Plus Pages

Saturday, July 9, 2016

July 10 Radio History


In 1856…Nikola Tesla was born.

Nikola Tesla
Tesla was a Serbian American  inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

Tesla, one of history’s most under-appreciated and under-acknowledged engineers. Credit for his work is often gray and debated, sometimes due to unscrupulous competitors and sometimes due to timing.

Indeed, Tesla is known to have worked on a radio before Marconi, an X-Ray machine before Roentgen, an induction motor around the same time Ferrari claimed his, and experimented to find “small charged particles” years before Thomson was credited with proving the existence of electrons.

Tesla is perhaps best known within engineering circles for his work on AC (alternating current) and his “War of Currents” feud with Thomas Edison (side note: Edison, an employer of Tesla’s for some time, is known in some engineering circles as the man who copied and stole from Tesla).

Even with such challenges and a lifetime of illnesses, Tesla accrued about 300 patents. He died penniless and in debt in his New York apartment on January 7, 1943, at the age of 86. After his death, much of Tesla’s papers and works were impounded by the United States' Alien Property Custodian office. This was despite the fact that Tesla had become a US citizen at 35 years old.

Eventually many of his personal notebooks and works were declared “top secret” by the FBI and shuttered away from public view. Reasons given for doing so were that Tesla had done significant work with various US government agencies. 

Tesla's theories on the possibility of the transmission by radio waves go back as far as lectures and demonstrations in 1893 in St. Louis, Missouri, the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the National Electric Light Association.  Tesla's demonstrations and principles were written about widely through various media outlets.  Many devices such as the Tesla Coil were used in the further development of radio.

Tesla's radio wave experiments in 1896 were conducted in Gerlach Hotel (later renamed The Radio Wave building), where he resided.

Tesla died January 7, 1943
In 1898, Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat—which he dubbed "teleautomaton"—to the public during an electrical exhibition at Madison Square Garden.  The crowd that witnessed the demonstration made outrageous claims about the workings of the boat, such as magic, telepathy, and being piloted by a trained monkey hidden inside.  Tesla tried to sell his idea to the U.S. military as a type of radio-controlled torpedo, but they showed little interest.   Remote radio control remained a novelty until World War I and afterward, when a number of countries used it in military programs.   Tesla took the opportunity to further demonstrate "Teleautomatics" in an address to a meeting of the Commercial Club in Chicago, while he was travelling to Colorado Springs, on 13 May 1899.


In 1900, Tesla was granted patents for a "system of transmitting electrical energy" and "an electrical transmitter." When Guglielmo Marconi made his famous first-ever transatlantic radio transmission in 1901, Tesla quipped that it was done with 17 Tesla patents. This was the beginning of years of patent battles over radio with Tesla's patents being upheld in 1903, followed by a reverse decision in favor of Marconi in 1904. In 1943, a Supreme Court of the United States decision restored the prior patents of Tesla, Oliver Lodge, and John Stone.  The court declared that their decision had no bearing on Marconi's claim as the first to achieve radio transmission, just that since Marconi's claim to certain patents were questionable, he could not claim infringement on those same patents  (there are claims the high court was trying to nullify a World War I claim against the U.S. government by the Marconi Company via simply restoring Tesla's prior patent).


Graham McNamee
In 1888...Graham McNamee  was born in Washington D.C.  He quickly became US radio’s most recognized personality in its first national decade, broadcasting numerous sporting events for NBC, and being announcer/host on the earliest variety programs of pioneers Rudy Vallee and Ed Wynn.  He has been enshrined in the National Radio Hall of Fame, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

He died young on May 9 1942 of a brain embolism at age 53.



In 1900...one of the most famous trademarks in the world, “His Master’s Voice”, was registered with the U.S. Patent Office. The logo of the Victor Talking Machine Company, and later, RCA Victor, features the dog, Nipper, looking into the horn of a gramophone machine.

Sometime during the 1890s, English artist Francis Barraud painted a picture of his brother's dog, Nipper, inquisitively listening to a phonograph. Barraud hoped to sell the painting to a phonograph company, but could not find an interested buyer. After receiving a suggestion to change the trumpet of the machine from black to brass, Barraud went to the Gramophone Company's office to borrow a machine to use as a model. In explaining his request, Barraud showed a photograph of his painting. The manager, Barry Owen, liked the painting and asked if it was for sale. When Barraud replied that it was for sale, Owen agreed to buy the painting if the phonograph could be replaced with a gramophone.

When Emile Berliner visited England in May 1900 and saw the picture, he promptly registered it as a trademark -- in the United States on May 26th and in Canada on July 16th. The Victor Talking Machine Company began to use the painting as a trademark in 1902, and the Gramophone Company in 1909.

The original painting hangs in the offices of EMI, the successor of the Gramophone Company. It is one of the most widely recognized and valuable trademarks in the world.


