August 27 Radio History

➦In 1910...James McCurdy sends first aircraft-to-ground wireless message.

➦In 1960…After almost 12½ years on the air, the series "Louisiana Hayride," known as "The Cradle of the Stars," presented its last performance on radio station KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Gracie Allen

➦In 1964...actress/comedienne Gracie Allen, co-star of radio & TV’s George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, died of a heart attack at age 69.

High Island as seen from Orchard Beach, Bronx County, NY

NY Times story

➦In 1967...An airplane knocked down transmitting tower on High Island, NY (Bronx County) shared by WCBS 880 AM and WNBC 660 AM (now WFAN).

The pilot died and a passenger died. The crash destroyed the antenna taking WCBS and WNBC off the air.  The mishap occured  just hours before WCBS was to have dropped its full-service format to go all news, challenging Westinghouse's two-year-old 1010 WINS format.

WCBS, WFAN Doghouse

The news format debuted instead on WCBS 101.1 FM, which had itself been readying a new "Young Sound" format. WNBC found a temporary home back in New Jersey, diplexing into the Lodi tower of rival WABC 770 AM, whose audio could be heard not so faintly behind WNBC's on 660 for a time.

WCBS accepted an offer from WLIB 1190 AM to use the site along the East River in Astoria, Queens that it had just abandoned in favor of a site in Lyndhurst, N.J. Within a few weeks, WCBS and WNBC were back on the air from High Island with a temporary tower; it would be the end of the year before both were back to 50 kilowatts from the current tower.

The taller of the towers is 548 ft. The shorter tower is 300 ft and was built in 2001 to replace the emergency tower erected in 1967.

Click Here for more details


➦In 2003...Jinx Falkenburg, personality on WEAF/WRCA/WNBC died.

Eugenia Lincoln "Jinx" Falkenburg was an actress, expert swimmer and tennis star, and one of the highest-paid and most ubiquitous cover-girl models in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s - one of the first supermodels. She married journalist and influential publicist Tex McCrary in 1945.

Known as "Tex and Jinx" to most American households, the glamorous couple pioneered and popularized the talk-show format, first on radio and then in the early days of television. They hosted a series of interview shows in the late 1940s and early 1950s that combined celebrity chit-chat with discussions of important topics of the day.

In 1941, Liebmann Brewery, the maker of Rheingold beer, decided it might sell a lot more of the brand if each year it bestowed on some attractive young woman the title Miss Rheingold. Miss Falkenburg was the first. It was a plum for any model, since, for starters, it put her name and face in every store in New York that sold beer.

Falkenburg first met John Reagan "Tex" McCrary when he came to photograph and interview her for a military publication after she opened in Hold On to Your Hats. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Air Forces. They were about to be engaged in 1942 but World War II intervened and, after a globe-trotting romance during the hostilities,  they married on June 15, 1945, in a civil ceremony conducted by New York Supreme Court Judge Ferdinand Pecora, famous for investigating the 1929 stock market crash and its aftermath.

During the war Falkenburg traveled extensively on USO tours entertaining troops. The most arduous was a 42,000 mile 80-stop series of shows in the rugged China-Burma-India theatre of operations. In 1945 she was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal for her contributions.

Backed by some of his well-connected friends like millionaire statesman Bernard Baruch, McCrary convinced David Sarnoff, the chairman of RCA which owned NBC, to give the couple a morning show on the network's New York radio station, WEAF. The show was called "Hi, Jinx" and first aired on April 22, 1946. Reviews ranged from "sprightly" to "rather intense discussions of foreign affairs."  In a cover story about the couple, Newsweek wrote: "A soft-spoken, calculating Texan, Tex McCrary, inched up to the microphone and drawled 'Hi, Jinx.' A voice with all the foam substance of a bubble bath answered, 'Hello Tex.'"  Over time they came to be known as "Mr. Brains and Mrs. Beauty."



The McCrary's radio show was broadcast five mornings a week on New York radio station WEAF, and became a hit with critics and the public for tackling controversial issues like the A-Bomb, the United Nations and venereal disease along with talk about theatre openings and New York nightlife.

McCrary wrote the scripts and taught Falkenburg the art of interviewing and the basics of broadcast journalism. Over time she was considered the better interviewer, eliciting candid responses, often from the show's more intellectual guests. Her technique was to ask questions until she understood the answer and so presumably, did all the housewives at home listening to her.



