Chicago Radio: Tommy Edwards Announces Retirement

Tommy Edwards

After more than five decades in broadcasting, market veteran and current mid-day host at CBS Radio’s WJMK 104.3 FM Tommy Edwards announced he is retiring from radio effective on Friday, Sept. 12.

Edwards has been with the station since 2011 when 104.3 “K-HITS” made its debut as a classic hits station. He joined CBS Radio in 1990 as a program director for WODS-FM in Boston.

“It’s been a 54 year radio career that began when I was a young teen in high school in Topeka, Kansas,” said Edwards. “I’ve been blessed to work with some incredible people in cities all across this country, including New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago. For the past three years, I’ve been doing mid-days at K-HITS and loving every minute. I’m so fortunate to walk away from radio knowing I never stopped delivering the very best for the listeners.”

Edwards currently resides in Lake Forest, Ill. with his wife and looks forward to taking more time for himself and his family in retirement. “My beautiful wife and best friend, Mary Lou, and I, plan on traveling and enjoying more time together.”

“Tommy Edwards is synonymous with great radio,” said Rod Zimmerman, Senior Vice President and Market Manager of CBS Radio Chicago. “Few have enjoyed the depth and longevity of success he has experienced. We’ve been privileged in Chicago to have been entertained by Tommy for as long as we were. All of us at K-HITS and CBS Radio wish him much happiness and as he knows, the door will always be open.”

WJMK-FM Program Director Todd Cavanah added, “As sad as I am that Tommy is retiring from radio, I am so happy that we had the chance to work together and that he finished his unbelievable career on the air at K-HITS.”

The station will celebrate Edwards throughout his final week of broadcasts beginning on Monday, Sept. 8. Listeners will hear stories and memories from across his career, including special music selections as Edwards plays his favorite hits from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Fans can tune in on-air, online at www.khitschicago.com or by downloading the Radio.com app, available on iPhone and Android devices.



Edwards began his professional radio career in Washington, D.C. at WEAM-AM, where he worked nights at a rock radio station. After a few years, he moved to New York City for a position at WOR-FM, and then later to Chicago where he spent time as a production director, and on-air personality. As “Little Tommy Edwards,” he eventually joined Larry Lujack in the creation of the very popular on-air feature Animal Stories.



Following his tenure at WODS, Edwards worked in programming at KCBS-FM, a position he held for more than a decade. He was instrumental in transitioning the station to its current adult hits format.

In addition, Edwards serves as the public address announcer for the Chicago Bulls. This marks his 24th season with the team.

September 6, 7 In Radio History

On the 7th in 1985...Newcomer John Parr hit #1 on this date with "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)", overtaking "The Power of Love" from Huey Lewis & the News.

Tina Turner had #3--"We Don't Need Another Hero", swapping places with Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love".  The rest of the Top 10:  Bryan Adams from Reckless with "Summer of '69", Dire Straits with their biggest hit since "Sultans of Swing" in 1979--"Money for Nothing", Kool & the Gang and "Cherish", Phil Collins with his fifth consecutive Top 10 song "Don't Lose My Number" and Prince registered his 16th hit "Pop Life", with exactly half of those reaching the Top 10



On the 7th in 1991...A pretty good Top 10 on this date--something you usually didn't find after about 1986--Bryan Adams scored week #5 at the top with "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", Paula Abdul moved up to challenge with "The Promise of a New Day" and Boyz II Men were up from 9 to 3 with "Motownphilly".  C+C Music Factory had the #4 song--"Things That Make You Go Hmmmm..." and KLF had song #5 with "3 A.M. Eternal".  The rest of the Top 10:  Color Me Badd moved from 15 to 6 with "I Adore Mi Amor", Seal's first release "Crazy" hit #7, the Scorpions owned the #8 position with "Wind of Change", Michael Bolton enjoyed his 11th hit "Time, Love and Tenderness" and Hi-Five dropped with "I Can't Wait Another Minute".