In 1920...Journalist David Brinkley was born in Wilmington North Carolina.  He became a TV sensation teamed with Chet Huntley on NBC for the nightly news 1956-70, and for political convention coverage, the JFK assasination, etc. Many of his commentaries, some tongue in cheek or ironical, were considered minor classics.  Later he would move to ABC where This Week with David Brinkley became a Sunday morning fixture.  He died June 11, 2003 at age 82.


In 1944...a radio show of international intrigue The Man Called X, starring Herbert Marshall, debuted on CBS radio.  It would be a listening favorite on the Tiffany Network & NBC for the next 8 years.


In 1950…After 15 years as a radio favorite, "Your Hit Parade" started a nine-year run on television – the first eight years on NBC, the last year on CBS – while continuing on radio until 1955.

   
                    
In 1954…Radio station WINS in New York City hired disc jockey Alan Freed from WJW in Cleveland, where he had helped popularize, if not invent, the term "rock 'n' roll." 


In  1962…Telstar 1 launched. Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. 

The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. 

Telstar 1 was launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the first television pictures, telephone calls, fax images and provided the first live transatlantic television feed. Telstar 2 was launched May 7, 1963. 

Telstar 1 and 2, though no longer functional, are still in orbit as of October 2013.




In 1965...the Rolling Stones got their first Number One U.S. hit with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."


In 1989...cartoon voice Mel Blanc, who started in Portland radio, had his own network radio sitcom in the 40’s, provided the voices for Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, and did characters on Jack Benny’s radio & TV shows for years, succumbed to his heart disease and severe emphysema at age 81.

Blanc began his radio career at the age of 19 when in 1927, he debuted as a voice actor on the KGW program The Hoot Owls, where his ability to provide voices for multiple characters first attracted attention. He moved to Los Angeles in 1932, where he met Estelle Rosenbaum (1909 - 2003), whom he married a year later, before returning to Portland. He moved to KEX in 1933 to produce and co-host his Cobweb And Nuts show with his wife Estelle, which debuted on June 15.

With his wife's encouragement, Blanc returned to Los Angeles and joined Warner Bros.-owned KFWB in Hollywood, in 1935. He joined The Johnny Murray Show, but the following year switched to CBS Radio and The Joe Penner Show.

Blanc was a regular on the NBC Red Network show The Jack Benny Program in various roles, including voicing Benny's Maxwell automobile (in desperate need of a tune-up), violin teacher Professor LeBlanc, Polly the Parrot, Benny's pet polar bear Carmichael, the tormented department store clerk, and the train announcer.

By 1946, Blanc appeared on over 15 radio programs in supporting roles. His success on The Jack Benny Program led to his own radio show on the CBS Radio Network, The Mel Blanc Show, which ran from September 3, 1946, to June 24, 1947. Blanc played himself as the hapless owner of a fix-it shop, as well as his young cousin Zookie.




Blanc also appeared on such other national radio programs as The Abbott and Costello Show, the Happy Postman on Burns and Allen, and as August Moon on Point Sublime. During World War II, he appeared as Private Sad Sack on various radio shows, most notably G.I. Journal. Blanc recorded a song titled "Big Bear Lake".

CBS Radio Files Initial Public Offering


CBS Radio Inc., a division of CBS Corp., filed for an initial public offering as one of the nation’s oldest broadcasters prepares to leave the shrinking AM/FM radio business.

Andre Fernandez
According to Bloomberg, the company filed for an initial offering of $100 million, a placeholder amount that’s used to calculate fees and will probably change. CBS Radio plans to take on debt before the stock sale to give to its parent , the Friday filing shows, as well as distribute some of the IPO proceeds to CBS. The rest will fund general corporate purposes and cash needs. CBS Radio didn’t name any underwriters in the filing.

A buyer could emerge before a stock offering is completed. CBS said in March it was considering putting a for-sale sign on the business and was weighing multiple options. Andre Fernandez, president of CBS Radio, told employees in a memo Friday the company is still considering possible courses.

“An initial public offering of CBS Radio stock has been and continues to be our primary focus as a step towards separating CBS Radio from CBS Corp.,” Fernandez wrote. “That said, we are continuing to consider other paths to find what we believe will be the best option for unlocking the value of our radio assets for CBS shareholders.”

CBS Corp. owns radio stations dating back to the inception of Columbia Broadcasting System in 1927. While the most-watched TV network has been exploring strategic options for the division, including a sale, analysts anticipated the company would spin off the business as it did with outdoor advertising.

By spinning off radio, CBS is reducing its dependence on advertising sales. CBS has said it will increase sales by extracting retransmission fees from pay-TV operators and selling video services over the Internet.

CBS Radio posted a net loss of $136.5 million on revenue of $1.2 billion last year, after writing down the value of licenses. Both metrics declined from 2014, when revenue was $1.3 billion and the company saw net income of $176.5 million. Overall radio advertising sales declined 1 percent to $17.4 billion last year even as digital radio sales grew 5 percent, according to the Radio Advertising Bureau.

CBS Radio, which may be worth about $2.9 billion according to Bloomberg Intelligence estimates, operates 117 radio stations in 26 U.S. markets.