In January 1947, McCrary and Falkenburg had their first network TV show, Bristol-Myers Tele-Varieties, also known as Jinx and Tex at Home, broadcast Sunday nights on NBC. The program combined film and live interviews of celebrities in their residences. In May 1947, The Swift Home Service Club combined household tips with breezy interviews. Another radio show, Meet Tex and Jinx got such a big audience that in 1947 and 1948 it became a summer replacement for one of radio's most popular shows, Duffy's Tavern.

Falkenburg informally retired from broadcasting in 1958.

She died in 2003 at the age of 84

For her contributions to the television industry, Jinx Falkenburg has a star on the Hollywood Blvd. Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine St.



➦In 2016…Clinical psychologist/talk radio host Dr. Joy Browne died at the age of 71.

Her syndicated show was one of the longest-running call-in therapy shows in the United States.
Browne took a no-nonsense approach to callers, trying to zero in on a problem without getting caught up in a caller's long stories or digressions. Browne was also known for her "one-year rule", which states that people who have lost a spouse or long-time partner due to break-up, death, or divorce should wait at a minimum one year before resuming romantic relationships.

Browne's call-in therapy show was heard for two decades at WOR 710 AM in New York and was syndicated to other cities. She was released by WOR on December 20, 2012, after iHeartMedia bought the station and brought in its own network hosts.

Country Music Aims To Increase Streaming Fans

Next week, Sony Nashville chairman/CEO Randy Goodman and executive vp/COO Ken Robold will travel to Amazon's, Spotify's and Apple's US headquarters to tout their heavy fourth quarter release slate.  Also tops on the agenda: how to convert lagging country consumers to streaming, reports Billboard.

Though country music accounts for 11.5 percent of all albums and track equivalent albums sold in the United States for the first half of 2017, the genre comprises only 5.6 percent of all streams, according to Nielsen Music. On Nielsen's top streaming artist tally for 2016, which combined on-demand audio and video streaming, the highest ranking country artist was Luke Bryan at No. 35 with 894 million streams, compared with Drake, who topped the chart with 6.8 billion streams.

More recently, for the chart week ending Aug. 11, The Billboard 200's No. 1 album, rapper Kendrick Lamar's Damn, earned 46.6 million streams. Country singer Brett Eldredge's self-titled set, which debuted at No 2, garnered 8.8 million streams, according to Nielsen.

The urgency has increased as streaming becomes the dominant consumption method: In 2016 streaming totaled 51 percent of revenue, according to the RIAA, marking the first time streaming had surpassed combined digital and physical sales.

Country consumers have not kept pace with their pop and hip hop counterparts because they skew older and have traditionally been resistant to switch to new delivery systems, labels say.  "The 5.5 percent of the streaming market is up from 4 percent two years ago, but, man, we all anticipated those numbers to be bigger by now," says Universal Music Group Nashville Chairman/CEO Mike Dungan.

Among UMG Nashville's artists leading the streaming charge in addition to Bryan, are Sam Hunt, Keith Urban, and, despite the older demo, George Strait. "His streaming numbers are phenomenal. they knock your head back. I wish I knew why," Dungan says.

Read More Now

Paid-music streaming has become the largest revenue source for music, helping to stem a two-decade drop in sales. But country fans have been slower to log in. Even with growth of 83 percent last year, on-demand streaming generated just a fourth of country music consumption, 14 percentage points less than the industry average, according to Nielsen data.

According to Bloomberg, Amazon, along with competitors Spotify Ltd., Pandora Media Inc. and Apple Music, is trying to change that by planting a flag in Nashville, the home of country. The companies are tapping local industry veterans to run their operations there and build ties to labels and fans, which number about 107 million nationwide and span every age group, according to the Country Music Association.

At the organization’s CMA Fest, the four-day festival that takes over downtown Nashville in early June, the streaming services made their appeals to fans.

Read More Now

Truckers Tuning Into NPR

Trucker Finn Murphy

In July last year, long-haul truck driver Stephanie Klang got a rare speeding ticket because she was too engrossed listening to public radio.

“It’s okay, I only get a speeding ticket about once every 10 years,” she said. “… It was worth it for the story.”