On the 7th in 2012...WEPN 1050 AM om NYC switched to ESPN Deportes

FCC Media Bureau Call Letter Actions For August 2014

Classic Hits Format Becomes The Summer Spoiler

In what Nielsen calls a ratings upset, Classic Hits pushed CHR and Country aside in August  to finish the summer as radio’s most improved format.

New analysis from Nielsen shows the average 6+ share for classic hits in PPM markets jumped 10% in the summer months when compared to its average performance from January-May.

During June and July, Country and Pop Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) both made a play to land the coveted title of “format of the summer,” as Country popped in June, cooled in July, and was then overtaken by a spike in Top40 listening. In August, however, neither format could keep their momentum going, giving way to a dark horse that pulled in solid audience share throughout the summer. Compared with Country and CHR, Classic Hits has quietly and consistently grown its audience during the past three months and finished the summer of 2014 with the largest percentage increase in listening shares of any major format during the summer.

In order to judge this race, Nielsen compared listening trends for the major radio formats during June, July and August with the average results from the first five months of the year, January through May. Based on the average quarter hour (AQH) share changes for the full-week (Monday-Sunday 6 a.m.-midnight) daypart over the past four years, the last three summertime “winners” have been Hot Adult Contemporary (AC), Pop CHR and Country, respectively.

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This year, Classic Hits led the way, followed by Hot AC, Classic Rock and Country.

According to Nielsen, August’s results for the Classic Hits format were historic in several ways: the format set a new all-time high for both 6-plus (5.6%) and 18-34 (3.8%) listener shares, and the 25-54 results (4.9%) were the highest since the spring of 2012.

Persons 6+	Summer 2011 Share Increase (%)	Summer 2012 Share Increase (%)	Summer 2013 Share Increase (%)	Summer 2014 Share Increase (%)
Adult Contemporary (AC)	-3.3	-3.6	-5.3	-4.1
Album Adult Alternative	-11.9	-1.6	4.0	-8.3
Album Oriented Rock	-4.4	3.8	8.4	Flat
All News	-7.6	-2.0	-9.3	-14.3
All Sports	-2.7	-5.3	-0.8	-2.4
Alternative	-8.2	7.5	7.6	Flat
Classic Hits	4.1	0.9	2.2	10
Classic Rock	6.0	3.2	5.9	6.5
Country	6.2	3.9	8.8	6.3
Hot Adult Contemporary (AC)	26.3	3.6	5.3	6.7
Mexican Regional	-3.5	-3.5	-5.2	2.7
News/Talk	-5.1	-5.5	-7.8	-6.7
Pop Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)	3.2	8.5	1.9	1.2
Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)	-1.3	6.9	-1.9	-8.1
Spanish Contemporary+Spanish Hot AC	-1.5	-7.2	-4.9	4.0
Urban Adult Contemporary (AC)	2.0	-1.4	-0.8	2.0
Urban Contemporary	2.0	1.1	1.9	Flat
PPM—Portable people meter. CHR—Contemporary Hit Radio. AC—Adult Contemporary. Source: Nielsen

Cumulus Making Changes At The Top

Lew Dickey, Jon Pinch, John Dickey

Cumulus Media Inc. Thursday announced that it is putting in place a new organizational leadership structure, the goal of which is to enhance the Company’s strategic and operational focus and leverage its business platform. The announcement follows the completion of the integration of Citadel and Westwood One.

Lew Dickey, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cumulus Media, said, “Our vision has been to build the radio company of the future and that is exactly what we are achieving. Towards that end, we have strategically broadened the Company’s scope and now have in place differentiated distribution channels and multiple content development platforms. To accelerate our plans, we are putting in place a new organizational structure to reflect the Company’s strategic evolution, bringing clarity, focus and accountability to key leadership roles in both our station and network groups.”

As part of the executive organizational changes, Cumulus will be eliminating its Co-Chief Operating Officer positions, previously held by Jon Pinch and John Dickey. Mr. Pinch will be retiring at the end of November, after more than 45 years in the broadcasting industry and 14 years with Cumulus. The following newly-created leadership positions will report directly to Lew Dickey.