John Malone: Viacom Is Undervalued

Viacom Inc. is undervalued because of the turmoil over the battle for control of the company, said billionaire John Malone, who’s been piling up media acquisitions.

“They’ve got some great assets and, right at the moment because of the turmoil, they’re substantially undervalued,” Malone, 75, said after arriving in Sun Valley, where Allen & Co. hosts an annual conference of media and technology moguls.

John Malone
According to Bloomberg, Malone is pursuing tie-ups in a challenging entertainment landscape marked by sluggish advertising sales and shrinking audiences. Last week, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. agreed to buy Malone’s Starz in deal valued at $4.4 billion. The billionaire said he wants to give Starz and Lions Gate “the opportunity to be bigger, more aggressive.”

Malone hold stakes in both companies, as well as Discovery Communications Inc., and analysts say he likely has several other targets in his sights, including AMC Networks Inc., Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. and Viacom, which could end up for sale depending on the outcome of a legal battle pitting Dauman against controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone, 93, and his daughter Shari.

“Sumner has been a long-term friend and sometimes partner and sometimes frenemy, and you hate to see the stress in a family situation,” Malone said. “I certainly hope it all works to everybody’s benefit. They’ve created some great assets over the years and are a very important part of our industry.”

D/FW Radio: Stations Go Wall-To-Wall With Coverage

Many Dallas radio stations, provided continuous coverage of the shootings that killed five Dallas police officers and injured seven after a Black Lives Matter march Thursday night.

The Star-Telegram reports Lori Conrad, communications director for Dallas’ CBS TV and radio stations, says that KRLD 1080 AM broadcast from the scene. Sports station KRLD 105.3 FM “The Fan,” like KRLD owned by CBS Radio, dropped regular programming to simulcast KRLD-AM from 10:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. N/T WBAP 820 AM was following the march during the 8 p.m.-midnight Chris Krok Show and had reporters on the scene, operations manager Tyler Cox says.

Slain Dallas Police Officers
“As soon as the shooting began, we moved into continuous wall-to-wall coverage, eliminating all commercials from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m.,” Cox said via email. The station immediately began a simulcast with KLIF 570 AM, like WBAP owned by Cumulus Media.

“Our crew stayed on the story all night, and as of noon [Friday] most were still at it,” Cox says. The station also provided updates to Cumulus’ Dallas country stations KSCS 96.3 FM and KPLX 99.5 FM “The Wolf,” as well as to sports-talk KTCK 1310 AM/96.7 FM “The Ticket,” whose hosts also talked about the shootings.

George “Geo” Cook, director of operations for Service Broadcasting, which owns hip-hop/R&B station K104 and R&B station KRNB, told AllAccess that members of the K104 Street Team witnessed the chaos.

“We are glad for their safety,” Cook told the website. “Our prayers and deepest condolences go out the families of the officers who were killed or injured while putting themselves in harm’s way to protect our citizens.”

Russ Martin, host of the afternoon Russ Martin Show on KEGL 97.1 FM “The Eagle,” founded the RMS Listeners Foundation to support the families of police officers and firefighters who have fallen in the line of duty.

Morning shows on music-radio stations also talked about the shooting. KLUV 98.7 FM’s Jody Dean and the Morning Team had comedian and Office star Craig Robinson, who is appearing at the Addison Improv this weekend, in the studio for an interview, and Robinson talked about being scheduled to perform a day after the shootings.

“It’s delicate, but people are coming to the show to be relieved and to be healed, and that’s what I’m bringing,” Robinson said.

Media Scrambled To Cover Shootings

Media Gather At Dallas City Hall

TV-news organizations scrambled to cover a horrifying series of shootings Thursday night in Dallas in which five police officers were killed and others wounded, setting a nation witnessing a series of escalating incidents of gun violence further on edge.

Variety reports, Fox News, CNN , CBSN and MSNBC began covering the events Thursday evening and overnight, while the broadcast networks began coverage in earnest in the wee hours of the night, with CBS anchor Scott Pelley already in Dallas Friday morning.


Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, who hosts a 9 p.m. show, was among the first to bring the Dallas events to national television, presenting coverage that she explicitly told viewers was hard to describe with definition.

CNN’s Don Lemon began covering the events early in the 10 p.m. hour.

TIMELINE OF MEDIA COVERAGE: Click Here

MSNBC and NBC News brought Brian Williams on to the cable network at 12:35 a.m. to anchor coverage; Williams would subsequently lead a special report on NBC at 1 a.m. NBC offered its MSNBC coverage as a simulcast for local stations overnight.

Elaine Quijano led coverage for the CBSN live stream late Thursday evening, while Shepard Smith anchored for Fox News between 11 p.m. and 1 am., after Megyn Kelly led another hour, pre-empting the regularly scheduled “Hannity.”

Report: Dallas Morning News Website Crashed

Amid an unfolding crisis, Dallas’s largest news source faced a crisis of its own.

An hour or so after shots were heard Thursday night in downtown Dallas, the Dallas Morning News’s website crashed. That left thousands of readers from around the world unable to access its coverage of the shooting that killed five police officers and left seven more people injured, reports The Washington Post.

