
🏌HENLEY IN LEAD AFTER U.S. OPEN FIRST ROUND, OOSTHUIZEN SET TO JOIN HIM: American Russell Henley sits at the top of the leaderboard at 4-under 67 after the first round at the U.S. Open on Thursday at Torrey Pines in San Diego. However, South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen is also at at 4-under, but has two holes remaining due to play being suspended because of darkness.
🏀MAVERICKS COACH CARLISLE RESIGNS: Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle resigned yesterday after 13 seasons with the team, including leading them to the NBA title in 2011. His resignation came one day after general manager Donnie Nelson agreed to part ways with Dallas. Carlisle was 555-478 with the Mavericks, he winningest coach in franchise history, and had the third-longest tenure of any NBA coach in his current job.
⚾DIAMONDBACKS SET NEW MLB CONSECUTIVE ROAD LOSS RECORD WITH 23RD: One day after tying the MLB record for consecutive road losses, the Arizona Diamondbacks set a new record Thursday (June 17th) with their 23rd road loss in a row. Arizona fell to the San Francisco Giants 10-3.
🏒CAROLINA'S BRIND'AMOUR WINS NHL COACH OF THE YEAR: Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour won the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year yesterday (June 17th). Brind'Amour led Carolina to a third consecutive playoff appearance and a first-place finish in the Central Division. They were eliminated in the second round by reigning Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay. The news came yesterday on the same day that the Hurricanes announced a three-year contract extension for him.
More than seven months after the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump appeared to admit his defeat on Wednesday, reports McClatchy.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Trump said the results of the 2020 election were “shocking.” President Joe Biden won the election with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, but the results continue to be disputed.
“We got them by surprise in ‘16, and in ‘20 we did much better than we did in ‘16,” Trump told Hannity. “Shockingly, we were supposed to win easily at 64 million votes and we got 75 million votes. We didn’t win, but let’s see what happens on that. The whole thing was shocking.”
Biden carried key battleground states that include Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. He had more than 81 million total votes, while Trump had just over 74 million. Both totals were more than any presidential candidate in history.
Trump said in the interview he wants Biden to do well as president.
“I think the election was unbelievably unfair, but I want this guy to go out and do well for our country,” he said.
Trumps Comments on the last election come at the 27:25 Time Mark:
Trump gives exclusive reaction to Biden's 'terrible' performance abroad https://t.co/zh0wkwZKiV
Trump conceded the election in January before Biden took office, but the former president and his supporters continue to challenge results in several states. There has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the election.
Among the audits is a hand recount of 2.1 million ballots in Arizona’s most populous county. The counting, which took place after Trump alleged voter fraud in the state, has taken nearly two months. Results of the recount have not been shared.
Walt Disney Co. is moving its highly anticipated documentary about the Beatles from theaters to its streaming service, in the latest sign Hollywood is still unsure if consumers are willing to come back to cinemas in large numbers, reports Bloomberg.
The Beatles: Get Back will comprise of three episodes, each around two hours in length, and will roll out over three days on Nov. 25, 26 and 27 exclusively on Disney+.
“The Beatles: Get Back,” a behind-the-scenes peek at the band in its prime, had been scheduled to hit theaters in August. It now will appear as a three-part series on the company’s $8-a-month Disney+ streaming service at no additional charge, the company said Thursday. It was originally scheduled to come out in theaters last year.
The picture was created by “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson, based on outtakes from an earlier documentary, 1970’s “Let It Be.” That film was most notable for its stunning concert on the roof of the Beatles’ London headquarters, as well as a testy exchange between guitarist George Harrison and bassist Paul McCartney. That film was criticized, most recently by drummer Ringo Starr, for not really capturing the fun side of the band.
Theaters have had a tough time, with the pandemic scaring fans away from indoor, group experiences. Last weekend, “A Quiet Place Part II,” the horror film in its third week, outgrossed the newly released musical “In the Heights,” a sign that older audiences in particular may be reluctant to return.
Disney, like other studios, has been trying different release strategies. It sometimes offers films online and in theaters at the same time and occasionally charges $30 for Disney+ subscribers to watch new films at home.
ABC has confirmed its renewal of with the Country Music Association for the CMA Awards.
The Wrap reports the new agreement carries a license fee of at least $22 million a year for a multiyear contract, according to two individuals familiar with the deal, which was possible because Disney could draw on funding from Hulu and Disney+ in addition to ABC. As part of the new deal, Hulu and Disney+ are expected to feature additional shoulder programming around the annual event, which is held every November.
