Radio News Summary: Week of October 12–17, 2026

The week featured major ownership and financial shifts, programming continuity, research affirming radio’s reach, industry honors, leadership changes, and several notable passings, alongside announcements of upcoming events.

Station and Ownership Developments

🗼In Indianapolis, Jason Hammer signed a multi-year contract extension with Urban One’s 93 WIBC, continuing as co-host of the Hammer & Nigel afternoon show (3–7 p.m.) with Nigel Laskowski. The program has been part of the news/talk station’s lineup since 2017. Hammer expressed satisfaction with the deal, arranged with management and agent Heather Cohen; terms were not disclosed.⁠

🗼In Abilene, Texas, Ken Witt’s Lone Star (Lonestar) Broadcasting Group is acquiring two FMs from Community Broadcast Partners for $425,000: Country “95.1 The Wolf” KABW (Baird) and Farm/Classic Country “Q Country 96.1” KORQ (Winters). The deal expands Lone Star into the Abilene market, following an earlier purchase of stations in Stephenville.⁠

🗼Civic Media, the Wisconsin-based group, is acquiring 13 stations (plus translators) in southeast Iowa and west-central Illinois from the Pritchard family’s Pritchard Broadcasting, Titan Broadcasting, and Galesburg Broadcasting. Markets include Burlington, Iowa (e.g., KGRS “Mix 107.3,” KBUR news/talk) and Galesburg, Illinois (e.g., WGIL news/talk). The price was not disclosed; the deal is pending FCC approval. CEO Sage Weil emphasized continuing local community connections.⁠

Corporate and Industry Moves

🗼Cumulus Media completed its prepackaged Chapter 11 restructuring and emerged as a privately owned company on October 16. It eliminated roughly $550–600 million in debt in exchange for equity and $50 million in new convertible notes for former lenders. Existing management (led by CEO Mary Berner) remains, a new board has been appointed, and a $100 million asset-based revolving credit facility was secured. Operations continued without disruption. Public shareholders received no recovery.⁠

🗼Separately, Cumulus promoted Kathy “KB” Brown to VP/Urban Formats, effective immediately. Based in Charleston, SC, she will oversee programming for the company’s approximately 40 Urban stations (Mainstream, AC, Classic Hip-Hop, and Gospel) while continuing as PD and on-air talent for WWWZ “Z93 JAMZ” and WMGL “Magic 107.3.” She previously held roles at iHeartMedia, Radio One, and others.⁠

🗼At the NAB, Chief Legal Officer Rick Kaplan is exiting at year-end after more than 14 years. Starting January 1, 2027, Government Relations and Legal teams will consolidate under Shawn Donilon (promoted to Chief Advocacy Officer). The move aims to better coordinate advocacy across Congress, the Administration, and the FCC. Kaplan was credited with key wins, including a Supreme Court ownership decision and lower streaming rates.⁠

🗼New York Public Radio announced that President and CEO Christy Tanner is stepping down after about eight months. A temporary Office of the CEO will lead in the interim: predecessor LaFontaine Oliver (interim acting president), Jenna Weiss-Berman, and Gary Knell. No specific reason was given; a search for a permanent successor will follow.⁠

Research and Advertising Insights

🗼Nielsen’s “Everyone. Everywhere.” report highlighted radio’s scale: it reaches 92% of U.S. adults monthly (more than 242 million people), ahead of TV-connected devices (90%), smartphones (87%), and live/time-shifted TV (85%). Reach is strong among Black adults (92%), Hispanic adults (93%), and 18–34s (87%). Radio dominates in-car ad-supported audio (over 80%) and, with podcasts, accounts for most ad-supported audio time. Global benchmarks show a $2 ROI (second only to social), despite lower perceived effectiveness among some marketers.⁠

🗼An Audacy study (with YouGov and MRI-Simmons) underscored radio’s value for political advertising targeting commuting voters ahead of the 2026 midterms. Among commuting likely voters, 59% cite the economy/cost of living as the top issue (73% among commuting homeowners with children). AM/FM captures 82% of ad-supported audio during weekday commute hours. Case studies from 2022 showed radio adding hundreds of thousands of incremental voters beyond TV/CTV.⁠

🗼Jacobs Media’s Public Radio Techsurvey 2026 (over 17,000 core listeners from 49 stations) found highly engaged audiences—44% feel a strong connection to their station, and 72% increased support amid the political climate—but noted an aging base (average age about 66.5). Listening is shifting toward digital (54% broadcast vs. 43% digital).⁠