What’s more, the shooting unfolded just a few blocks from the News’s downtown offices, leading to a lockdown of the building. At one point, police feared that one of the gunmen had holed up in a hotel next door to the paper. For a time, Mike Wilson, the News’s editor, was unable to reenter his own workplace.

At 9:06 p.m. Central Time, the paper said on Twitter that its news site was “slow loading.” The apparent problem: So many people tried to access the site that its servers were “overwhelmed,” Wilson said in an interview Friday morning.


Via Twitter, the paper redirected readers to a “beta” site, one that the paper had intended to unveil Friday under less chaotic circumstances . The site, a redesigned version of the News’s existing site, carried some of the news that the paper’s staff was reporting.

However, readers who didn’t see the Twitter notification were repeatedly rebuffed in accessing the paper’s main site.

The newspaper deployed about 120 of its 270 journalists on the story, far more than any other local news organization, Wilson said. “I think it shows the great value of local journalism,” he said. “We do this at scale . . . Obviously, this was a seismic event for the city. You have to cover something like this with the kind of scale that we had.”



Columbus GA Radio: Davis Broadcasting Stops The Music

A group of community leaders met at Davis Broadcasting headquarters on Friday for a community conversation about violence plaguing the nation.

According to the Ledger-Enquirer, the broadcasting company, which owns five urban programmed stations in Columbus, stopped its regular programing from 5 to 6 p.m. for the call-in show, which included a panel discussion with law enforcement officials and other segments of the community.

Organizers said the conversation will continue July 15 with a public forum.

The “Stop the Music, Stop the Violence” discussion was moderated by Michael Soul, the station’s program director, and Janee Renee, an on-air personality at one of the radio stations. Panelists included Muscogee County Marshal Greg Countryman; Tonza Thomas, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Brother Student Minister Stephen Muhammad; the Rev. Walter Taylor of the Life Church of Columbus; Maj. Freddie Blackmon of the Columbus Police Department; and Cecilia Howard, a Muscogee County prosecutor. Mayor Teresa Tomlinson and the Rev. Johnny Flakes III called in for the discussion.

The program aired on HipHop WFXE 104.9 FM Foxie 105, Rhythmic Oldies WOKS 1340 AM, R&B WKZJ K92.7 FM , WIOL 95.7 ESPN FM  and WEAM Praise 100.7 FM.

Geniece Granville, the company’s business manager, said it was the first time the company had stopped playing music to discuss an issue. She said the decision was in response to recent police shootings in Baton Rouge, La., St. Paul, Minn., and Dallas, as well as recent shootings within the Columbus community.


“The purpose is to open up the phone lines to have a real conversation with the listeners and the citizens of Columbus, Georgia, to give them an outlet to express any of their feelings as to whether the things happening nationally are impacting them locally,” she said. “It’s a combination of the ongoing shootings and deaths that have occurred in Columbus with many of our younger people, and it involves the shooting deaths both in St. Paul, Baton Rouge, and now in Dallas.”

Callers expressed outrage at the recent shootings, both of black men and white police officers. They said they were saddened and frustrated by the events, and asked law enforcement what could be done to avoid such situations in Columbus.

Report: YouTube Top Music Source For Millennials

After a decade of decline, the U.S. music industry is expected to see a compound annual growth rate of 4% from 2016 through 2021, led by rising adoption of streaming services, according to a report from Cowen & Company.

Investors.com reports revenue from on-demand music services will double by 2021 and will rise from 18% of industry revenue this year to 40% by 2021, Cowen predicted.

U.S. music sales are predicted to rise nearly 25% from about $7 billion this year to $8.7 billion in 2021. On-demand streaming music is seen more than doubling, from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $3.5 billion in 2021, Cowen said.

Spotify is likely to remain the leading paid on-demand music service, but Apple Music, Pandora's upcoming on-demand offering and Amazon's upcoming stand-alone music service "could disrupt competitive dynamics," Cowen analyst John Blackledge said in the research report.

Spotify has 30 million global subscribers, followed by Apple's 15 million.



In the U.S., Spotify has an estimated 8 million paid users, compared with about 4 million for Apple Music, Cowen said.

Based on its monthly survey of 2,500 U.S. consumers, Cowen estimates that 12 million U.S. households pay for at least one music streaming service. The number of streaming music subscriptions is about 16 million when accounting for consumers who subscribe to multiple services.

Cowen forecasts 18 million paid on-demand streaming music subscribers in the U.S. in 2016, rising to about 31 million in 2021.

Cowen's May survey found that terrestrial radio is the top music listening platform. Some 74% of respondents listen to terrestrial radio, followed by YouTube (59%), Pandora ad-supported music (37%), Sirius XM (SIRI) satellite radio (22%) and Spotify ad-supported music (19%).

While YouTube trails terrestrial radio among all respondents, YouTube is the leading source of music for millennials, Cowen said.

July 9 Radio History


In 1879…Bell Telephone Company founded.