The renewal, which includes specials “CMA Fest” and “CMA Country Christmas,” is through 2026. ABC has aired the CMA Awards since 2006.
Like all other award shows, the CMAs have suffered heavy declines in TV viewership, losing fully half of its audience since 2017.
Last year’s show drew a record-low 7.1 million in November, the first time it failed to hit double-digit viewership. From 2019 to 2020 alone the CMAs shed four million viewers. That’s a far cry from early in the last decade, when it drew 16.6 million viewers in 2013.
“Continuing our long-standing relationship with CMA is a top priority and opportunity—together, we bring unforgettable experiences to our audiences that capture the heart and soul of the country music community,” said Rob Mills, executive vice president, Unscripted and Alternative Entertainment, Walt Disney Television. “We look forward to delivering many more memorable moments with celebrated icons as well as aspirational artists and are proud to be the home for these incredible and distinguished specials.”
“Over the past 15 years, we have built a true partnership with ABC, and we are thrilled to continue our relationship through 2026,” says Sarah Trahern, CMA chief executive officer. “As television viewers are now consuming content in so many new and exciting ways, we are eager to work with the entire ABC team on creating additional paths to bring country music to audiences everywhere. As our genre continues to evolve and broaden, we look to this partnership as a key driver in expanding country music’s reach.”
➦In 1854....Edward Willis Scripps (Died – March 12, 1926). He was a newspaper publisher and founder of The E. W. Scripps Company, a diversified media conglomerate, and United Press news service. It became United Press International (UPI) when International News Service (INS) merged with United Press in 1958. The E. W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University is named for him.
Both E. W. and his half-sister Ellen worked with his older half-brother, James when he founded The Detroit News in 1873. E. W. started as an office boy at the paper. In 1878, with loans from his half-brothers, E. W. went on to found The Penny Press (later the Cleveland Press) in Cleveland. With financial support from sister Ellen, he went on to begin or acquire some 25 newspapers. This was the beginning of a media empire that is now the E. W. Scripps Company.
In 1907, Scripps created United Press Associations, later the UPI news service, from smaller regional news services. Scripps later said "I regard my life's greatest service to the people of this country to be the creation of the United Press", to provide competition to the Associated Press. ➦In 1905....James Kern Kyser born in Rocky Mount NC (Died at age 80 from a heart attack – July 23, 1985). Known as Kay Kyser, he was a bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s.
Kay Kyser
"Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge." aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1938 and then moved to NBC Radio from 1939 to 1949. The show rose in the ratings and spawned many imitators. Kyser led the band as "The Ol' Perfessor," spouting catchphrases, some with a degree of Southern American English terms: "That's right—you're wrong", "Evenin' folks, how y'all?" and "C'mon, chillun! Le's dance!"
Although Kyser and his orchestra gained fame through the "Kollege of Musical Knowledge," they were a successful band in their own right. They had 11 number one records, including some of the most popular songs of the late 1930s and early 1940s.
The band scored more than two dozen top 10 hits, including “Three Little Fishes”, “Jingle, Jangle, Jingle”, “The Old Lamplighter”, “There Goes that Song Again”, “Ole Buttermilk Sky”, “Managua Nicaragua”, “On a Slow Boat to China” & “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.” One of his singers, Mike Douglas, went on to be a star of daytime TV.
➦In 1908...Bud Collyer born Clayton Johnson Heermance Jr. in NYC, (Died – September 8, 1969). He was was a radio actor/announcer who became one of the nation's first major television game show stars. He is best remembered for his work as the first host of the TV game shows Beat the Clock and To Tell the Truth, but he was also famous in the roles of Clark Kent/Superman on radio and in animated cartoons, initially in theatrical short subjects and later on television. He also recorded a number of long-playing 33 1/3 R.P.M. record albums for children. Some of these had Bible stories, in keeping with his strong connections with his church & deep spirituality.
Bud Collier
Collyer's best-remembered radio starring role began in early 1940 in The Adventures of Superman on the Mutual Broadcasting System, a role he also performed in the subsequent Superman cartoons. Collyer supplied the voices of both Superman and his alter ego Clark Kent, opposite radio actress Joan Alexander as Lois Lane. Every Superman episode featured a scene in which Clark Kent changed into his Superman costume, an effect which Collyer conveyed by shifting voices while speaking the phrase "This is (or "looks like") a job for Superman!" his voice always dropping when becoming Superman.