According to Current, she told the state patrolman that yes, she knows listening to the radio is not a valid excuse, then proceeded to tell him all about the radio show that took her mind off her speed — an episode of BackStory about the history of taxes in the U.S. after the country had just broken away from England.

Klang has been a truck driver for 37 years, going through all 48 contiguous states, and she listens to public radio all the time. She said she used to have a small booklet listing all the public radio stations in the country, which she got as a gift for pledging support.

“I used that book until it absolutely fell apart, and I wish I’d ordered two of them now,” she said.

NPR's Terry Gross

After years of listening, she has memorized some local stations — for example, 90.1 in Dallas and 90.7 in St. Louis.

She’s not the only truck driver who listens to NPR — far from it, according to Finn Murphy, who has been a long-haul trucker for more than 30 years.

“Every single driver I’ve ever talked to listens to NPR,” said Murphy.

He recently published The Long Haul, a book about his experiences. “If I can, I’ll schedule my driving to catch Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” Murphy wrote. “ … I’ve got a little crush on Terry, actually. It’s probably because I’ve spent more time with her than anyone else in my life.”

Murphy writes that even if truckers “may not like the slant, if there is one,” they still listen to public radio. Aside from the content, according to Murphy, drivers like NPR for the continuity. They can keep listening to the same programs from state to state.

They also like NPR because they’re bored.  According to Murphy discussion on NPR "is still a whole lot more interesting than anything else you’re going to find on the radio,” Murphy said. “If you want to get excited and exercised and activated about different points of view from yours, that also makes the miles go by.”

Portland OR Radio:iHM Launches The New Alt 102.3

iHeartMedia/Portland has launched the new Alt 102.3 on FM translator K272EL via KKRZ-HD2, effective immediately.

The station will air an Alternative format with artists such as the Foo Fighters, twenty one pilots, Linkin Park, The Killers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day and Imagine Dragons. Alt 102.3 will also feature Premiere-syndicated "The Woody Show" in mornings, followed by Mackin (10am-3pm), Ben (3-7pm) and Mike Jones (7pm-12am). Plus, two-minute or less commercial breaks after 10am.

K272EL 102.3 FM (99 Watts)

"We're excited to be able to bring The Woody Show and the best in Alternative music to the fans in Portland," said Program Director Ben Marcotte.  "Portland has an avid Alternative Rock fan base and The Woody Show has built an incredibly compelling and entertaining brand that we can't wait to share with our listeners."

"Returning to Portland is a homecoming of sorts for me," shared Woody. "I was unceremoniously fired in 1997, but thanks to the folks at the new ALT 102.3, I now have the opportunity to return and reaffirm that decision."

Ohio Radio: Woof Boom Acquiring Five Lima Stations

Woof Boom Radio is forming a new entity that will do business in Lima as The Childers Media Group. “The similarities between Childers Media Group and Woof Boom Radio are remarkable,” stated Woof Boom President J Chapman. “We started Woof Boom with the belief that control of local radio needs to be returned to local communities, and that is what we are doing.”

Once the acquisition is completed later this year, Woof Boom Radio will own and operate 11 local radio stations throughout East Central Indiana and West Central Ohio.

The stations servicing West Central Ohio Area that form the heart of the new entity include:

• WEGE ( FM 104.9 ), Lima Ohio
• WWSR ( FM 93.1 ), Lima Ohio
• WFGF ( FM 92.1), Wapak/Cridersville Ohio
• WDOH ( FM 107.1 ), Delphos Ohio
• WCIT ( AM 940 ) , Lima Ohio
• 419 Sports.com
• CMG DIGITAL MARKETING

The acquisition of the five station group was announced today and is expected to close later this year, pending Federal Communications Commission approval. The new company will begin managing the stations September 1, 2017 under an LMA.

Matt Childers

Matt Childers, CMG President & WBR Lima Managing Partner stated: “I am very proud to have had the opportunity to serve the Lima community for the past twenty years. My passion has been working in radio, within our community, and working with our valued clients and listeners. I am extremely excited to continue leading our organization in partnership with J Chapman and the Woof Boom team. “

In March of 2013 Childers formed Childers Media Group. Today that organization is the largest locally owned media group serving the Lima area. “I had a vision of a local media company that was truly here to build up our community. It was only because of the support of the original CMG Partners that these stations have provided a locally owned voice and will continue to do so going forward, Childers remarked. “

Chapman remarking on Childers long term tenure in Lima commented, “I’ve known and worked with Matt for several years. We share very similar values and I have always admired the way he leads CMG. His passion for Lima, their customers, and the CMG employees is admirable and very similar to the manner in which we operate our stations. I look forward to growing these stations and our ability to serve Lima as a locally owned and managed radio group.”