In 1933...Radio producer Dick Orkin was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Orkin was 16 when he began his radio career as a fill-in announcer at WKOK 1070 SunburyPA . After earning his BA in speech and theater from Franklin & Marshall College he attended the Yale School of Drama, then returned to Pennsylvania to become the news director at WLAN 1390 AN Lancaster in 1959. Later he joined thestaff of KYW/Cleveland.In 1967 Orkin moved to WCFL/Chicago and created Chickenman, which chronicled the exploits of a crime-fighting “white-winged warrior” and his secret identity as mildmannered shoe salesman Benton Harbor.

Chickenman’s 250-plus episodes have been syndicated around the world and can still be heard on Internet radio, making it the longest-running radio serial of all time. At WCFL Orkin also produced more than 300 episodes of another popular serial, The Secret Adventures of the Tooth Fairy.



Inspired by the commercial parodies on Stan Freberg and Bob & Ray’s radio shows, Orkin created the Famous Radio Ranch in 1973 to produce his own comedic radio spots. Stationed in California since ’78, the Radio Ranch, currently helmed by Orkin and his daughter Lisa, has produced hundreds of memorable ads for a variety of clients, ranging from Time magazine to First American Bank to the Gap, and garnered more than 200 awards in the process.

Dick Orkin was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2014. 


In 1952…John Tesh was born. Besides being a musician, Tesh also is host of his own syndicated radio show.


In 1955..."(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley and The Comets peaked at Number One on the pop singles chart and stayed there for eight weeks. It was the first rock 'n roll record to hit Number One on the Billboard charts.


In 1956…In Philadelphia, Dick Clark made his debut as host of "Bandstand" on WFIL-TV following the DUI arrest of the show's former host, Bob Horn. The program's name changed to "American Bandstand" when it became a network show on ABC in 1957. Clark relinquished his hosting duties in 1989 to 26-year-old David Hirsch, but the program was cancelled within a matter of months.



In 1960…77WABC-AM, New York introduced the WABC MusicChart


In 1972....Johnny Donovan starts at Muscradio 77 WABC.  

He grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, nicknamed "Sarge," after his father's rank in the United States Army during World War II. A radio enthusiast from an early age (with an amateur radio station K2KOQ in a corner of the basement), he became a DJ ("Large Sarge") on WHVW in nearby Hyde Park, after helping build the station. He went on to stations in Kingston (WBAZ) and Binghamton (WENE), New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey (WMID) before landing in New York City, first at WOR-FM, and finally at WABC.


Donovan stayed on at WABC as Production Director and staff announcer when WABC went to a talk format in 1982.

After Forty-four years of service at both MusicRadio and TalkRadio 77 WABC production guru Johnny Donovan  retired in May 2015. He continues as the voice of the Rush Limbaugh Show.



Eric Sevareid
In 1992…CBS newsman/commentator Eric Sevareid, one of "Murrow's Boys," the elite group of World War II correspondents hired by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow, died of stomach cancer at the age of 79.


In1992…First AM HD Radio transmission (on 1660 from Xetron, Cincinnati)


In 2004...longtime Cleveland deejay Bill Randle succumbed to cancer at age 81.  He had been instrumental in introducing Elvis Presley, along with the likes of Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Rosemary Clooney, Johnnie Ray, Sarah Vaughan and Fats Domino to the national music scene.

He was born William McKinley Randle Jr. in Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, he hosted a popular show on WJLB-AM radio (now WDTK) called The Interracial Goodwill Hour, featuring rhythm and blues music and hot jazz. As a pioneering disc jockey at radio station WERE in Cleveland, Ohio he helped change the face of American music. In the 1950s, Time Magazine called Bill Randle the top DJ in America. His popularity and huge listening audience allowed him to bolster the careers of a number of young musicians, including the Four Lads, Bobby Darin, and Fats Domino. Nicknamed "The Pied Piper of Cleveland", a 1955 musical documentary film was made about him titled The Pied Piper of Cleveland: A Day in the Life of a Famous Disc Jockey. The film includes a Cleveland concert at Brooklyn High School on October 20, 1955 featuring Pat Boone and Bill Haley & His Comets with Elvis Presley as the opening act. It is the first film footage of a Presley performance.

While working in Cleveland, Randle would travel back to Detroit for some radio programs. In the late 1950s, Randle would fly back and forth from Cleveland to New York where he produced radio shows in both markets (at WERE and WCBS-AM, respectively). He sat alongside other top DJs of the era including Carl Reese, Phil McLean and Howie Lund.

Many songs that Randle championed on-air ended up as commercial hits, the most successful of which was an edited 45 rpm single of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Battle Hymn of the Republic." That version, which Randle suggested to and arranged with Columbia Records (then owned by CBS and a sister property to WCBS-AM) was an unlikely hit in 1959; it ended up on the Billboard charts for 11 weeks and reached as high as #13 on Billboard's "Hot 100" that autumn.

Bill Randle - 1992
During the 1970s and 1980s, Randle resurfaced on several different Cleveland radio stations, even hosting a talk show on WBBG 1260-AM back in 1977. In the 1990s, Randle joined the airstaff of the now-defunct WRMR 850-AM, anchoring the "Big Show" on Sunday afternoons and an late-afternoon program.