Collyer got his first helping of game shows when he co-hosted ABC's (the former NBC Blue network) Break the Bank with future Miss America Pageant mainstay Bert Parks; and, when he was picked to host the radio original of the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman team's first game, Winner Take All. Collyer went on to host the television versions of both shows.
➦In 1911...Sportscaster Russ Hodges (June 18, 1910 – April 19, 1971) was an American sportscaster who did play-by-play for several baseball teams, most notably the New York and San Francisco Giants.
Born in Dayton, Tennessee, Hodges began his broadcasting career in 1934. He was sports editor of WBT, Charlotte, North Carolina until October 1941, when he moved full-time to WOL in Washington, D.C., where he had already been doing play-by-play for the Washington Redskins.[2] He worked for the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, and Cincinnati Reds before landing in New York City with the New York Yankees and New York Giants, who during much of the 1940s only broadcast home games and shared the same radio team — lead announcer Mel Allen and No. 2 man Hodges.
From April 14, 1948 to April 22, 1949, Hodges hosted the 15-minute DuMont series Scoreboard, also known as Russ Hodges' Scoreboard. In 1949, Hodges became a No. 1 announcer when the Giants and the Yankees separated their radio networks to each broadcast a full, 154-game schedule. He would be the voice of the Giants for the next 22 seasons on both coasts.
Hodges was at the mike for Bobby Thomson’s 1951 home run, the so-called ‘Shot Heard Round the World.’ “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!” He suffered a sudden & fatal heart attack April 19 1971 at age 59.
➦In 1939… the CBS radio network first aired radio drama The Adventures of Ellery Queen.
With Hugh Marlowe in the title role, Ellery Queen moved to NBC radio in 1942, airing until 1944. From 1945 to 1947, it was heard once again on CBS, returning to NBC in 1947 and then moved to ABC radio (1947–1948). The premise was that a mystery would be dramatized, but then interrupted when a panel of celebrities would attempt to solve it.
Dave Garroway
➦In 1955...NBC’s Monitor program expands to 8 AM Saturday to Midnight Sunday. According to the Monitor tribute site, it had everything -- news, sports, comedy, interviews, remote pick-ups from around the world, music -- a true magazine of the air. Listeners could tune in or out at any time during the weekend, wherever they were -- at home or in their cars. During any "Monitor" hour, dozens of different people, places and things were presented -- all presided over, live, by host "communicators" in mammoth New York studios NBC named "Radio Central."
If "Monitor" had failed, NBC Radio would have disappeared decades before it did. But it worked -- indeed, it was a smash hit with listeners, advertisers and critics. It quickly became NBC Radio's biggest moneymaker and kept NBC in the radio business. Simply put, "Monitor" became the biggest thing in radio.
➦In 1961…CBS Radio aired the final episode of "Gunsmoke." In the late 1940s, CBS chairman William S. Paley, a fan of the Philip Marlowe radio serial, asked his programming chief, Hubell Robinson, to develop a hardboiled Western series, a show about a "Philip Marlowe of the Old West". Robinson instructed his West Coast CBS Vice President, Harry Ackerman, who had developed the Philip Marlowe series, to take on the task.
Ackerman and his scriptwriters, Mort Fine and David Friedkin, created an audition script called "Matt Dillon Goes to Gouge Eye" based on one of their Michael Shayne radio scripts, "The Case of the Crooked Wheel" from the summer of 1948. Two versions were recorded. The first, recorded in June 1949, was very much like a hardboiled detective series and starred Michael Rye (credited as Rye Billsbury) as Dillon; the second, recorded in July 1949, starred Straight Arrow actor Howard Culver in a more Western, lighter version of the same script. CBS liked the Culver version better, and Ackerman was told to proceed.
The radio series first aired on CBS on April 26, 1952 with the episode "Billy the Kid", written by Walter Newman, and ended on June 18, 1961. The show stars William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, Howard McNear as Doc Charles Adams, Georgia Ellis as Kitty Russell, and Parley Baer as Dillon's assistant, Chester Wesley Proudfoot.
➦In 1965...The call letters of KYW-AM, Cleveland, Ohio returned to Philadelphia.
In June, 1955, Westinghouse agreed to trade KYW and WPTZ to NBC in exchange for the network's Cleveland properties, WNBK-TV and WTAM-AM/FM, as well as $3 million in cash.
After clearing regulatory hurdles, the swap went into effect on February 13, 1956.