Programming and Partnerships

🗼Spotify renewed its multi-year licensing deal with Joe Rogan for The Joe Rogan Experience. Reports put the value around $250 million (similar to the prior agreement). New episodes will continue on Spotify and other platforms. The show remains Spotify’s most-followed podcast (about 18 million followers) and ranked No. 1 across major platforms in 2025.⁠

🗼The Country Music Association announced its 2026 Broadcast Awards winners, revealed via surprise calls from artist Zach Top. Notable winners include SiriusXM’s The Highway Hot 30 Countdown with Buzz Brainard (Weekly National Personality), Silverfish Media’s Big D & Bubba (Daily National Personality), KSCS Dallas (Major Market Station), WQDR Raleigh (Large Market Station), and others across personality and station categories by market size. Winners will be honored before the 60th CMA Awards on November 18.⁠

🕇Passings

• Jimmy Carter, a longtime Nashville-based entertainment reporter and broadcaster (WSMV-TV, WSM radio, Crook & Chase, and others), died October 13 at age 73. He covered Music Row, awards, and red carpets for decades and interviewed numerous country and film stars.⁠
• Kim Leslie (Brosche), a Nashville radio personality, music director, label executive, and CMA/CRB staffer who helped create awards including the CMA National Broadcast Personality of the Year and the CRB’s Tom Rivers Humanitarian Award, died October 9 at age 64 from Lewy body dementia. She worked at stations including WSM-FM, WKDF, and WJXA, plus Asylum Records and Sirius.⁠
• Mike Horn, founder of Cable Radio Network (later CRN Digital Talk Radio) and a former Los Angeles air personality, died at 74 after a long illness. He pioneered distributing commercial radio programming via cable systems starting in 1983 and later focused on talk, providing platforms for hosts including Ed McMahon, Robert Conrad, and Barry Farber. His daughter Jennifer Horn continues with CRN and hosts in Los Angeles.⁠

Music Industry Note

🗼Universal Music Group faced a rough week with additional executive layoffs as part of its ongoing ~$270 million (€250 million) cost-savings program (announced in 2024). Departures included Tunji Balogun (Def Jam), Ben Mortimer (Polydor UK), Nicole Wyskoarko and Sam Riback (Interscope Geffen A&M), and others, plus cuts at MCA Nashville and in Canada. The program is expected to conclude in 2027.⁠

Upcoming Radio Events

• NAB Marconi Radio Awards: October 20, 2026, at the Edison Ballroom in New York City (reception 6 p.m., dinner/show 7 p.m.). Hosted by Deja Vu; honors stations, personalities, podcasts, and leaders. Joel Oxley (Hubbard Radio Washington, DC) receives the NAB National Radio Award. Followed by NAB Show New York (October 21–22 at the Javits Center).
• Forecast 2027: November 12, 2026, at the Harvard Club in New York City. A closed-door leadership conference focused on the business of radio and television, with sessions on policy, AI, revenue, and leadership awards (limited seating).⁠
• Other near-term items from industry calendars include the CBI National Student Media Convention (through October 17 in Philadelphia) and various state broadcaster events.

These developments underscore radio’s ongoing financial restructuring, local market activity, strong research positioning for advertisers (especially in-car and political), and the industry’s mix of continuity and transition.

Radio History: Oct 18

➦In 1922…The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was established to monitor the development of the radio in Great Britain.

➦In 1928...Keith Max Jackson born in Roopville, GA.(Died at age 89 – January 12, 2018). Jackson was a sports commentator, journalist, author and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his career, he is best known for his coverage of college football from 1952 until 2006, and his distinctive voice, "a throwback voice, deep and operatic. A voice that was to college football what Edward R. Murrow's was to war. It was the voice of ultimate authority in his profession. His trademark expression?  “Whoa Nelly!”

Keith Jackson

The son of a dirt farmer, Jackson was born in Roopville, Georgia and grew up on a farm outside Carrollton, near the Alabama state line.  He was the only surviving child in a poor family and grew up listening to sports on the radio. After enlisting and serving as a mechanic in the United States Marine Corps, he attended Washington State University in Pullman under the G.I. Bill.[8] Jackson began as a political science major, but he became interested in broadcasting.He graduated in 1954 with a degree in speech communications.

Though best known for his college football broadcasts, Jackson announced numerous other sports for ABC throughout his career, including Major League Baseball, NBA basketball, boxing, auto racing, PGA Tour golf, the USFL, and the Olympic Games. He briefly worked college basketball with Dick Vitale. Jackson also served as the pregame, halftime, and postgame anchor for ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII in 1988. During his on-air tenure, he is credited with nicknaming the Rose Bowl as "The Grandaddy of them All" and Michigan Stadium as "The Big House".