• Executive Vice President of Radio – Cumulus has engaged executive search firm Spencer Stuart to assist in identifying an exceptional candidate for the newly-created position of Executive Vice President of Radio. The executive that assumes this position will be focused on providing day-to-day operational and strategic leadership of Cumulus’ radio station group consisting of its 460 stations in 90 U.S. markets.
  
  
• Executive Vice President of Content and Programming – John Dickey, who served as Co-COO since 2006, was named to the newly-created position of Executive Vice President of Content and Programming. He will focus on developing and maximizing content and programming. Establishing this focused position recognizes the critical importance of Cumulus’s development and promotion of content and programming across the Company’s station group, Westwood One network and other media platforms including Nash and Rdio.
  
  
• President of Westwood One – Steve Shaw, who joined Cumulus in early 2013 and served as head of national spot sales for Cumulus’ station group, will serve as President of Westwood One and oversee all national and digital sales for both Westwood One, Cumulus’ station group and Rdio.

Cox Media Names John Larson New Classic Hits Format Leader

John Larson

Cox Media Group (CMG) has named John Larson as its new Classic Hits Radio Format Leader, effective immediately.

In addition to his current role as Director of Branding and Programming at Tampa’s WXGL The Eagle 107.3, Larson will work closely with Steve Smith, CMG’s VP of Radio Programming, and all of CMG’s Classic Hits program directors at the company’s other classic hits stations – Orlando’s WMMO 98.9 FM, Atlanta’s WSRV 97.1 FM, Houston’s KGLK 107.5 FM, Tulsa’s KJSR 103.3 FM, Dayton’s WZLR 95.3 FM, Tampa’s WXGL 107.3 FM, Jacksonville’s WJGL 96.9 FM, and San Antonio’s KTKX 106.7 FM.
  
"We are thrilled to add John to our brilliant format leader team,” said CMG Executive VP of Radio Kim Guthrie.  “When it comes to Classic Hits radio, John is a seasoned pro. His natural instincts will help all of our Cox Media Group Classic Hits stations across the country continue to be the Superbrands they are."

Larson has been in Tampa for 11 years programming CMG’s Classic Hits Station 107.3 The Eagle as well as the company’s two AC stations Magic 94-9 and 105.5 WDUV, The Dove. He previously programmed KZPS in Dallas for 13 years and other stations in Detroit, Phoenix, Washington DC, Chicago and St. Louis.

 “I have had the privilege of performing the Classic Hits format leader role along with my VP programming stripes up until today, and could never have accomplished what we have without partnering with John,” said Smith. “He is extremely qualified to handle the role of format leader for all our Classic Hits stations."  

“I’d like to thank Kim Guthrie and Steve Smith for their confidence and support throughout my years with CMG,” said Larson. “I really look forward to working with the great teams in place at all of the CMG Classic Hits and Classic Rock Stations!”

Nielsen Releases Day 3 Of August PPMs

Nielsen Thursday released August PPMs results for the following markets:

• Portland Or
• Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill NC
• Pittsburgh
• Sacramento
• San Antonio
• Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo
• Cincinnati
• Cleveland
• Las Vegas
• Orlando
• Kansas City MO
• Columbus, OH

To see Topline numbers for Nielsen subscribing stations, Click Here

Orlando Radio: WCFB 3-Peats At #1

Cox Media's UrbanAC WCFB 94.5 FM ends up #1 for the third consecutive month in the latest PPMs released Thursday by Nielsen.

WCFB was off a bit 7.5—7.1 (6+AQH) but it's syndicated Tom Joyner morning show was the market's #1 in AM Drive.

