In 1904...pioneering NBC radio announcer Ford Bond was born in Louisville, Kentucky.
For more than twenty years in the 1930s and ’40s, he was the announcer for soap operas (Backstage Wife, Stella Dallas, David Harum, Easy Aces, etc), the American Album of Familiar music and other shows, including the advertising voice for a product called Bab-O. He also was one of the NBC radio announcers of the 1934 World Series and the 1934 Baseball All-Star Game. Later he served as radio consultant on Thomas E. Dewey‘s 1948 campaign for president.
He died at St. Croix, Virgin Islands on August 15, 1962 at age 57. In 1928…RCA announced the creation of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum holding company, more commonly known as RKO, with David Sarnoff (general manager of RCA) as its chairman of the board.
In 1932...the "Fred Allen Show" premiered on radio. Allen's radio show (1932–1949) made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the Golden Age of American radio.
His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it was only part of his appeal; radio historian John Dunning (in On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio) wrote that Allen was radio's most admired comedian and most frequently censored.
A master ad libber, Allen often tangled with his network's executives (and often barbed them on the air over the battles), while developing routines whose style and substance influenced fellow comic talents, including Groucho Marx, Stan Freberg, Henry Morgan and Johnny Carson; his avowed fans also included President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and novelists William Faulkner, John Steinbeck and Herman Wouk (who began his career writing for Allen).
In 1940...Ellie Greenwich, songwriter with Jeff Barry on "Leader Of The Pack" by the Shangri-Las, "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes, "River Deep, Mountain High" for the Supremes & Four Tops and many others, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
Ellie Greenwich
Joining forces with legendary producer Phil Spector, a string of legendary hits were created, including: "Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "And Then He Kissed Me," "Chapel Of Love" and "River Deep, Mountain High." With Barry, this trend continued with number one smashes, such as "Hanky Panky," "Do Wah Diddy" and the epic "Leader Of The Pack," co-written with Shadow Morton.
Also, during these years, Greenwich reigned as one of New York's top demo/session singers and vocal arrangers, working with artists ranging from Dusty Springfield and Lesley Gore to Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra. One of her most exciting sessions was re-arranging the background vocals on Aretha Franklin's "Chain Of Fools" and working with Cissy Houston and the 'Sweet Inspirations.'
During one of her many demo sessions, Greenwich met and "discovered" Neil Diamond and went on to co-produce all his early hits such as "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman," doing background vocals as well.
She died of a heart attack in New York City August 26, 2009.
In 1963...Bob Dylan began to record "The Times They Are A-Changin'" at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City.
In 1971...The Hot 100..One of The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era "Maggie May" remained king on this day for Rod Stewart. It had to be a pretty good song to keep "Superstar" by the Carpenters away from #1. The Osmonds were singing about a "Yo-Yo" while Cher made her move (10-4) with "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves". Joan Baez, meanwhile, took a more serious tone with "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" at #5. The rest of the Top 10: Lee Michaels with his only hit "Do You Know What I Mean", Donny Osmond ventured off for a solo hit with his remake of the Steve Lawrence song "Go Away, Little Girl", the Stampeders' great song "Sweet City Woman" was at #8, Isaac Hayes moved from 50 to 9 (how's that for a hot song?) with "Theme From 'Shaft'" and Stevie Wonder's 27th career hit "If You Really Love Me" was at #10.
In 1972...WOR 98.7 FM becomes WXLO. (Now WEPN 98.7 FM/ESPN)
In 1976...The Hot 100..Although it was their 22nd hit and 11th Top 10, supergroup Chicago scored their first #1 on this date with "If You Leave Me Now". Rick Dees had to surrender with "Disco Duck". What a shame. Otherwise, a pretty dynamite Top 10 with Walter Murphy's "A Fifth Of Beethoven" still in the list after 22 weeks, the great Boz Scaggs song "Lowdown", Orleans with "Still The One" and Wild Cherry's former #1 "Play That Funky Music".
The rest of the Top 10: "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" by K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Hall & Oates were up with "She's Gone" and two great new entries--"Love So Right" from the Bee Gees, which moved from 16-9 and "Rock 'N Me" by Steve Miller.
In 2001...Apple introduces iPod.
Bill Mazer (undated)
In 2013…Longtime New York City Radio/TV sportcaster/program host (WNEW-TV, WNBC-AM, WOR-AM, WFAN-AM, WEVD-AM, WVOX-AM) "the Amazin'" Bill Mazer, who earlier in his career worked in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Buffalo, died at the age of 92.
Born Morris Mazer, he was raised in Brooklyn and a fan of the Dodgers, spent 60 years in broadcasting before he retired in 2009. After 16 years covering sports in Buffalo, N.Y., he returned to New York when he was hired by WNBC-AM in 1964 to host a groundbreaking sports talk show in the afternoon.
“The first call was a kid, and he said, ‘I just want to ask you one question,’” Mazer told New York Newsday in a 2011 interview. “I said, ‘OK, go ahead.’ He said, ‘Who’s better: Willie Mays or Mickey Mantle?’”
Mazer later worked for New York’s WFAN, the first full-time sports talk station, which debuted in 1987.
Mazer served as an analyst for NHL games on CBS and did commentary for the Knicks, Nets, Rangers and Islanders before he joined WNEW-TV in 1971 to anchor its nightly sports coverage. On Channel 5’s Sports Extra, he often teamed and argued with former New York Jets defensive back John Dockery.
(Reuters) -- AT&T Inc (T.N) has reached an agreement in principle to buy Time Warner Inc (TWX.N) for about $85 billion, sources said on Friday, paving the way for what would be the biggest deal in the world this year, giving the telecom company control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets.
The deal, which has been agreed on most terms and could be announced as early as Sunday, would be one of the largest in recent years in the sector as telecommunications companies look to combine content and distribution to capture customers replacing traditional pay-TV packages with more streamlined offerings and online delivery.
AT&T, which sells wireless phone and broadband services, has already made moves to turn itself into a media powerhouse, buying satellite TV provider DirecTV last year for $48.5 billion.
It also in 2014 entered a joint venture, Otter Media, with the Chernin Group to invest in media businesses, and has rolled out video streaming services.