Providence Radio: EFM To Acquire WBRU

Brown University's non-com WBRU 95.5 FM plans to file an application early next week to transfer its license to the Educational Media Foundation (EMF), WBRU spokesman Art Norwalk told Eyewitness News on Friday night. EMF is a California-based nonprofit that broadcasts Christian adult-contemporary music.

On its website, EMF describes its mission as to “create compelling media that inspires and encourages you to have a meaningful relationship with Christ.”

The news was first reported by the website RadioInsight, which said the alt-rock station will be turned into an affiliate of EMF’s “K-Love” network starting around Sept. 1. Norwalk said 95.5’s programming will continue on its website, WBRU.com.

K-Love alrerady currently airs on two stations in the region, Providence-licensed WTKL 104.7 FM and New Bedford-licensed WMAN 91.1 FM.

The change of hands comes just over a month after WBRU announced its signal was up for sale. WBRU’s general manager, Kishane Haththotuwegama, has cited decreasing revenue as one of the reasons for the sale.

WBRU 95.5 FM (26 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

WBRU has been broadcasting over the FM airwaves since 1966 and is currently owned by a nonprofit, Brown Broadcasting Service Inc. The station grossed $1.05 million in revenue in 2016, according to a document provided to prospective buyers.

Analysis: Ratings Performances For MLB Flagship Stations

Mike Kinosian, managing editor at Talkers, provides an interesting an analysis of of July 2017 PPM ratings providing an overview of Major League Baseball’s radio flagships.

More specifically, the following scoreboards are for each MLB team’s English-language, Nielsen Audio-subscribing key station.

According to Kinosian, key outlets of the two New York franchises (Mets and Yankees) appear in three PPM-rated markets (New York, Long Island, and Middlesex, NJ); the Angels’ flagship is listed in Los Angeles and Riverside; and key stations of the San Francisco and Oakland franchises (Giants and A’s) appear in San Francisco and San Jose.

In these instances, ratings information is limited to New York City for the flagships of the Mets (WOR) and Yankees (WFAN); the only ratings stats used for the Angels’ key station (KLAA) is from the Los Angeles report; while flagships for the two Bay Area teams – Giants (KNBR) and A’s (KGMZ) – have San Francisco ratings info only.

Full-week, Monday-Sunday, 6:00 am – 12:00 midnight (6+) is the ratings data cited here. It is not limited to a specific day-part.

The July 2017 ratings period covered June 22 – July 19.

Read More Now

Baltimore Radio: Former NFL Ravens Join Broadcast Team

The Baltimore Ravens and broadcast partners WIYY-FM 98 Rock and NewsRadio WBAL 1090 AM have announced that four former Baltimore Ravens players will team up with Gerry Sandusky and Stan White for the 2017 regular season.

Dennis Pitta, Todd Heap, Justin Forsett and Jarret Johnson will each join the broadcast team for four games of Baltimore Ravens Football. Each player will work a schedule of four games starting with Dennis Pitta when the Ravens open up the season at Cincinnati against the Bengals on September 10.

WIYY and WBAL President and General Manager Cary L. Pahigian said, "We are excited to expand our comprehensive Ravens radio coverage with the addition of these outstanding gentlemen. Dennis, Todd, Justin and Jarret will provide a unique perspective and insight. No doubt our broadcast team, led by Gerry Sandusky, is the NFL's very best."

"Todd, Jarret, Dennis and Justin are several all-time fan favorites," added Ravens President Dick Cass. "Much of our franchise's success was built on the terrific contributions they made-both on the field and in the Baltimore community. In addition to their special ability to connect with people, each provides a unique perspective and energy that will translate to the radio booth and complement Gerry and Stan well."

Big Brands Shun Straights, Whites In Advertisements

McDonald’s has run TV commercials that feature hardly any white faces

Some Advertisers in the U.K. are so worried about being accused of racism or homophobia they are shying away from using images of white people and straight couples.

According to The London Times, marketing departments are even putting diversity above relevance to their target audience to avoid accusations of bigotry, a survey of 500 companies has found.