Friday, July 8, 2016

Indy Radio: Kristi Lee Returns To The Bob &Tom Show


Westwood One’s popular radio comedy The Bob & Tom Show sees the return of longtime show member Kristi Lee. The show originates at iHeartMedia's WFBQ 94.7 Q95 FM.

Beginning July 11, Kristi Lee joins cast members Tom Griswold, Chick McGee, Donnie Baker, Scott Polanski, and an ensemble of comedy hosts and guests as the Show continues to entertain morning audiences across the country and worldwide on the American Forces Radio Network.

“It’s great to have Kristi back on the Show” said The Bob & Tom Show co-founder Tom Griswold. Kristi Lee noted "I am thrilled to be back on The Bob & Tom Show...even though I fully expect to be interrupted by the boys on a regular basis…again”.

Lee, whose real name Therea Ritz, departed the “The Bob & Tom Show” last December after 27 years on the program.  At the time, the 55-year-old Lee, known as the “news director” on the show, said she has “decided to pursue new opportunities in 2016.”

Her departure coincides with the retirement of Bob Kevoian, who signed off Dec. 17. Kevoian announced the retirement Nov. 5 when he and Griswold were inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, 32 years after starting the popular comedy show.

The drastic change in the show’s lineup came during a period when “The Bob & Tom Show” fell from its No. 1 spot among 18- to 34-year-old listeners in the 6 to 10 a.m. time slot, according to Nielsen Audio statistics.

The “Smiley Morning Show,” at WZPL 99.5 FM, was the new No. 1 show in that age group, according to The Indy Star.

“The Bob & Tom Show” retained its lead with listeners aged 25 to 34 during the first and second quarters of 2015, but by the third quarter, “Smiley” had caught up and the two shows were almost tied.


Lee had launched a podcast, “Kristi Lee Uninterrupted,” in her time away from the show. The podcast premiered in April and includes at least 20 episodes of interviews and news discussion. The podcast received 296 reviews on ITunes, 258 of which were five-star reviews.

“The Bob & Tom Show” has been on air at WFBQ-FM since March 7, 1983, and has been syndicated in more than 100 cities.


Lee has often described her role as that of a den mother, playing the straight role amid the typically immature and raunchy antics of the male cast members.

She helped make the program a national success and local ratings leader.  The show went into national syndication in 1995 and is carried on 130 stations nationwide It also won five Marconi Awards and generated more than 50 comedy albums over the years.

Nielsen Releases Day Three of PPM Data

Nielsen on Thursday 07/07/16 Released June 2016 PPM Data for the following markets:


    23  Portland OR

    24  Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill

    26  Pittsburgh

    27  San Antonio

    28  Sacramento


    29  Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo UT

    30  Cincinnati

    31  Las Vegas

    32  Cleveland

    33  Orlando

    34  Kansas City

    37  Columbus OH   

To view Topline numbers for subscribing Nielsen stations, Click Here

Campaigns Targeting Young Voters On Streaming Radio

Digital ad spending by campaigns is expected to soar to as much as $1 billion this year, from $159 million in 2012, says media consultant Borrell Associates. Pandora is a favorite for candidates and advocacy groups appealing to young minority voters, who, ratings service Nielsen says, spend more time than average getting news and entertainment on mobile devices, reports Bloomberg.

With about 80 million users, Pandora is the No. 1 U.S. radio-streaming service. It ranks No. 3 in average monthly minutes per visitor among young people, behind Facebook and Google, ComScore says. About a quarter of its listeners are Latino.

That increases Pandora’s value to campaigns. “Being able to target them on mobile devices that we know they’re spending a lot of time on, especially with audio ads, which we know are particularly effective, gives us a leg up,” says Tim Lim, a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, a Democratic ad agency. He declined to comment on clients, but Clinton’s campaign has used the company, according to campaign spending records.

Pandora says more than 100 campaigns ran ads on its streams in the first three months of the year. It’s already exceeded its 2014 political ad revenue, and ads aimed at black and Latino voters are up 500 percent. “It feels like we’re going to see a lot of things accelerate as we get closer to the convention,” says Sean Duggan, a vice president for advertising at Pandora.

A record 27.3 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in November, and half will be millennials, the Pew Research Center shows.

Read More Now

Viacom Stockholder: Dauman Out of Options

(Reuters) -- Mario Gabelli, Viacom Inc's second-largest holder of voting shares behind majority owner Sumner Redstone, believes that Chief Executive Philippe Dauman can do nothing to save his job because he cannot win his battle with the Redstone family over control of the media company.

His comments come as the legal battle over the 93-year-old Redstone's $40 billion media empire heats up. Some investors unhappy with the pace of improvement at Viacom hope that change at the top is imminent.

Mario Gabelli
Gabelli had shown more patience, saying as recently as May that Dauman had six months to turn the company around. But the billionaire investor's latest comments, to Reuters on Wednesday, mark the first time he has said the CEO is out of options.