According to phillyradioarchives.com, NBC changed the 1060 call letters to WRCV and Westinghouse moved the KYW call letters to Cleveland.
NBC had been interested in acquiring a VHF TV station in Philadelphia for years, the largest market in which it did not own one. After being rebuffed more than once, NBC (according to Westinghouse) threatened to drop its network affiliation (and programming) from WPTZ and Westinghouse's Boston TV station unless they agreed to the trade.
Not long after the station swap in 1955, the government started an investigation into the transfer that ultimately led to a bitter and complex 10 year skirmish for control of the stations. The battle involved a large list of government and corporate players including the FCC, Congress, Department of Justice, RCA, Philco, Westinghouse and RKO-General. Ultimately, the swap was reversed, and Westinghouse regained control of the stations, renaming them KYW TV and KYW AM.
In September 1965, KYW 1060 AM became an all-news station.
➦In 1975...NBC News & Information Service debuted.
NBC launched the NBC News and Information Service (also referred to as "NIS"), which provided up to 55 minutes of news per hour around the clock to local stations that wanted to adopt an all-news format.
Not surprisingly, NIS achieved clearances on NBC's FM stations in New York (WNBC-FM, which became WNWS), Chicago (WJOI, the former WMAQ-FM which was renamed WNIS) and San Francisco (KNAI, the former KNBR-FM). WRC-AM in Washington DC also picked it up, migrating their Top 40 format onto FM sister station WKYS (which would be blown up weeks later in favor of disco music). Other major affiliates for the NIS service included WBAL-FM in Baltimore, KHVH in Honolulu, and KQV in Pittsburgh.
The NIS service attracted several dozen subscribers, but not enough to allow NBC to project that it would ever become profitable, and it was discontinued after two years.
➦In 1984...Alan Berg, a combative radio talk show host at KOA 850 AM in
Denver died of multiple gunshot wounds after being ambushed outside his
condominium. The 50-year-old Berg had reported death threats to police several times.
Alan Berg once worked at a shoe store and later opened a clothing store in Denver where he met KGMC-AM talk show host Laurence Gross. Impressed with Berg, Gross made him a guest on several occasions. When Gross left KGMC to take a job in San Diego, California, he requested that Alan Berg be named his successor.
From KGMC, which changed its call sign to KWBZ, Berg moved to KHOW, also in Denver. After being fired from KHOW, Berg went back to KWBZ before it changed to an all-music format and he again lost his job. The unemployed Berg was courted by both KTOK in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Detroit, Michigan. He was lastly hired by KOA and debuted on February 23, 1981. He worked at KOA until his death.
At about 9:30 p.m. on June 18, 1984, Alan Berg returned to his Adams Street townhouse after dinner. Berg stepped out of his black Volkswagen Beetle and gunfire erupted. He was struck twelve times. The murder weapon had been illegally converted to an automatic weapon, was later traced to the home of one of The Order's members by the FBI.
Berg was on a death list according to a former producer because he was Jewish and he challenged on the air the beliefs of an author who wrote that Jews were from the family line of the devil.
Four members of The Order were ultimately indicted on federal charges: Jean Craig, David Lane, Bruce Pierce, and Richard Scutari. However, only Lane and Pierce were convicted, though neither of homicide (which is a state crime). Rather, they were convicted of racketeering, conspiracy, and violating Alan Berg's civil rights (which are federal crimes). Both were sentenced to what were, for all practical purposes, life terms; Lane's sentence was 190 years; Pierce's was 252 years.
➦In 1988...WWKB 1520 AM, Buffalo, New York switched to a satellite oldies format, finishing 30 years of Top 40 and oldies.
WKBW was founded in 1922 as a religious station, operating at the frequency of 1380 kHz. As the story goes, founder Clinton Churchill applied to the Department of Commerce for a license to operate under the call signs WAY. That call sign, however, was being used for a ship at sea, so instead, Churchill chose the letters "WKBW," which were next in the random assignment pool. Churchill proclaimed the call letters to stand for "Well Known Bible Witness"; later usage referred to the middle letters "KB" standing for King of Buffalo (alluding to its 50,000 watt broadcast power).
On July 4, 1958, WKBW radio abandoned its adult approach and was converted into a personality-driven full service Top 40 music radio station, featuring foreground personalities, a tight playlist of current hits and an aggressive local news department, which it continued to program with great success for over 20 years. It was one of the first stations to present traffic reports in cooperation with police and state and local authorities. Capital Cities Communications, then known as Capital Cities Broadcasting, purchased the WKBW stations from Clinton Churchill in 1961.