A third of advertisers questioned said they had used fewer white models and heterosexual couples over the past year. More than a third of these said they were taking this approach to “prevent perceived discrimination”.

The findings are likely to trigger accusations of political correctness but show a marked change in attitudes in the advertising industry, which has until recently had a reputation for under-representing ethnic minorities.

Brands that have featured gay couples include Lloyds, which ran a “he said yes” campaign and Tiffany, the jeweller, which ran a “will you” gay proposal.

The study by Shutterstock Inc, which provides commercial images and music, found that almost half of marketing departments had increased their use of racially diverse images over the past year and a third increased their use of homosexual couples.

The overwhelming majority that used images of gay couples or “non-traditional” families admitted doing so even if it did not fit with their brand. Half said they were using fewer white people because they no longer represented “modern society”.

NYC Radio: WEPN To Host Fantasy Football Convention

On Sunday, Aug. 27, WEPN ESPN New York 98.7FM will host  its annual Fantasy Football Convention at 12 p.m. at Resorts World Casino in Queens, N.Y., where fans are welcome to attend the all-star panel discussion.

ESPN’s senior fantasy sports analyst, Matthew Berry, will headline the expert group which also features ESPN’s Stephania Bell and Mike Clay, plus 98.7FM’s Rick DiPietro, Chris Canty, Dave Rothenberg, Anita Adams and Alan Hahn. The group will offer coveted fantasy football advice to fans in attendance and create a mock draft for the upcoming NFL season.

Fans are invited bring their league draft on-site. Fans can purchase special draft tables  which are equipped with Wi-Fi, ESPN draft cheat sheets, a draft board and player stickers. Ticket purchasing can be on 987Fantasy.com. “I’ve been attending the ESPN New York 98.7FM Fantasy Football Convention for years and it has been great spending time with fans while also getting ready for the Fantasy Football Season. I look forward to being out there again on Sunday for this event which gets bigger and bigger every year,” said Berry.

Ryan Hurley, program director of ESPN 98.7 FM, added, “This is one of the biggest events that the station holds for fans every year. With all of the expert commentators we have under one roof this year, it is sure to be one of the best we have ever had.”

August 26 Radio History

➦In 1873...radio inventor Lee DeForest was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Lee DeForest circa 1914-22

His invention of the electron tube, specifically the triode, a three element vacuum tube, made possible radio broadcasting as we knew it in the first half of the 20th century. However, he was forced into selling the rights to his patent to American Telephone and Telegraph for $500,000; considered by most to be foolish of AT&T.

In the summer of 1915, DeForest  received an Experimental license for station 2XG, located at its Highbridge laboratory in New York City. In late 1916, de Forest renewed the entertainment broadcasts he had suspended in 1910, now using the superior capabilities of vacuum-tube equipment. 2XG's debut program aired on October 26, 1916, as part of an arrangement with the Columbia Gramophone record company to promote its recordings, which included "announcing the title and 'Columbia Gramophone Company' with each playing". Beginning November 1, the "Highbridge Station" offered a nightly schedule featuring the Columbia recordings.

DJ DeForest 1916

These broadcasts were also used to advertise "the products of the DeForest Radio Co., mostly the radio parts, with all the zeal of our catalogue and price list", until comments by Western Electric engineers caused de Forest enough embarrassment to make him decide to eliminate the direct advertising.  The station also made the first audio broadcast of election reports — in earlier elections, stations which broadcast results had used Morse code — providing news of the November 1916 Wilson-Hughes presidential election.  The New York American installed a private wire and bulletins were sent out every hour. About 2000 listeners heard The Star-Spangled Banner and other anthems, songs, and hymns.

With the entry of the United States into World War One on April 6, 1917, all civilian radio stations were ordered to shut down, so 2XG was silenced for the duration of the war.

Phil Baker

➦In 1896...comedian and radio host Phil Baker was born in Philadelphia.  He came out of vaudeville (where he teamed with Ben Bernie) to star in 1933 as a comedian and accordion player in his own NBC radio series The Armour Jester.  The show moved to CBS and became first The Gulf Headliner and later Honolulu Bound. In the 1940s for six years he was the host of the CBS radio quiz show Take It or Leave It, which later became The $64 Question.

He died Nov. 30 1963 at age 67.