Jackson began his career as a broadcaster in 1952, when he called on radio a game between Stanford and Washington State. He then worked for KOMO radio in Seattle, and later for KOMO-TV from 1954 to 1964 as co-anchor for their first news team.

Jackson became a radio news correspondent for ABC News Radio and sports director of ABC Radio West in 1964 before joining ABC Sports in 1966.

➦In 1931…Inventor Thomas Alva Edison died at age 84 (Born February 11, 1847). He has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world.  He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.

Ice Maiden Susie Wiles Gave The 'KIll Order'

Wiles and Zacharia

Katie Zacharia lasted just five days as White House press secretary—the shortest tenure in the role’s history—after a disastrous first briefing and mounting scrutiny over her legal credentials, with sources telling the Daily Mail that chief of staff Susie Wiles orchestrated her removal.

Zacharia, 41, never returned to the podium after her 14-minute debut on Monday. On Friday she was summoned to meet President Trump, who handled the conversation gently. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he told her. “Honestly if I were you I’d reconsider.” Allies said she arrived ready for an ambush and quickly realized it was over. Communications director Steven Cheung then announced she would transition into a new role to be named later.

The exit came days after Cheung had publicly defended her, insisting “up and down the White House, everyone has been thoroughly impressed with Katie in just a few short days on the job,” dismissing contrary reports as “trash,” and tweeting that she would be “remembered as one of the all-time greats.”

Trump Gave WH Spox Zacharia An Out

Katie Zacharia is out as White House press secretary just a week after President Trump appointed her, according to people familiar with the matter.

On Friday, Trump said he had suggested that Zacharia consider leaving the job. “I said, ‘Is this for you Katie? Because honestly, you don’t need this,’” Trump told reporters, adding that she had been treated “very rough” by the media. He said he spoke with her earlier Friday, shortly before his comments to reporters as he left the White House for a rally in Georgia, and counseled her, “Honestly, if I were you, I’d reconsider.”

A White House official and a person familiar with the matter confirmed that she is being transitioned out of the role and will not return as press secretary. Zacharia will move to a new position that will be announced later, a person familiar with the plans said.

The exit ends a brief and chaotic run as the administration’s chief spokeswoman. Trump announced her appointment last Friday; her first day was Monday. She came under scrutiny after a shaky debut press briefing Tuesday and faced questions about her claims that she was a lawyer.

SiriusXM, Randy Andy's Jeff Lewis Reach New Deal

Jeff Lewis and SiriusXM have agreed to a two-year extension of their partnership for Jeff Lewis Live on the Radio Andy channel.

The host announced the deal during Friday’s episode of the show, which aired on the day his previous contract expired. “Yesterday at 2:50pm Pacific Daylight Time, we came to terms. I’m happy to announce another two years of Jeff Lewis Live on Radio Andy here at SiriusXM,” Lewis said on air.⁠

He described the outcome as a hard-fought compromise reached just in time. “As you know, my contract ended Friday [October 16]. We did successfully come to a compromise, although we both are a little bit bruised,” he added.

Atlanta Radio: Chris Jones Named GSM For Cox Media

Chris Jones, the former Senior Vice President of Sales for iHeartMedia Atlanta, has been named General Sales Manager for Cox Media Group’s four radio stations in Atlanta, succeeding Scott Kellum.⁠

Jones will oversee sales for the CMG Atlanta cluster, which includes news/talk 95.5 WSB (WSB-AM/WSBB), adult contemporary B98.5 (WSB-FM), classic rock 97.1 The River (WSRV), and adult R&B KISS 104.1 (WALR). He previously served as SVP of Sales at iHeartMedia Atlanta—effectively across town from the CMG stations—after being promoted to that role in 2020 from General Sales Manager in the same market. Kellum had held the CMG GSM position since March 2024.

Indy Radio: WIBC Extends Jason Hammer w/Multi-Year Deal

Indianapolis radio host Jason Hammer has signed a multi-year contract extension with 93.1 WIBC and parent company Urban One, ensuring the co-host of the station’s “Hammer and Nigel” afternoon talk show remains on the air.

“Indy, you are stuck with me,” Hammer wrote in an Friday Facebook post announcing the deal. In a separate post, he said he was “really happy with the outcome here.” The length of the extension was not disclosed.