"He has to leave," Gabelli said of Dauman in an interview. "It's a matter of when, not if."

Since the Redstones own 80 percent of the voting shares of Viacom and CBS through their privately owned National Amusements Inc, Gabelli said, Dauman is fighting a battle he is unlikely to win.

Dauman contends in a Massachusetts lawsuit that Redstone is being manipulated by his daughter, Shari Redstone, and through a Viacom spokesman said: "The truth about Mr. Redstone’s wishes remain very much in dispute.”

In the litigation, Dauman is contesting the removal of him and Viacom director George Abrams from the Sumner M Redstone National Amusements Inc Trust, which eventually will control the fate of Viacom and CBS Corp (CBS.N). The lawsuit says Redstone is incompetent and being manipulated by Shari Redstone.

A spokesman for Redstone declined to comment.

Viacom, which owns television networks Nickelodeon and Comedy Central - as well as film studio Paramount Pictures - has been struggling to improve its ratings as younger viewers watch more content online.

A spokesman for National Amusements said in a statement Thursday that with a more independent board and a new CEO, it believes Viacom would become "an entertainment powerhouse."

Philippe Dauman
"Viacom owns some of the best assets in the entertainment industry," the spokesman said.

Viacom's shares ended regular trading on Thursday up 4 percent. The stock is up 10 percent since Redstone removed Dauman from the trust in late May.

The judge in the Massachusetts case is expected to rule in the next few days on whether he will allow that case to proceed in his court or in California.

Redstone has also moved to oust Dauman and four other directors from the Viacom board. Viacom's lead independent director, Fred Salerno, has filed a lawsuit contesting that move in a Delaware court. Oral arguments on that case are scheduled to begin July 29.

Gabelli said he did not understand why the board and CEO would fight what he sees as their inevitable departures.

"Let's say I don't understand the dynamics that are occurring," he said. "She (Shari Redstone) has 80 percent of the vote and we have 10 percent." He declined to comment on what he would like to see happen to Viacom.

Even if Paramount's "Star Trek," movie does well in theaters when it comes out later this month, it will not matter for Dauman, Gabelli said.

"It's irrelevant," Gabelli said. "Either way he leaves."

Roger Ailes Dared To Deny Under Oath

Lawyers for former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carson fired back at Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in a new statement released Thursday morning.

Politico reports the lawyers, Nancy Erika Smith and Martin Hyman, pushed back on Ailes' statement on Wednesday evening responding to Carlson's sexual harassment lawsuit. Ailes called the suit "defamatory" and said it was filed in retaliation for ending her contract due to low ratings.

"Gretchen Carlson's allegations are false,” Ailes said in the Wednesday statement released through Fox News Channel. “This is a retaliatory suit for the network’s decision not to renew her contract, which was due to the fact that her disappointingly low ratings were dragging down the afternoon lineup."


According to Politico, the numbers cited by Carlson's lawyers in this case appear to be household ratings, not the total viewer or demo viewer numbers typically used by cable news channels. In the most recent quarter, the 2 p.m. hour in which Carlson hosted was Fox News' lowest rated dayside hour in that core adults 25-54 demo.

In June, “CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin” won more viewers in adults 25-54 than Fox News (CNN’s 190,000 to Fox’s 186,000). Carlson’s show did notch a 25% year-to-year gain compared to a 26% lift for Baldwin. Baldwin’s 2 p.m. hour almost beat Carlson’s in the demo for the second quarter as well, according to Nielsen.

Since Carlson’s departure last month, Fox News has filled “Real Story” with rotating hosts.

Carlson filed the lawsuit in New Jersey Superior court, alleging among other things, that Ailes had explicitly asked for a sexual relationship and that he had made other inappropriate comments to her over the past several years. The complaint included direct quotes, leading some to speculate as to whether the comments were on tape.

Video Shows Why Carlson Could Be Suing


Fox News has launched an internal review of the behavior of CEO Roger Ailes and "Fox & Friends" co-host Steve Doocy, after one of Fox News Channel's top anchors filed a lawsuit against Ailes, alleging wrongful termination and sexual harassment.

The news of the lawsuit came in a bombshell email sent to reporters on Wednesday morning by the law firm representing Gretchen Carlson, the host of “The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson” and former co-host of the morning show "Fox & Friends."

According to the lawyers at Smith Mullin P.C., who are representing Carlson, her contract was terminated on June 23.

"I have strived to empower women and girls throughout my entire career,” Carlson said in a statement. “Although this was a difficult step to take, I had to stand up for myself and speak out for all women and the next generation of women in the workplace. I am extremely proud of my accomplishments at Fox News and for keeping our loyal viewers engaged and informed on events and news topics of the day.”

A spokesperson for 21st Century Fox released the following statement Wednesday afternoon:
"The Company has seen the allegations against Mr. Ailes and Mr. Doocy. We take these matters seriously. While we have full confidence in Mr. Ailes and Mr. Doocy, who have served the company brilliantly for over two decades, we have commenced an internal review of the matter."