AT&T will pay $110 per Time Warner share in cash and stock, or about $85 billion overall, sources told Reuters. It will need to line up financing to pay for the deal, since it only has $7.2 billion in cash on hand. This could put pressure on its credit rating as it already has $120 billion in net debt as of June 30, according to Moody's.
Time Warner's shares rose almost 8 percent in regular trading, and a further 3.4 percent after hours, to $92.50, giving it a market value of about $73 billion. AT&T closed down 3 percent at $37.49.
Time Warner is a major force in movies, TV and video games. Its assets include the HBO, CNN, TBS and TNT networks as well as the Warner Bros film studio, producer of the “Batman” and “Harry Potter” film franchises. The company also owns a 10 percent stake in video streaming site Hulu.
Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes rejected an $80 billion offer from Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) in 2014, but sources said on Friday that the former suitor had no plans to renew its bid.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple Inc (AAPL.O) approached Time Warner a few months ago about a possible merger.
Owning more content gives cable and telecom companies bargaining leverage with other content companies as customers demand smaller, hand-picked cable offerings or switch to watching online. And new mobile technology including next-generation 5G networks could make a content tie-up especially attractive for wireless providers.
"We think 5G mobile is coming, we think 5G mobile is an epic game-changer," Rich Tullo, director of research at Albert Fried & Company, said in a note, adding that mobile providers would be in position to disrupt traditional pay-TV services.
A previous Time Warner blockbuster deal, its 2000 merger with AOL, is now considered one of the most ill-advised corporate marriages on record.
Dallas-based AT&T and New York-based Time Warner declined to comment.
Cowen and Co analyst Doug Creutz questioned the strategy of buying content instead of licensing it.
"What does it get them that they can't get by licensing Time Warner content and at a much cheaper price than buying the whole company?" Creutz asked, noting it was unclear what savings could be gained "from stapling distribution and content together. It's been tried. It never works."
AT&T would likely be able to win U.S. antitrust approval for the deal, some experts said, but regulators likely would put conditions on approval, some experts said.
Andre Barlow, an antitrust lawyer at the law firm Doyle, Barlow and Mazard, said the government may worry about whether other cable and internet companies would continue to have access to Time Warner content like HBO and CNN.
The U.S. Justice Department "will look at it but they won't stop it," said Darren Bush, who teaches antitrust issues at the University of Houston. Bush predicted regulators as a matter of course would make a second request for information, meaning the review would last several months.
The media industry has been seen as ripe for consolidation, and several stocks rose on the news, including Netflix Inc (NFLX.O), which closed up about 3.4 percent, and Discovery Communications Inc (DISCA.O), which ended up 3.6 percent.
(Reuters) -- Hackers unleashed a complex attack on the internet through common devices like webcams and digital recorders and cut access to some of the world's best known websites on Friday, a stunning breach of global internet stability.
The attacks struck Twitter, Paypal, Spotify and other customers of an infrastructure company in New Hampshire called Dyn, which acts as a switchboard for internet traffic.
The attackers used hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices that had previously been infected with a malicious code that allowed them to cause outages that began in the Eastern United States and then spread to other parts of the country and Europe.
"The complexity of the attacks is what’s making it very challenging for us," said Dyn’s chief strategy officer, Kyle York. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said they were investigating.
The disruptions come at a time of unprecedented fears about the cyber threat in the United States, where hackers have breached political organizations and election agencies.
Friday's outages were intermittent and varied by geography. Users complained they could not reach dozens of internet destinations including Mashable, CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Yelp and some businesses hosted by Amazon.com Inc.
Dyn said attacks were coming from millions of internet addresses, making it one of the largest attacks ever seen. Security experts said it was an especially potent type of distributed denial-of-service attack, or DDoS, in which attackers flood the targets with so much junk traffic that they freeze up.
Dyn said that at least some of the malicious traffic was coming from connected devices, including webcams and digital video recorders, that had been infected with control software named Mirai. Security researchers have previously raised concerns that such connected devices, sometimes referred to as the Internet of Things, lack proper security.
The Mirai code was dumped on the internet about a month ago, and criminal groups are now charging to employ it in cyber attacks, said Allison Nixon, director of security research at Flashpoint, which was helping Dyn analyze the attack.
Dale Drew, chief security officer at communications provider Level 3, said that other networks of compromised machines were also used in Friday's attack, suggesting that the perpetrator had rented access to several so-called botnets.
The attackers took advantage of traffic-routing services such as those offered by Alphabet Inc's Google and Cisco Systems Inc's OpenDNS to make it difficult for Dyn to root out bad traffic without also interfering with legitimate inquiries, Drew said.
"Dyn can't simply block the (Internet Protocol) addresses they are seeing, because that would be blocking Google or OpenDNS," said Matthew Prince, CEO of security and content delivery firm CloudFlare. "These are nasty attacks, some of the hardest to protect against."
GOVERNMENT WARNED OF ATTACKS
Drew and Nixon both said that the makers of connected devices needed to do far more to make sure that the gadgets can be updated after security flaws are discovered.
Big businesses should also have multiple vendors for core services like routing internet traffic, and security experts said those Dyn customers with backup domain name service providers would have stayed reachable.
The Department of Homeland Security last week issued a warning about attacks from the Internet of Things, following the release of the code for Mirai.
Attacking a large domain name service provider like Dyn can create massive disruptions because such firms are responsible for forwarding large volumes of internet traffic.
Dyn said it had resolved one morning attack, which disrupted operations for about two hours, but disclosed a second a few hours later that was causing further disruptions. By Friday evening it was fighting a third.
Amazon's web services division, one of the world's biggest cloud computing companies, reported that the issue temporarily affected users in Western Europe. Twitter and some news sites could not be accessed by some users in London late on Friday evening.
PayPal Holdings Inc said that the outage prevented some customers in "certain regions" from making payments. It apologized for the inconvenience and said that its networks had not been hacked.
A month ago, security guru Bruce Schneier wrote that someone, probably a country, had been testing increasing levels of denial-of-service attacks against unnamed core internet infrastructure providers in what seemed like a test of capability.
Nixon said there was no reason to think a national government was behind Friday's assaults, but attacks carried out on a for-hire basis are famously difficult to attribute.
As the 2016 campaign draws to a close, it’s becoming plain that Austin’s Alex Jones — a right-wing broadcast personality and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire who until recently flew under the mainstream radar — might as well be the voice in Donald Trump’s head, according to mystatesman.com.