CCM+E's AC WMGF 107.7 FM Magic earned a spike 5.6—6.8 following some music tweaking. Magic is tied for #2 with Central Florida Education Foundation's non-com Cont.Christian WPOZ 88.3 Z88, which had an uptick 6.7—6.8. Cox Media' Country WWKA 92.3 FM K92 comes in at #4 6.6—6.3 and CCM+E's Top40 WXXL 106.7 FM XL106 enjoyed a nice spike 5.1—5.7.

25-54: WCFB...WWKA...WPOZ...WXXL...WTKS

18-34: WPYO...WXXL...WJRR...WWKA...WMGF

18-49: WXXL...WCFB...WWKA...WPOZ tied WPYO

Cume: WXXL-FM 523,800..WOMX-FM 493,500...WMGF-FM 445,700...WPYO-FM 414,800...WOCL-FM 402,400

Top 5 Morning Shows:

1. WCFB Tom Joyner
2. WTKS  Monsters in The Morning
3. WPOZ Ellis & Tyler
4. WWKA AJ & Ashley
5. WOMX 105.1 FM Scott McKenzie & The Morning Mix

Chicago Radio: WGN Extends Steve Cochran's Contract

Steve Cochran

Just days after marking his one-year anniversary as morning personality on news/talk WGN 720 AM, Steve Cochran received a big vote of confidence from his Tribune Broadcasting bosses, according to Chicago media wrtier Robert Feder.

On Thursday he signed a new four-year contract to stay right where he is.

Terms were not disclosed, but Todd Manley, vice president of content and programming at WGN, confirmed the deal and called Cochran “a treasure to us.”

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, WGN ranked second in mornings with a 5.4 percent share and a cumulative weekly audience of 276,600.

“Thanks to my amazing staff of Andrea Darlas, Dave Eanet, Orion Samuelson, Mary Vandevelde, Kevin Powell and my son, Ross, 5 a.m. is actually fun,” Cochran said. “Working for Jimmy de Castro, Todd Manley and Larry Wert is as good as it gets — and I feel like we are just getting started.”

Richmond Radio: Paul Johnson New Alpha Market Manager

Alpha Media/Richmond has appointed Paul Johnson as Market Manager of the company's cluster in Richmond, VA.

The 32-year broadcast vet most recently served as General Manager of the Free Lance Star Radio Station Group in Fredericksburg, VA. Other stops include Program Director of WWQQ-FM/Wilmington NC, Operations Manager of Leighton Broadcasting/St. Cloud MN and Operations Manager of Citadel Broadcasting/Colorado Springs.

Alpha Media Chairman Larry Wilson said, "We've known Paul for many years as a great partner at Citadel. We're happy to have him as a resource and great leader for our Richmond team."

"We are delighted to have a seasoned professional with the utmost integrity join the Alpha team in Richmond. Paul will be a great leader in a market that we love and that we are excited about being in. We believe there is a great opportunity for live and local radio in Richmond and we can't wait for Paul to get started," added Alpha Media Executive VP/Southern Region Bill McElveen.

Johnson said, "The management team at Alpha is filled with people I admire, respect, and want to work with again. It's exciting to become a part of this Richmond team that's poised for big things."

DC Radio: CBS Radio Moves Wizards To WNEW 99.1 FM

CBS Radio’s 99.1 WNEW has been named the Washington Wizards flagship radio broadcaster beginning with the 2014-15 season.

WNEW will broadcast all regular and postseason games, starting with the team’s match-up with the Miami Heat on Oct. 29.

The announcement was made Thursday.

Veteran D.C. area play-by-play broadcaster Dave Johnson will return for his 17th season calling Wizards games, and is joined for the 7th year by analyst Glenn Consor.

“The Wizards have been steadily building for the future, and the future has arrived,” said Steve Swenson, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, CBS RADIO Washington, D.C.  “Our stations are proud supporters of D.C.’s sports teams and WNEW is no exception.  We’re thrilled to offer loyal fans a broad range of options to engage with the Wizards on game day and beyond.”