TV Ratings: Kimmel Leads Late Night

ABC’s late-night show led the week of Oct. 4, 2026, with 2.576 million total viewers and 299,000 adults 18–49, according to Nielsen Live+3 ratings. Those figures were down 22% and 21%, respectively, from the prior week’s five original episodes filmed in Brooklyn, but still easily topped NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (1.483 million viewers, 200,000 in the demo).

The Tonight Show gained 7% in total viewers week-over-week while dropping 19% among adults 18–49. Both shows aired four original episodes and one repeat.

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

On CBS, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen delivered two of its strongest nights of the season, lifting both of its half-hours to double-digit gains in total viewers. Tuesday’s hour averaged 1 million total viewers—its largest audience since the May 22 premiere—after NCIS premieres. Friday’s hour, following the premieres of Sheriff Country, Fire Country, and Boston Blue, posted the show’s best adults 18–49 performance to date, averaging 175,000.

TV Ratings: Race Tightens For Sunday Morning Shows

ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos and CBS’s Face the Nation finished in a virtual dead heat for total viewers on the latest Sunday, with ABC narrowly ahead.⁠

On October 11, 2026, This Week averaged 2.516 million total viewers, edging CBS’s Face the Nation (averaging its half-hour and hour-long editions) at 2.486 million, according to Nielsen Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel ratings. ABC also led in the key adults 25-54 demographic (427,000) and adults 18-49 (301,000). This Week improved week-to-week across the board and posted its strongest adults 25-54 performance in seven months.

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Graphic courtesy of RoadMN

NBC’s Meet the Press trailed further behind with 2.150 million total viewers, tying CBS in the adults 25-54 demo at 323,000 but finishing lower in adults 18-49 (218,000). Fox’s Fox News Sunday lagged well back at 869,000 total viewers, 172,000 in adults 25-54, and 152,000 in adults 18-49.

TV Ratings: ABC's WNT Is Delivering Biggest Season Leads

“World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.219 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of Oct. 5, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN

• “World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.219 million), Adults 25-54 (1.139 million) and Adults 18-49 (836,000).
• “World News Tonight” defeated “NBC Nightly News” (6.482 million, 1.008 million and 705,000, respectively) in Total Viewers (+27%/+1.737 million), Adults 25-54 (+13%/+131,000) and Adults 18-49 (+19%/+131,000).

Rough Week At Universal Music Group

MCA Nashville, Universal Music Group’s country division, laid off around 14 staffers one day after UMG began broader cutbacks, sources said, including chief operating officer Rob Femia and senior vice president of promotion and regional marketing Miranda McDonald.⁠

The reductions are part of a corporate-wide, three-part cost-cutting plan first announced in 2024 that is affecting executives across the U.S. and internationally, Billboard reported Wednesday. 

Abilene Radio: Lone Star to Acquire Two FMs

Lonestar Broadcasting Group, led by Kenneth “Ken” and Heidi Witt, is set to expand into the Abilene, Texas market with the purchase of two FM stations for $425,000.⁠

The deal involves Country-formatted “95.1 The Wolf” KABW (licensed to Baird) and Farm/Classic Country “Q Country 96.1” KORQ. The stations are being acquired from David Klement’s Community Broadcast Partners and will add to Lonestar’s growing Texas portfolio, marking the company’s entry into the Abilene area. The transaction follows Lonestar’s earlier 2026 acquisition of a cluster serving the Stephenville, Comanche, and Brownwood markets.

FOX News Digital Leads All News Brands During 3Q

During the third quarter of 2026, FOX News Digital led all news brands and broadcast networks with multiplatform views and multiplatform minutes, according to Comscore.** FOX News Digital drove 4.6 billion multiplatform views and 10 billion multiplatform minutes throughout the quarter. 

Additionally, FOX News posted 170 million average total digital multiplatform unique visitors throughout the quarter, an 11% increase year-over-year. With average desktop/mobile unique visitors, FOX News nabbed 76 million to lead all news brands. This marks the 17th consecutive quarter it has led news brands with views and 22nd consecutive quarter it has been the top news brand with minutes.* Meanwhile, CNN marked its worst quarter since 2015 with average total digital unique visitors (57 million), multiplatform views (1.3 billion) and multiplatform minutes (2 billion).

During September, FOX News Digital led all news brands and broadcast networks with multiplatform views (1.5 billion) and multiplatform minutes (3.3 billion). With desktop/mobile unique visitors, FOX News led all news brands with 72 million. Additionally, it drove 164 million total digital multiplatform unique visitors.