Trump might have heeded little of what he was told by a succession of campaign advisers, but, if you want to know what Trump is going to do or say tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, just tune into what Alex Jones is saying on the radio and online today.
“It is surreal to talk about issues here on air and then word for word hear Trump say it two days later,” Jones said in August. “It is amazing.”
Jones was still pinching himself this month, what with the Clinton campaign last Sunday releasing a new video — “This is Alex Jones” on “Donald Trump’s disturbing admiration for fringe InfoWars radio host Alex Jones” — and President Barack Obama days earlier at a rally in Greensboro, N.C., replying to Jones’ assertion that he and Hillary Clinton were both demons who, Jones said he had it on good authority, smelled like sulfur.
“Ain’t that something?” said the president, giving his hand a sniff.
“I have to tell you, it’s surreal to realize that Alex Jones, little ol’ me, is one of the main points of opposition against these monsters,” Jones said on a recent broadcast.
Hillary for Prison. That’s Alex Jones. Obama founded ISIS. That’s Jones. The election is rigged. Again from Jones. Hillary Clinton is at death’s doorstep. Jones. And only drugs keep her going. Jones. Bill Clinton as rapist and Hillary his enabling enforcer. Jones.
Jones boasts of his radio show now airs on more than 150 radio stations, his InfoWars website’s 40 million monthly page views and 6.5 million monthly unique visitors, his half-billion YouTube views, 5 million monthly video views and 1 million monthly podcast downloads.
“He is Rush Limbaugh on steroids,” said Roger Stone, the Trump confidant who brought Trump and Jones together, referring not just to Jones’ persona but to a multiplatform reach that now dwarfs his radio and cable rivals.
The two co-hosts of the WCAP 980 AM show "JMac and the Bear" abruptly quit this past Wednesday after the radio station's owner interrupted the conservative show during political talk.
According to The Lowell Sun, the hosts, John MacDonald and George Zaharoolis, quit the brokered show after station owner Sam Poulten, a Democrat, cut into a talk the duo was having with outspoken Republican activist Mary Burns about the U.S. presidential race.
WCAP 980 AM (5 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area
Sam Poulten
MacDonald called it "an unnecessary verbal attack," and told Poulten in a resignation notice that the owner's interruption was a violation of his and Zaharoolis' freedom of speech. MacDonald also quit his Thursday evening show, "The Pulse."
Poulten came on to the show after a Republican candidate for state representative called in. Poulten cited the station's policy of not having a candidate on the air within 30 days of an election in order to be fair to all candidates.
However, The Valley Patriot reported Poulten admitted that he didn’t want candidates on talk for free on shows 30 days prior to the election because he wanted them to pay money for the airtime. The Patriot story also stated station owner Sam Poulten is a member of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee, is campaigning for Hillary Clinton for president, and has a long history of harassing conservative on-air hosts, as well as manipulating airtime to prevent conservative discussions from taking place.
News Corp's The Wall Street Journal on Friday offered all of its news employees the option to take buyouts, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters.
"We are seeking a substantial number of employees to elect this benefit, but we reserve the right to reject a volunteer based on business considerations," wrote Gerard Baker, the newspaper's editor in chief.
A spokeswoman at Dow Jones declined to comment.
In an email to staff on Friday, the Journal’s editor in chief, Gerard Baker, said it is offering “enhanced” buyouts to all newsroom employees “to limit the number of involuntary layoffs.”
“I regret of course the need for such a move, and I appreciate deeply the dedication all of you continue to show through challenging times,” he said. “I’m confident this process is the right one to set us on the right footing for renewed growth in the years ahead.”
The Wall Street Journal reports the email to employees Friday didn’t specify how many employees the company hopes would take the offer. Staff have until the end of the month to request a buyout.
Earlier this week, Dow Jones & Co Chief Executive William Lewis announced a three-year plan to cut costs in response to a decline in print advertising. Dow Jones is the parent of The Wall Street Journal.
The goal of the review, dubbed WSJ2020, is to modernize the newsroom and improve its mobile and professional information business products, Lewis wrote in a memo Wednesday outlining the plans.
After nearly eight years of litigation, former CBS3 anchor Alycia Lane's lawsuit against the network and her former co-anchor has been settled out of court, according to philly.com.
Lane charged the network with negligence after her former co-anchor, Larry Mendte, hacked into her email and fed her personal details and photos to gossip columnists.
A spokesman for the First Judicial District issued a statement Friday saying: "As of yesterday, the court has been advised that the parties in this matter are working on finalizing a settlement, and the judge is awaiting a final status report from counsel. The terms of the settlement are confidential."
Mendte and Lane shared co-anchor duties at CBS3 for the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts until December 2007, when Lane was arrested after allegedly hitting a woman who turned out to be an undercover New York police officer whose car was blocking a cab occupied by Lane and some friends. CBS3 fired Lane in January 2008. The charges were dismissed and the case was expunged.
Mendte was fired by CBS3 in June of that year, after FBI agents searched his Chestnut Hill home and computer files, and eventually charged him with hacking Lane's emails.
The case effectively ruined the career of Mendte, who at the time was believed to be the second-highest-paid male anchor in Philadelphia after Jim Gardner. Lane went on to become a morning anchor on the NBC station in Los Angeles, where she now lives with her husband and two children. The station let her go in 2013.
Mendte, who is married to WPHT 1210 AM newscaster Dawn Stensland, has said the acts followed the end of a "flirtatious, unprofessional, and improper relationship" with Lane. In June 2015, Mendte was hired by iHeartMedia in Delaware, as the morning talk show anchor for WILM 1450 AM in Wilmington, Delaware and WDOV 1410 AM in Dover, Delaware. The Larry Mendte show is heard from 5:30 to 9 am in both markets.
The San Antonio Spurs announced this that Univision San Antonio’s radio station KXTN 107.5 FM Tejano and Proud will serve as the franchise’s new official Spanish-language radio station. As part of the partnership, Univision San Antonio has the rights to broadcast all Spurs games on KXTN, starting with the team’s 2016-17 NBA season opener on Oct. 25 against the Golden State Warriors at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.