“CBS RADIO stations are home to nearly 30 professional sports teams across the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL,” added Chris Oliviero, Senior Vice President, Programming, CBS RADIO.  “We see tremendous value in presenting this type of premier content that ultimately strengthens our appeal with local listeners and sets our stations apart from the rest of the industry.  We’ve had a winning track record in sports broadcasting for more than two decades, and deals like this one reinforce our commitment to the format.”

Wizards games were previously broadcast on CBS Radio’s WJFK 106.7 FM The Fan.  The station will continue to be the radio home of the Washington Capitals and Nationals.

SF Radio: Rush, Sean, Glenn Returning To KSFO 560 AM

New PD Kevin Methany has made his first move at trying to reverse the fortunes of Cumulus Media/ KSFO 560 AM Hot Talk in San Francisco.

Metheny has worked a deal with Premiere Radio which makes KSFO the new home for Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

Limbaugh has been airing for the past two years on CCM+E's KNEW 990 AM, now branded as the Patriot.   Preiovusly, Rush aired on KSFO 2000-2011 and now he returns starting Monday, Sept. 28.
Rush will air live 9a to noon. Hannity and Beck will air on a delay during the evening hours.

Cumulus EVP/Content and Programming John Dickey said, "KSFO is the voice of conservatism in the Bay Area. This is where Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck belong. We're very pleased to add this trio to an already star-studded line-up that includes Brian Sussman, Michael Savage and Mark Levin."

OM Kevin Metheny added, “The new KSFO lineup will be like listening to the Conservative Talk All-Star Game all day, every day.”

To make way for Limbaugh, talker Spencer Hughes has departed.

Sac Radio: Programmer Ken Charles Leaving KFBK, KSTE

Ken Charles

It seems CCM+E National Brand Manager for News/Talk Ken Charles is giving up his battle trying to adjust his sleeping cycle to West Coast time.

Charles is returning to the East Coast and his hometown of Miami  after spending several months in Sacramento programming KFBK 1530 AM / 93.1 FM  and KSTE 650 AM.

A search for his successor in Sacramento is underway.

And even though Charles is returning to Miami, local PD for WIOD and WINZ Grace Blazer remains in place.

Nielsen: Network Radio Growing Younger

In its latest State of the Media: Audio Today report, Nielsen says 244 million people - or nine out of every ten Americans 12+ - listen to radio. And, at any given time during a week, 181 million people are reached by network radio every week.

Millennials (consumers aged 18 to 34) account for more than a quarter of the national network radio listeners, as 51.1 million tune into a RADAR network every week. That’s more than Generation X (44 million) and Baby Boomers (43 million). In fact, compared to the national average for RADAR network radio listening, which reaches 68% of listeners, network radio reaches 70% of Millennial Americans.

And the strong representation from this demographic is good news for the radio industry. Despite their youth, more than seven in 10 (70.8%) Millennial network radio listeners have household incomes greater than $75,000 per year and 68.4% are college graduates.

Garth Brooks Unveils GhostTunes Digital Music Platform

Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks is embracing the digital age of music in his own unique way. The singer has just revealed GhostTunes, a digital music platform that promises to “unleash the creativity” and allows fans to access their downloads on any audio platform, according to A Taste of Country.

For years, Brooks avoided letting his music be released digitally on any platform, including streaming sites. He says he’s finally perfected the way he wanted to do it.

“This is a site that treats music with the utmost respect,” the ‘People Loving People’ singer shares in a statement, “where our job everyday is to offer music the way the artists want to share it to the listeners who live for and love it. That’s a job I hope I can do everyday.”

Perhaps most surprising is that fans aren’t restricted to buying albums only, something Brooks has long wanted for his music. Artists can choose if they want to release albums, singles or other creative packages to fans. Music will be stored in a “locker” that is accessible via any audio player. The promise, above all else, is very few restrictions.

The country legend is also giving fans the opportunity to buy his entire catalog of music for just $29.99. This includes his upcoming 2014 release, plus an until now unannounced 2015 project. Other artists can do the same, if they choose.

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