➦In 1911...announcer Hal Gibney was born in Woodland Calif.  In 1939 he left KPO San Francisco to move to L.A. to become the official West Coast announcer for NBC. He is best known as the announcer for NBC radio’s The Six Shooter and ABC-TV’s The Mickey Mouse Club. He was also the announcer (with George Fenneman) for both the radio and the original NBC-TV versions of Dragnet.  Gibney died June 5, 1973 at age 63.

➦In 1926...WWRL NYC signed on.

Founded by radio enthusiast William Reuman, WWRL (for Woodside Radio Laboratory) began broadcasting at 12:00 a.m., Thursday, August 26, 1926 from a studio and transmitter in his home at 41-30 58th Street in Woodside, Queens, New York on a frequency of 1120 kHz. In 1927 the nascent Federal Radio Commission ordered the station to move to 1500 kHz. In its early days, the station served many ethnic communities, broadcasting programs in Italian, German, French, Hungarian, Slovak, and Czech, as well as English. Following implementation of the 1941 North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement the station again changed its frequency, this time to 1490 kHz, followed shortly thereafter by a move to the current 1600 kHz.

In 1951 the station's official licensed location was changed from Woodside, NY to New York, NY. In 1964 Reuman retired and sold the station to a group headed by Egmont Sonderling.

Gary Byrd

WWRL in the 1960s was an R & B radio station focusing on popular music aimed at the young black community. They played a blend of Motown, Stax and Memphis soul, and early James Brown-styled funk. In that era, disc jockeys, Carlton King Coleman, Douglas Jocko Henderson, Frankie Crocker,Herb Hamlett, Gary Byrd and Hank Spann were featured on the station. In the 1970s WWRL stressed Philadelphia soul and other 1970s soul artists. The station was owned during this period by Sonderling Broadcasting. In 1979 Sonderling merged with Viacom.

Viacom bought 106.7 WRVR (now WLTW) in 1980 and in 1981 donated WWRL to the United Negro College Fund. The Fund then sold the station to Unity Broadcasting later in 1981. The station planned to affiliate with a new sports talk radio network in 1982 but the network never got on the air. Also that year WWRL began playing Gospel music in the evenings as well as airing religious features, and expanded Gospel programming on Sundays. In Fall 1982 WWRL shifted to a full-time Gospel music format along with sermons from local black churches. WWRL stayed with this format until 1997.

Transmitter in Seacaucus, NJ.

In April 1997 they dropped Gospel programming except for Sunday. They flipped to playing R & B oldies from the 1960s to the 1980s. The format change was not successful. They added some talk shows by 1999. By 2001 they had evolved towards their current format. Although the station was recently able to increase daytime power to 25,000 watts (it is still 5,000 watts at night) -- after purchasing the frequencies of WLNG in Sag Harbor, New York, WQQW in Waterbury, Connecticut, and WERA in Plainfield, New Jersey. WWRL does not achieve any substantial ratings, and has not since their gospel days.

By 1999, WWRL began mixing in paid programming during the week. By 2001, the station evolved into a diversified station selling blocks of time to various interests. Their programming included gospel music and preaching on Sundays, some Caribbean Music, talk shows, infomercials, and other programs. In September 2006, WWRL became an affiliate of Air America, a liberal talk radio network.

Also, WWRL is owned by Access.1 Communications Corporation. Access.1 is a 24-hour African American owned and operated radio broadcasting company.  In December 2013, WWRL announced that programming will become All-Spanish on January 1, 2014.


➦In 1939…In New York City, the first televised major league baseball games, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, were shown on experimental channel W2XBS (which is now WNBC-TV) with Red Barber as the play-by-play announcer. Along with the 33,000 people in the ballpark, an estimated 3,000 people watched on TV.


➦In 1939...the radio program “Arch Oboler’s Plays” presented the NBC Symphony, for the first time, as the musical backdrop for the drama, “This Lonely Heart.”


➦In 1961...Chuck Dunaway does last show on 77 WABC.

Chuck Dunaway

While working at WKY, Oklahoma City, Dunaway's afternoon radio show scored a 72.9% audience share - a rating never previously achieved in the market - that brought WABC (AM)'s program director, Mike Joseph, to Oklahoma City to offer Dunaway the afternoon drive shift at New York City's number one station. Dunaway eventually became disillusioned with the station's broad play list and after a year and a half decided to return briefly to his old job at WKY in Oklahoma City.