KXTN 107.5 FM (98 Kw)
“Nothing says San Antonio better than your San Antonio Spurs and Univision’s KXTN 107.5 Tejano and Proud,” said Chris Morris, Vice President and General Manager for Univision Local Media, Inc. San Antonio. “These brands resonate within our community and are puro San Antonio. Our partnership with the Spurs will give our listeners access to the games and the team we know they love.”
Play-by-play broadcaster Paul Castro will continue to serve as the Spanish voice of the Spurs. Now in his 24th season with the Silver and Black, Castro has called seven NBA Finals series, including all six Spurs Finals appearances.
“We’re dedicated to providing our fans with the best experience and KXTN is the perfect partner to help deliver premium content to Spurs fans,” said Mike Kickirillo, Senior Director of Broadcasting for Spurs Sports & Entertainment. “Our partnership with KXTN will allow us to extend the reach of our Spanish radio broadcasts and better serve our passionate fans.”
Ware was inducted into both the San Antonio and Texas radio halls of fame.
His last broadcast gig was as a talk show host on KTSA 550 AM , the station he called home for most of his radio career.
He was one of the airwaves’ most outspoken conservatives — even raising the flagging spirits of Barbara Bush during a 1992 radio hookup with the then-first lady. National polls may not have favored a George Bush win over Bill Clinton that year, but Ware informed her that a KTSA straw poll was overwhelmingly pro-Bush, adding: “Yup, there’s no doubt in my mind that George is going to whip ‘Slick Willie.’”
Between his gigs on KTSA, Ware and Jud Ashmore helmed a rowdy morning program for a decade in the ’70s and ’80s on old country station KBUC. On the duo’s infamous “Ricci and Jud Show,” they regularly raised the blood pressure of local liberals and made headlines by picketing City Hall over hot-button issues.
Ware may have cemented his reputation in talk, but he got his start as a disc jockey. He was hired out of Austin by KTSA in the late ’50s. He, along with Bruce Hathaway, quickly became household names during the station’s rock ’n’ roll heyday of the ’60s.
Ware began his radio career in the mid 1950’s in Baytown, Texas. He married his high school sweetheart, Mimi (The Moot), in 1957, and they moved to Austin, Texas, where Ricci worked for LBJ at KTBC radio and television, reports WOAI-TV4.
While passing through Austin, radio legend Gordon McLendon heard Ricci on the radio, and hired him on the spot to come to KTSA in San Antonio, where Ricci became a household name … and one of the city’s most popular and well-known DJs during the 1960s.
In the early 1970s, Ricci moved to KBUC and formed the legendary team of Ricci and Jud. Their humor and political commentary made radio history. And if being on the air every day was not enough, at this time, Ricci was the owner of Pan American Speedway, and also a weatherman on KSAT television. His plate was full!
Ricci returned to KTSA in 1983, and introduced talk radio to the legendary top-40 station.
In 1891...radio actor Parker Fennelly was born in Maine.
He was a longtime member of Allen’s Alley on NBC’s Fred Allen Show, portraying Titus Moody with a strong “Down East” accent. He was much in demand for numerous radio series based in New York, and over a 20 year span played a countrified New Englander on Snow Village Sketches, which kept popping up on various networks.
He guested on numerous live early TV shows including Lux Video Theatre, Philco Television Playhouse and Studio One.
He died at age 96 on Jan. 22, 1988. In 1939...the first televised pro football game was telecast from Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York. NBC’s flagship, W2XBS, carried the action. Brooklyn beat Philadelphia, 23-14. NBC later changed those experimental call letters to WRCA, and even later, to WNBC. In 1956...Billboard announced that Elvis Presley had notched seventeen chart hits this year alone.
In 1961...Chubby Checker performed "The Twist" and "Let's Twist Again" on The Ed Sullivan Show. Both songs received renewed radio airplay despite already being hits and, amazingly, "The Twist" went all the way to #1 again, becoming the only song of the Rock Era to reach #1...twice.
In 1969…Paul McCartney issued an official press release through Apple stating that he was not, in fact, dead, as had been rumored. He then retired to his farm in Scotland where LIFE magazine tracked him down to prove he was still alive.
In 1977...The Hot 100..Debby Boone remained #1 with "You Light Up My Life", holding off Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better". Shaun Cassidy was up with his Eric Carmen remake "That's Rock 'N' Roll" and K.C. and the Sunshine Band dropped with "Keep It Comin' Love". Newcomer Heatwave was up to 5 with "Boogie Nights".
The rest of the Top 10: Foreigner and "Cold As Ice", the Commodores with "Brick House" at #7, Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", the former #1 for Meco--"Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" and Johnny Rivers landed in the Top 10 for the first time in five years with his final Top 10--"Swayin' to the Music".
In 1977...The Album Charts..Rumours by Fleetwood Mac was in uncharted territory. It had spent 24 weeks at #1, six more than any other album in the Rock Era to that time. Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt was a solid #2 and Steely Dan was rocketing up from 26-3 with Aja. The debut of Foreigner moved up to #4.
The rest of the Top 10: Shaun Cassidy, Rita Coolidge at #6 with Anytime...Anywhere, the Rolling Stones debuted in the Top 10 with Love You Live, Elvis Presley's Moody Blue was #8, I Robot by the Alan Parsons Project and Livin' on the Fault Line from the Doobie Brothers at #10.
In 1986...NY Personality/Traffic Reporter Jane Dornacker was killed in a helicopter accident while working for WNBC 660 AM Radio in New York City (which became WFAN in 1988).
Dornacker was aboard during two unrelated crashes of the helicopters leased to WNBC. She survived the first crash, but was killed in the second crash into the Hudson River, which occurred as she was in the middle of a live traffic report.
Her death came shortly after that of her husband, Bob Knickerbocker, orphaning their 16-year-old daughter. The NTSB investigation determined the cause of the fatal crash to have been use of improper parts and poor maintenance on the part of Spectrum Helicopters of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
In 1992...Dodgers/Yankees Radio/TV sportscate Red Barber died.
Red Barber
At the age of 21, he hitchhiked from his home in Sanford, FL to Gainesville, FL and enrolled at the University of Florida, majoring in education. During his first year he worked at various jobs including part-time janitor at the University Club. There in January 1930 Barber got his start in broadcasting.
An agriculture professor had been scheduled to appear on WRUF, the university radio station, to read a scholarly paper over the air. When the professor's absence was discovered minutes before the broadcast was to begin, janitor Barber was called in as a substitute. Thus the future sportscaster's first gig was reading "Certain Aspects of Bovine Obstetrics".