During the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, WKBW became a major force in pop radio over the East Coast. KB had a 50,000 watt transmitter at their transmitter site in Hamburg. This high power with a direction signal caused WKBW to blanket the entire eastern U.S. with top 40 music every night, and the station actually had a better signal at night in the western Boston suburbs than Boston's own top 40 station, WMEX, located at 1510, right next door to WKBW.
From 1970...
Disk jockeys included future Price is Right announcer Rod Roddy, Dick Biondi, Danny Neaverth, Jack Armstrong, Joey Reynolds, Steve Mitchell, Bud Ballou, Norm Marshall, Tom Shannon, and the Amazin' Jim Quinn. Irv Weinstein, later Buffalo's most popular television news anchor, served as news director.
➦In 2002…Sportscaster John Francis "Jack" Buck died from Parkinson's disease at age 77 (Born - August 21, 1924). He was best known for his work announcing Major League Baseball games of the St. Louis Cardinals. His play-by-play work earned him recognition from numerous Halls of Fame, such as the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the National Radio Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.
Buck was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, he dreamed of becoming a sports announcer with his early exposure to sports broadcasting coming from listening to Boston Red Sox baseball games announced by Fred Hoey.
After completion of his military service in 1946, Buck enrolled at (and graduated from) Ohio State University. His early sportscasting career included work for the minor league affiliates of the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1954, he was promoted to radio play-by-play of Cardinal games on KMOX, a position that he maintained for nearly all of the next 47 years. He was known in St. Louis for his trademark phrase "That's a winner!", which was said after every game that the Cardinals had won.
➦In 2014…Johnny Mann died (Born - August 30, 1928). Mann was an arranger, composer, conductor, entertainer, and recording artist.
Johnny Mann and his vocal group The Johnny Mann Singers were involved in several classic rock 'n' roll and rockabilly recording sessions for Johnny Burnette (including "God, Country and My Baby"), The Crickets and several 1957–1958 sessions with Eddie Cochran, who was also signed to Liberty Records in Hollywood.
As bandleader with the Johnny Mann Singers, he and the group recorded approximately three dozen albums, hosted the TV series titled Stand Up and Cheer (1971–1974), and was the musical director for the 1967-69 ABC-TV late night talk show, The Joey Bishop Show. He was also musical director of The Alvin Show, and was the voice of Theodore. Mann was also choral director for the NBC Comedy Hour.
The Johnny Mann Singers' instrumental "Cinnamint Shuffle (Mexican Shuffle)" hit the US Pop chart in 1966. Their next single, a cover version of "Up, Up and Away", became the hit version of the song on the UK Singles Chart, over taking the US hit version by The 5th Dimension. The version also won a Grammy Award in 1968 in the Best Performance by a Choir of Seven or More Persons category. In total, Mann was nominated for five Grammys, two of which he won.
Mann wrote a number of radio jingles, the most famous being the "Sound of the City" jingle for KSFO in San Francisco, California. This jingle became as requested as many of the songs played by KSFO in the era of Don Sherwood, and it was adapted by Mann for other radio stations around the country which included KFRC (AM) in San Francisco and CKLW in Windsor, Ontario.
Paul McCartney 1965 and 2021
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Musician Paul McCartney is 79.
Actor Constance McCashin (“Knots Landing”) is 74.
Actor Linda Thorson (“The Avengers”) is 74.
Keyboardist John Evans (The Box Tops) is 73.
Actor Isabella Rossellini is 69.
Renee Olstead is 32
Actor Carol Kane is 69.
Actor Brian Benben (“Private Practice”) is 65.
Actor Andrea Evans (“The Bold and the Beautiful”) is 64.
Singer Alison Moyet is 60.
Keyboardist Dizzy Reed (Guns N’ Roses) is 58.
Country singer-guitarist Tim Hunt (Yankee Grey) is 54.
Singer Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men is 50.
Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne is 48.
Rapper Silkk The Shocker is 46.
Actor Alana de la Garza (“Law and Order”) is 45.
Country singer Blake Shelton is 45.
Guitarist Steven Chen of Airborne Toxic Event is 43.
Actor David Giuntoli (“Grimm”) is 41.
Drummer Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots is 33.
Actor-singer Renee Olstead (“The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Still Standing”) is 32.