Dunaway occupied the afternoon drive slot at every radio station he worked at during his 35 year career, including radio KILT-AM Houston, KLIF-AM Dallas, WKY Oklahoma City, WABC (AM) New York City and WIXY Cleveland.

He finished his career as the owner and operator of six FM and two AM radio stations in Joplin, Missouri.

Larry Keating

➦In 1963...actor/announcer Larry Keating succumbed to leukemia at age 67.  A staff announcer at NBC radio in the 1940′s, he was probably best recognized as the voice of ABC Radio’s This is the FBI for 12 years.   As a TV actor he was a regular on Burns & Allen and Mr. Ed.


➦In 1969…Elvis Presley released "Suspicious Minds," his 18th and last #1 single in the U.S.



➦In 1972...More FM stations are programming beautiful music than ever before. Some 20% of all FM stations program the format, up from 13.7% in 1970.

➦In 1972...WAPE 690 AM Jacksonville Lineup – Cleveland Wheeler, Larry Dixon, Tom Kennedy, Don Smith, Sean Conrad and John Moore.

Tom Donahue

➦In 1972...KMPX 106.9 FM San Francisco, the station the hippies listened to during the summer of love and beyond, was now programming big bands! After its fall from progressive prominence, following the now historic KMPX-FM strike that resulted in Tom Donahue and the majority of the staff departing to rival KSAN-FM – the station struggled for a number of years.

➦In 1972...Bruce Bradley is the new morning man at WHN 1050 AM New York, replacing Herb Oscar Anderson.


➦In 1980...announcer/narrator Knox Manning died at the age of 76. His most notable bigtime radio assignment was as commercial spokesman (for Bromo Quinine) on the 1939-46 run of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. But his main income came from narration assignments on almost 100 films in the 30′s 40′s and 50′s. After a career-threatening throat operation he ended up as news anchor for KDAY Radio, Santa Monica until retirement in 1961.

➦In 1997...Since federal rules on radio ownership were eased last year, more than 2,100 stations have changed hands in deals valued at more than $15 billion. This week – Dallas-based investment firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc agree to buy SFX Broadcasting for $2.1 billion – making them the industry leader.


➦In 2009…songwriter Ellie Greenwich (Be My Baby, Da Doo Ron Ron, Then He Kissed Me, Leader Of The Pack, Do Wah Diddy Diddy, Chapel Of Love, River Deep Mountain High) suffered a fatal heart attack while in the hospital being treated for pneumonia. She was aged 68.


➦In 2013…Journalist (St. Petersburg Times, International Herald Tribune) Bruce Dunning, a reporter for CBS News for 35 years until his retirement in 2005, died as the result of injuries from a fall at the age of 73.

Tampa Radio: Nielsen Asks Court To Toss Bubba's Claims

Nielsen has asked a federal court to toss Bubba “The Love Sponge” Clem’s sensational entrapment counterclaims against the ratings giant and order him to pay legal costs incurred by Nielsen in defending itself against the action. In a 16-page response to Clem’s countersuit, Nielsen uses the word “denies” 93 times to respond to Clem’s allegations that Nielsen and Cox Media Group conspired in a “sting operation” to entrap the host into engaging in ratings distortion.

According to InsideRadio, the gist of Clem’s March 22, 2017 countersuit is this: Nielsen selected Nicholas Tabachuk, the now infamous “cooperating panelist” in its $1 million lawsuit against the controversial personality, along with three other members of his household as panelists with the express goal of using Tabachuk to obtain evidence against Clem. The ratings distortion evidence was obtained by a third party, acting on behalf of Cox and Mike Calta, morning man at Cox talker “102.5 The Bone” WHPT. This was in the summer of 2015 when Clem’s morning show on Beasley’s WBRN Tampa competed directly with Calta and Cox.

In its response filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Nielsen denied these and scores of other allegations or said it doesn’t have sufficient knowledge or information to know whether they’re true. In the biggest headline from the filing, Nielsen admits it was Cox that first told Nielsen about Tabachuk’s alleged ratings distortion activity with Clem – after Tabachuk contacted Cox. Nielsen also acknowledges Cox then arranged a meeting between Tabachuk and Nielsen’s security team.