After those few minutes in front of a microphone, Barber decided to switch careers. He became WRUF's director and chief announcer and covered Florida football games that autumn. Then he dropped out of school to focus on his radio work. After four more years at WRUF he landed a job broadcasting the Cincinnati Reds on WLW and WSAI when Powel Crosley, Jr., purchased the team in 1934.
On Opening Day 1934 (April 17), Barber attended his first major league game and broadcast its play-by-play, as the Reds lost to the Chicago Cubs 6–0. He called games from the stands of Cincinnati's renamed Crosley Field for the next five seasons.
Barber had been hired by Larry MacPhail, then president of the Reds. When MacPhail moved on to be president of the Dodgers for the 1939 season, he took the play-by-play man along. In Brooklyn, Barber became an institution, widely admired for his folksy style. He was also appreciated by people concerned about Brooklyn's reputation as a land of "dees" and "dems".
In 1939 Barber broadcast the first major-league game on television, on experimental NBC station W2XBS. In 1946 he added to his Brooklyn duties a job as sports director of the CBS Radio Network, succeeding Ted Husing and continuing through 1955. There his greatest contribution was to conceive and host the CBS Football Roundup, which switched listeners back and forth between broadcasts of different regional college games each week.
For most of Barber's run with the Dodgers, the team was broadcast over radio station WMGM (later WHN) at 1050 on the AM dial.
Prior to the 1953 World Series, Barber was selected by Gillette, which sponsored the Series broadcasts, to call the games on NBC Radio Network along with Mel Allen. Barber wanted a larger fee than was offered by Gillette, however, and when Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley refused to back him, Barber declined to work the Series and Vin Scully partnered with Allen on the telecasts instead. As Barber later related in his 1968 autobiography, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat, it was O'Malley's lack of support that led to his resigning from the Dodgers later that October.
Soon afterward the crosstown Yankees hired Barber. In 1955 he took his long-running television program Red Barber's Corner from CBS to NBC. It ran from 1949 until 1958.
Under the ownership of CBS in 1966, the Yankees finished tenth and last, their first time at the bottom of the standings since 1912 and after more than 40 years of dominating the American League. On September 22, paid attendance of 413 was announced at the 65,000-seat Yankee Stadium.
Barber asked the TV cameras to pan the empty stands as he commented on the low attendance. Although denied the camera shots on orders from the Yankees' head of media relations, he said, "I don't know what the paid attendance is today, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium, and this crowd is the story, not the game." By a horrible stroke of luck, that game was the first for CBS executive Mike Burke as team president. A week later, Barber was invited to breakfast where Burke told him that his contract wouldn't be renewed.
After his dismissal by the Yankees in 1966, Barber retired from baseball broadcasting.
Taylor w/Chaka Kahn 1975
In 1999...WWRL/WRKS personality Sonny Taylor died.
His obituary in the NY Daily News notes millions of New Yorkers who remember the golden age of WWRL 1600 AM, when its playlist and personalities helped shape the whole direction of popular music, also will remember Sonny Taylor,
He programmed WWRL for four years, starting in 1975. Later, he programmed WRKS and he was a deejay at both WWRL and WNJR, where he started in 1966. "Like many radio people, Taylor got around: St. Louis, Chicago, Miami. He spent the '90s at WMMJ in Washington, where he was working until he died. "
In 2004...bass singer Bill Reed, original member of the Toronto-based singing group The Diamonds (The Stroll, Little Darlin’) died at age 68.
In 2009...Radio/TV personality Soupy Sales died.
Sales was born Milton Supman, got his nickname from his family. His older brothers had been nicknamed "Hambone" and "Chicken Bone." Milton was dubbed "Soup Bone," which was later shortened to "Soupy".
Sales enrolled in Marshall College in Huntington, WV where he earned a Master's Degree in Journalism. While at Marshall, he performed in nightclubs as a comedian, singer and dancer. After graduating, Sales began working as a scriptwriter and disc jockey at radio station WHTN (now WVHU) in Huntington. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1949, where he worked as a morning radio DJ and performed in nightclubs.
On January 1, 1965, miffed at having to work on the holiday, Sales ended his live TV broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me", Soupy instructed the children. "And I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!" He was then hit with a pie. Several days later, a chagrined Soupy announced that money (mostly Monopoly money was unexpectedly being received in the mail. He explained that he had been joking and announced that the contributions would be donated to charity.
Sales hosted a midday radio show on WNBC 660 AM in New York from March 1985 to March 1987. His program was between the drive time shifts of Don Imus (morning) and Howard Stern (afternoon), with whom Sales had an acrimonious relationship. An example of this was an incident involving Stern telling listeners that he was cutting the strings in Sales' in-studio piano at 4:05 p.m. on May 1, 1985. On December 21, 2007, Stern revealed this was a stunt staged for "theater of the mind" and to torture Sales; in truth, the piano was never harmed.
Sales' on-air crew included his producer, Ray D'Ariano, newscaster Judy DeAngelis (recently retired as AM Drive news anchor on 1010 WINS), and pianist Paul Dver, who was also Soupy's manager.
When Soupy's show was not renewed, his time slot would be taken over by D'ariano. Near the end of his contract, Sales lost his temper on the air, and began to speak very frankly about how he felt he had been treated poorly by the station, and how he felt betrayed that D'ariano would be taking over the show. The show went to break after a commercial - Sales was off the air, replaced without comment or explanation by program director Dale Parsons. Soupy would not return to the air.
UPDATE Noon 10/21/16: AT&T Inc is in advanced discussions to acquire media conglomerate Time Warner Inc, and a deal could come as early as this weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The talks have come together quickly and revolve around a cash-and-stock deal which would be one of the largest in the sector in recent years as telecom companies make a grab for media providers to acquire content, the Journal reported.
Time Warner shares jumped 11.4 percent to $92.40 in late Friday morning trading. AT&T shares were down 3.3 percent at $37.39.
(Reuters) -- Senior executives of telecommunications company AT&T Inc and media conglomerate Time Warner Inc have discussed various business strategies including a possible merger in recent weeks, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people it said were familiar with the matter.