According to Politico, the complaint alleges that Carlson was fired from “Fox & Friends” in 2013 because she complained about co-host Steve Doocy’s actions. Ailes, the complaint alleges, mocked Carlson and told her to stop being offended “so God damned easy.” Though she was moved to host her own show in the afternoon hour, the complaint alleges that the move was a demotion and that Ailes “reduced her compensation and withheld network support and promotion for her show.”



Though the complaint was filed against Ailes, Doocy is also cited for alleged sexual harassment.

"Doocy engaged in a pattern and practice of severe and pervasive sexual harassment of Carlson, including, but no limited to, mocking her during commercial breaks, shunning her off air, refusing to engage with her on air, belittling her contributions to the show, and generally attempting to put her in her place by refusing to accept and treat her as an intelligent and insightful journalist rather than a blond (sic) female prop," the complaint alleges.

Study: 40 Percent Getting News Online


In 2016, Americans express a clear preference for getting their news on a screen – though which screen that is varies. According to Pew Research Center, TV remains the dominant screen, followed by digital. Still, TV news use is dramatically lower among younger adults, suggesting further shake-ups to come.

Pew Research Take-Aways:
  • As of early 2016, just two-in-ten U.S. adults often get news from print newspapers. This has fallen from 27% in 2013.
  • This decrease occurred across all age groups, though the age differences are still stark: Only 5% of 18- to 29-year-olds often get news from a print newspaper, whereas about half (48%) of those 65 and older do.
  • Compared with print, nearly twice as many adults (38%) often get news online, either from news websites/apps (28%), on social media (18%) or both. (81% of adults ever get news on these online platforms.)
  • Still, TV continues to be the most widely used news platform; 57% of U.S. adults often get TV-based news, either from local TV (46%), cable (31%), network (30%) or some combination of the three. This same pattern emerges when people are asked which platform they prefer – TV sits at the top, followed by the web, with radio and print trailing behind.

Within the digital realm, mobile news consumption is rising rapidly. The portion of Americans who ever get news on a mobile device has gone up from 54% in 2013 to 72% today.

Myrtle Beach Radio: Adam Dellinger Named WGTR PD

Adam Dellinger
iHeartMedia Myrtle Beach has announced the appointment of  Adam Dellinger as named Program Director. Dellinger for Country WGTR Gator 107.9 FM.  He has been interim PD for almost a year.

He'll continue to co-host for "The Gator Morning Show with James and Adam."

"I am very grateful for the opportunity to program Myrtle Beach's leading Country station, and I'm thankful that my Market President, Jimmy Feuger and Ron Roberts, Senior Vice President of Programming, would take a chance with me," said Dellinger.

"I look forward to everything the future holds for Gator 107.9 and our awesome staff in Myrtle Beach."

"Every now and then you get to work with someone who has good instincts -- something that's hard to teach or learn," added Roberts. "It'll be fun to watch him take Gator 107.9 to greater heights."

"Adam has more than a year of experience in programming Gator 107.9 and now we're thrilled to have him program the station full time," said Feuger. "He has a proven track record with us and he deserves this recognition."

WFTR 107.9 FM (20 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area
Previously, Dellinger co-hosted morning shows at Q104.1/Greensboro and Y100/San Antonio, TX.

NPR Unveils Programming Promotions

Steve Nelson
NPR announced several staff changes Thursday, including the addition of Steve Nelson as director of programming and N’Jeri Eaton in the new position of senior manager for program acquisition.

Israel “Izzi” Smith, now director of programming, is being promoted to a new position of senior director of promotion and audience development, the announcement said.

The changes will take effect Aug. 8.

“With these moves, we are investing in NPR’s ability to develop, test, and launch new shows and projects, connect with talent within and beyond public media, and expand the reach and rate of discovery of new and existing programming,” wrote Anya Grundmann, VP/Programming and audience development, in an email to NPR staff that was shared with Current.

N'Jeru Eaton
Nelson joins NPR from American Public Media, where he is director of on-demand programming and oversees programs including Dinner Party Download and The Splendid Table. Nelson also helped lead the launch of APM’s podcast network, Infinite Guest. He was previously program director for Minnesota Public Radio News and MPR’s The Current, and prior to that was part of the team that built Studio 360.

Izzi Smith
At NPR, Nelson will work with Grundmann on developing podcasts and “new anchor entertainment weekend programming,” Grundmann said.

Eaton joins NPR from the Independent Television Service, where she is content development and initiative manager. She has worked for ITVS for five years. At NPR, Eaton will work with Nelson and look “beyond public media for new ideas, talent, and collaborators,” according to the announcement. She will also field pitches for program ideas from outside contributors and work on creating a process for green-lighting new projects.

Smith has been NPR’s director of programming since 2012. In his new role, Smith “will build on his highly successful work leading both NPR’s Spark audience-building campaign on the radio and our podcast cross-promotion work, both of which have significantly driven up listening and engagement over the last year,” the announcement said. “Guided by data, Israel will develop and support new strategies to introduce audiences to NPR content on all platforms.”