A deal would be one of the largest in recent years in the sector as telecom companies make a land grab for media firms in order to get hold of valuable content.
Time Warner shares jumped 4.7 percent in regular trading and slightly extended gains after hours. AT&T shares slipped 1.8 percent.
Neither side has yet hired a financial adviser, Bloomberg said.
Time Warner is attractive because of its premium cable channel HBO, the CNN news network, film studio Warner Bros and other media assets.
AT&T, which sells wireless phone and broadband services, may be looking to emulate cable company Comcast Corp, which acquired NBCUniversal and DreamWorks Animation in a bid to become a massive force that controls how television shows and movies are made and how they are delivered to viewers.
Owning more content gives cable and telecom companies more leverage as customers demand smaller, hand-picked cable offerings or are cutting the cord altogether and watching online.
AT&T has already made moves to turn itself into a media powerhouse, buying satellite TV provider DIRECTV last year for $48.5 billion.
Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes has not been willing to sell in the past. The company rejected an $80 billion offer from Twenty-First Century Fox Inc in 2014.
While Bewkes, 64, was not open to a deal two years ago, the pace of consolidation in the media sector may urge him to reconsider, especially as two competitors, Viacom Inc and CBS Corp have been exploring a potential merger at the request of controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone.
Talk of a deal comes as another potential bidder, Verizon Communications Inc, is busy with its purchase of internet company Yahoo Inc, which has been set back by news of a massive hacking breach into Yahoo customers' email accounts.
Time Warner has a market value of about $65 billion. AT&T has a market value of about $238 billion.
Any merger of that size in a sensitive market would get a close look from regulators, analysts said, but that would not necessarily derail a deal.
"Whoever the next president's pick for the Federal Communications Commission is will have a significant say," said Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner.
Entner said Comcast's purchase of NBCUniversal set a precedent and there is "a strong argument to say the FCC should approve" a deal between AT&T and Time Warner.
Hyperpartisan political Facebook pages and websites are consistently feeding their millions of followers false or misleading information, according to an analysis by BuzzFeed News. The review of more than 1,000 posts from six large hyperpartisan Facebook pages selected from the right and from the left also found that the least accurate pages generated some of the highest numbers of shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook — far more than the three large mainstream political news pages analyzed for comparison.
The analysis of three hyperpartisan right-wing Facebook pages found that 38% of all posts were either a mixture of true and false or mostly false, compared to 19% of posts from three hyperpartisan left-wing pages that were either a mixture of true and false or mostly false. The right-wing pages are among the forces — perhaps as potent as the cable news shows that have gotten far more attention — that helped fuel the rise of Donald Trump.
These pages, with names such as Eagle Rising on the right and Occupy Democrats on the left, represent a new and powerful force in American politics and society.
The rapid growth of these pages combines with BuzzFeed News’ findings to suggest a troubling conclusion: The best way to attract and grow an audience for political content on the world’s biggest social network is to eschew factual reporting and instead play to partisan biases using false or misleading information that simply tells people what they want to hear. This approach has precursors in partisan print and television media, but has gained a new scale of distribution on Facebook. And while it isn’t a solely American phenomenon — the British Labour party found powerful support from a similar voice — these pages are central to understanding a profoundly polarized moment in American life.
(Reuters) -- The apparent lack of interest in Twitter Inc by potential suitors may force the social media company to consider a route anathema to aspiring tech startups: a major restructuring and cutting some its nearly 4,000 employees.
The popular but money-losing micro-blogging service spent aggressively on product development and marketing in recent years, betting that it could afford to post losses as long as it attracted new users.
But that growth stalled this year after it exceeded 300 million active monthly users, less than a fifth of Facebook Inc's users and below Facebook's Instagram.
Earlier this month, Twitter hired bankers to explore selling itself. Technology and media companies including Salesforce.com Inc, Walt Disney Co and Alphabet Inc's Google looked at the company but ultimately passed on buying it.
The aborted sales process - and the company's strategy as an independent company - will be back in the spotlight when Twitter reports earnings on Oct. 27. The company declined to comment.
"It’s going to take some bold moves here," said David Hsu, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, suggesting job cuts may be an option. "It takes a very lean staff to maintain the core Twitter as an advertising and messaging platform," Hsu said.
According to SunTrust analyst Robert Peck, Twitter could cut 10 percent of its workforce and save about $100 million a year.
Major layoffs, though, could hurt the company's image in San Francisco, where the competition for engineering talent is fierce.
The company may look first at cutting sales and marketing, an area in which it is spends more than twice as much as its rivals to earn each dollar of revenue.
"Twitter's cost structure was originally built to grow into a much larger user base," said Peck. "But with user growth stagnating, the company likely needs to reduce excess costs."
In the first six months of this year, Twitter's sales and marketing spending totaled $473 million, or about 40 percent of its revenue. By comparison, spending in that area accounted for 19 percent of revenue at Yahoo, 15 percent at Facebook, and 12 percent at Google-parent Alphabet, according to a Reuters analysis of quarterly financial reports.
Twitter also spends more, proportionately, than its peers on research and development. First-half spending on R&D accounted for $334 million, or 28 percent of revenue, compared to 24 percent at Facebook, 23 percent at Yahoo and 16 percent at Alphabet, according to a Reuters analysis.
Twitter could also reduce expenses by cutting products and moving some engineering positions to lower-cost overseas locations, analysts said.
It may also need to reform its stock-based compensation plans when it hires new employees. Twitter doled out $682 million in stock-based compensation last year, a large portion of its roughly $2 billion in annual revenue, which weighs on its profitability.
Private equity firms that examined a buyout of Twitter last year were turned off by the amount of equity-based compensation that would have to be paid out to employees in a deal, according to sources at the time.
If Twitter does not slash its costs, activist investors - who have aggressively pushed U.S. companies in recent years for better cash management, leadership changes and new strategies - may see Twitter as an appealing target.
"Carl Icahn - Twitter needs you," Bronte Capital's John Hempton, an investor known for short-selling, or betting against stocks, wrote in a blog post earlier this month, referring to the well-known activist investor. Twitter "should be fixed with extreme prejudice by a disinterested outsider before it is sold again to a strategic buyer," he added.
Companies often resist activist campaigns, and sometimes a proxy fight takes place, where the investor tries to replace board members with its own nominees.
On rare occasions, companies invite friendly activists to get involved before they become hostile. Last month, hard-drive maker Seagate Technology Plc invited ValueAct Capital in as an investor, selling a roughly 4 percent stake to the activist hedge fund. ValueAct received an observer board seat as part of the deal, but no voting power.
Twitter could also explore ways to bring in an outside strategic investor to assist in a turnaround. But finding the right company to invest in Twitter without it looking like a desperate move could be tricky, private equity executives said.
Whatever Twitter does, it needs to act fast. Former high-fliers Zynga Inc and Groupon Inc, which now trade at a fraction of their initial public offering prices, stand as startling evidence of how quickly an internet star can fade.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. presidential campaign tensions seeped into a high-profile charity dinner on Thursday as Donald Trump joked about sending Hillary Clinton to prison and she alluded to Trump’s statements about women by estimating how he might rate the Statue of Liberty's attractiveness a four, maybe a five.
The candidates shared the stage at a formal dinner in New York City named for the state's former governor, Alfred E. Smith, less than 24 hours after finishing their third and final presidential debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
The annual event, which raises money for needy children, typically offers presidential hopefuls a respite from the tension of the campaign trail. But Trump and Clinton opted to instead trade sharpened barbs that reflected the acrimony of the 2016 White House campaign.
Trump spoke first and set the room on edge with bitter jabs at his rival, with his label of Clinton as “corrupt” drawing boos.
"With all of the heated back and forth between my opponent and me at the debate last night, we have proven that we can actually be civil to each other," Trump said. "In fact just before taking the dais, Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she very civilly said, 'Pardon me.'"
"And I very politely replied, 'Let me talk to you about that after I get into office,'" said Trump, a Republican whose supporters chant "lock her up" at rallies.
Clinton, whose remarks elicited both polite applause and derision, riffed off Trump's derogatory remarks about women's appearances, such as joking in a 2002 radio interview that they become less attractive after age 35.
"Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four, maybe a five if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair," Clinton said of the New York City landmark.
"Come to think of it, you know what would be a good number for a woman? 45," Clinton said. The president elected on Nov. 8 will be the 45th in U.S. history.
Trump and Clinton sat just a seat apart on the dais, separated by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York. At the event’s conclusion, they shook hands – a gesture they avoided at Wednesday’s debate.
But the tone of both candidates’ remarks was a departure from the past, when political figures and presidential candidates have stuck to a largely self-deprecating and good-natured brand of humor.
At one point at the event, which raised $6 million for Catholic charities supporting children, Trump said Clinton was “pretending not to hate Catholics.”
Trump was referring to the apparently hacked personal emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, published by Wikileaks, which show Clinton staffers criticizing high-profile figures for embracing Catholicism as the most “politically acceptable” of socially conservative religions.
Alfred Smith IV, the evening's host, perhaps best reflected the tension in the room, and the campaign, in his introductory remarks: "This has been a campaign for the history books," he said. "It has also been a campaign for the psychiatry books."
(Reuters) -- More than 68 million people watched the final debate between White House contenders Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on TV on Wednesday, below the audience for their first encounter but potentially among the biggest ever recorded.
Nielsen data supplied on Thursday by Fox News, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter showed that about 38 million watched Wednesday night's debate on the four main U.S. networks, while more than 30 million tuned into cable TV channels.
The first Clinton-Trump face-off in September attracted a total TV audience of 84 million, the largest in the history of U.S. presidential debates.
Last week's second debate, which was broadcast opposite popular "Sunday Night Football," was seen by 66.5 million.
Final figures were likely to rise when data for smaller networks are included and totals are released by Nielsen later on Thursday.
The final numbers could put Wednesday's encounter in the top four most-watched U.S. presidential debates since Nielsen started collecting TV viewership figures for the encounters in 1976.
Nielsen data reflects only those who watched the debate on TV at home and did not include millions more who watched online, through social media or in bars and restaurants.
The third debate ahead of the Nov. 8 election was marked by Republican Trump's refusal to commit to accepting the outcome of the election if he loses to his Democratic rival, challenging a cornerstone of American democracy.
Wednesday's presidential election debate in Las Vegas was moderated for the first time by a journalist from Fox News, Chris Wallace. It brought in a leading 11.2 million audience for the Fox News cable channel, followed by broadcasters ABC and NBC with more than 10 million viewers each.
Courtesy of TVNewser
Second and third presidential debates have generally attracted smaller TV audiences because many voters have already made up their minds after a presidential campaign lasting more than a year.
CBS RADIO has signed Michael Martin to a multi-year contract renewal as the Company’s senior vice president of programming and music initiatives, and program director at San Francisco’s Top40 station KMVQ 99.7 NowFM, and Hot AC station KLLC 97.3 AliceFM. Martin also serves as CBS RADIO’s Top 40 format captain.
As the SVP of programming and music initiatives, Martin taps into his strong label and artist relationships to program live national events for CBS RADIO, including this Saturday’s “We Can Survive” concert featuring Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande, Charlie Puth, G-Eazy, Meghan Trainor, OneRepublic, and Pitbull. Martin also leads the efforts for CBS RADIO’s “Stars and Strings” (Nov. 9), “The Night Before” and “Sun.Pool.Fun” concerts that run throughout the year and in various cities across the U.S.
“Since the creation of this important position less than three years ago, Michael has reshaped and evolved the dynamic partnership between our stations, artists, labels and managers,” said Chris Oliviero, Executive Vice President, Programming, CBS RADIO. “His leadership, his relationships and his respected reputation has helped rewrite the playbook on how radio continues to create for fans many of the best and most memorable moments in music.”
Based in San Francisco, Martin is an instrumental member of the senior leadership team within the market, serving as the program director at KMVQ-FM and KLLC-FM. For both stations, Martin oversees the daily music line-up as well as local live events, including KMVQ’s December 3 “Triple Ho Show,” featuring Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and more. Finally, Martin also serves as CBS RADIO’s Top 40 format captain, advising all of the Company’s Top 40 stations on the hottest artists, albums and chart-topping songs of the genre.
“Michael is a true programming leader – a skillful music curator and content creator who keeps our listeners engaged, which in turn drives ratings and builds ad revenue,” said Doug Harvill, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, CBS RADIO San Francisco. “We’re incredibly lucky to have him.”
“I’m incredibly proud to be part of this amazing team with Chris Oliviero and Andre Fernandez at the helm,” said Martin. “Every day I get to do what I love and I get to do it with the best in the business. I’m excited about what's around the corner and am so glad I’m a part of it!”
Michael Barkann is out at SportsRadio WIP 94.1 FM amid changes to the station's midday and afternoon lineups, according to philly.com.
Former 97.5 The Fanatic host Joe DeCamara, who left the station just last week, is replacing Barkann, and will launch a new midday show alongside former Eagles fullback Jon Ritchie. Ritchie co-hosted a nationally syndicated late night radio show with comedian Artie Lang, and has been a color commentator on DirecTV’s Fantasy Zone Channel, part of the station's NFL Sunday Ticket.
Joe DeCamara
“WIP defines sports radio to me, and Philadelphia defines passion,” Ritchie said. “I’m foaming at the mouth because this is a gigantic opportunity to drop truth bombs on a savvy fan base who appreciates brutal honesty.”
The new afternoon show will launch on WIP on Monday.
Former Eagles linebacker Ike Reese, who has co-hosted the Mike & Ike Show with Barkann since 2011, will move to the afternoon slot vacated by the firing of Josh Innes starting on Monday. WIP hasn’t made a decision who will co-host afternoons alongside Reese, and says it plans to make an announcement in the coming weeks.
Ratings for the Mike & Ike Show have declined over the past year, and the show often tied or was beaten by the 97.5 The Fanatic duo of Rob Ellis and Harry Mayes.
Newspapers are suffering an accelerating drop in print advertising, a market that already was under stress, forcing some publishers to consider significant cost cuts and dramatic changes to their print and digital products.
According to The Wall Street Journal, global spending on newspaper print ads is expected to decline 8.7% to $52.6 billion in 2016, according to estimates from GroupM, the ad-buying firm owned by WPP PLC. That would be the biggest drop since the recession, when world-wide spending plummeted 13.7% in 2009.
That decline is hitting every major publisher, increasing pressure on them to boost digital-revenue streams even faster to make up for lost revenue and, in some cases, even reconsider the format of their print products and the types of content they publish.
Many newspapers have trimmed costs to cope with the worse-than-expected revenue decline.
During the past decade, marketers have fled newspapers for a variety of reasons, including declining circulation, aging readership and the need to fund their digital initiatives.
Other factors more recently have come into play, including the growing use of data and analytics in the media-planning process. Moreover, advertisers aggressively are pushing into online video, and marketers in sectors such as retail, financial services and telecommunications are reducing print spending.
SiriusXM will provide NBA fans with an extraordinary level of coverage for the 2016-17 NBA season, offering live play-by-play of every game from Opening Night through the NBA Finals, plus daily in-depth talk and analysis on SiriusXM NBA Radio.
The NBA begins its 71st season on Tuesday, October 25, with a tripleheader featuring the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers hosting the New York Knicks (8:00 pm ET), the Utah Jazz visiting the Portland Trailblazers (10:00 pm ET) and the Golden State Warriors hosting the San Antonio Spurs (10:30 pm ET). Channels for these and future games on SiriusXM can be found at www.siriusxm.com/nba.
NBA programming is available to SiriusXM subscribers nationwide. Those subscribers with the SiriusXM All Access plan get access on both satellite radios and on the SiriusXM app, including the ability to tune in to the official radio broadcasts of all 30 NBA teams.
In addition to live play-by-play, SiriusXM NBA Radio offers fans the most extensive and in-depth NBA coverage available on radio. The channel airs nationwide on satellite radios (XM channel 86, Sirius channel 207) and on the SiriusXM app and offers live game broadcasts and a daily schedule of NBA-focused news and talk.
The roster of hosts on SiriusXM NBA Radio includes current and former players and coaches, who take calls from NBA fans across the country and discuss the headline stories happening around the NBA.
Milwaukee Bucks guard and 17-year NBA veteran Jason Terry returns Thursday, November 3, to host a weekly show on the channel throughout the season. The Runway with Jason "The Jet" Terry will air every Thursday (7:00-8:00 pm ET/6:00-7:00 pm CT). Terry will take calls from listeners and share his perspective on the league as an active player and longtime veteran.
Former players and coaches on the roster also include Antonio Daniels, Antonio Davis, Brendan Haywood, Eddie Johnson, Tim Legler, Rick Mahorn, Sam Mitchell and Brian Scalabrine. They are joined on air by hosts Mark Boyle, Gerald Brown, Ric Bucher, Tom Byrne, Noah Coslov, Howie Cowart, Brian Geltzeiler, Jared Greenberg, Jonathan Hood, Frank Isola, Jason Jackson, Mitch Lawrence, Joel Meyers, Mark Morgan, Jeff Rickard and Justin Termine.
NBA fans can call in to discuss their teams and weigh in with their opinions on the issues of the day. The channel will also feature regular interviews with current players and coaches as well as NBA legends, on-location broadcasts from special events and more.
Anti-Semitism has been resurgent in Europe for years. But it has taken on a new dimension in the United States with the emergence of the Trump campaign, whose battle against political correctness has provided a kind of on-ramp for bigotry to enter the political mainstream.
The NY Times reports that during an investigation, the Anti-Defamation League found that 2.6 million anti-Semitic messages were posted on Twitter from August 2015 to July 2016. Of those, 19,253 were directed at journalists.
There was a significant uptick starting early this year, when the presidential campaign began to intensify, the organization said in its report, to be released on Wednesday. More than 800 journalists have been the subject of anti-Semitic attacks on Twitter, with 10 of them receiving 83 percent of the total attacks.
The words appearing most frequently in the Twitter biographies of the attackers were “Trump,” “nationalist,” “conservative” and “white.” Many of the owners of the 1,600 Twitter accounts were anonymous, though at least two are prominent white supremacists: Andrew Anglin, the founder of the website The Daily Stormer, and Lee Rogers of the Infostormer.
The report was careful not to suggest that the Trump campaign “supported or endorsed” the anti-Semitic attacks, but noted that many had been sent by his supporters.
But some of the targets said that by evoking hostility toward minorities, Mr. Trump’s campaign had inspired and emboldened white nationalists and others to engage in acts of digital aggression toward “others” — including Jews — and toward Jewish journalists in particular.