Morning Mouth photo

In a its original  complaint filed in the Tampa Federal Court on October 15, 2015 , Nielsen Audio claims a fan of the “Bubba The Love Sponge” show put Clem in touch with an individual whose household was participating in the survey, according to Courthouse News.

Through phone calls and text messages, the complaint says, Clem offered the individual up to $400 a month if the household changed its listening habits and the host saw a boost in ratings.

According to Nielsen, Clem paid at least a portion of this money. The lawsuit details Clem’s knowledge of the impropriety of his alleged actions. In one text, the radio host purportedly wrote, “U have to promise not to say a word … this could ruin me. B … thank u. again this will kill the bad guys.”

In another text, he allegedly warns the individual, “Please take it seriously. And don’t get lazy so we have them a long time. Don’t want to loose them. So please pay attention. U know I’ll take care of u.”

Nielsen alleges that when Clem did not immediately see results, he purchased radios for the panelist to help with the manipulation of the ratings. In another text, Clem allegedly admits another panelist contacted by him had the survey device taken away after Nielsen suspected wrongdoing.

Nielsen Audio maintains the firm caught the manipulated data in time not to influence any ratings, but the damage to its reputation continues. The company is seeking $1 million in damages on claims of fraud, tortuous interference with business relationships and violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Oath Survey: Presidential Fatigue Hits Gen Z Users

The common assumption is that anyone engaged in current events today is focused on U.S. politics, but the data provided by Oath (formerly Yanoo!) shows that it actually depends on your generation.

Gen Z is focused on a diverse array of issues and are largely isolated from the obsessive focus on national politics seen in other generations. Since they are the next generation to come online as voters (beginning in 2018 for the oldest Gen Zers), should we be concerned for the next election?

Oath News data on longitudinal trends across Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z show that while the November 8th presidential election drew people from all age groups on presidential topics, trends for Gen X and Millennial are also similar. Gen Z has the most diverse interest over time and was the only group with significant discussion in international politics and society related stories.

The US elections, Brexit, France's landmark presidential election, and the unfortunate terrorist attacks over the past year prompted us to dig deeper into our news platform, to see how these events may have impacted our communities. This analysis was conducted through a review of over 100 million comments, of which 3 million were analyzed to define the top 10 trending US hosted articles per month ranked by total comments.

Read More Now

Younger Adults Most Likely To Share Streaming Passwords

An Aug. 10-14 Morning Consult survey asked people if they currently subscribe or have access to streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, but it left out a significant demographic: those who share passwords to access that content — be it with friends, family or others.

A new round of polling, conducted Aug. 17-19, reveals that while most people (63 percent) do not share their streaming accounts, young people were much more likely to do so, with 56 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds saying they share their passwords.

The earlier survey showed that Netflix was the most popular streaming service, and that was also reflected in the new poll. Out of the 37 percent of the 2,200 adults who said they share at least one account, the vast majority (85 percent) said they shared a Netflix password. Coming in second was Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video, picked by 40 percent of those who said they shared passwords. YouTube TV (21 percent) was third.

Eighty-nine percent of all those surveyed in the new poll said they personally do not pirate movies, television shows or music. A plurality of adults (46 percent) also consider it theft, while 35 percent said it was not.

However, among the youngest respondents, a greater proportion said they did not see piracy as theft. Of those aged 18-29, 34 percent said they saw the pirating of music, movies or television shows to be stealing, while 44 percent said they do not consider it theft.

Ad Agencies: Clients Moving Ads Online

Giant ad agencies’ biggest clients are moving business online — siphoning profits away from the Mad men, report The NYPost.

Behemoths like WPP, which saw its stock plunge 11.5 percent on Wednesday after reporting an unexpected slowdown in ad spending, are overly dependent on large advertisers, Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson said in a report.

Indeed, on looking at the Top 200 US advertisers, Nathanson found they accounted for 64 percent of TV revenue last quarter.

Yet these same large advertisers — mostly dependent on traditional agencies — provided only 29 percent of Internet revenue.

The distinction is key to understanding why traditional advertising fell 4 percent last quarter — the worst decline in a non-Olympic quarter since the recession ended in 2009.

By comparison, digital advertising continued to hum with a growth rate of 23 percent.

Last quarter’s gain in online advertising made up 128 percent of the 8 percent gain recorded for all of US advertising, according to MoffettNathanson.

Spending on traditional media, meanwhile, is projected to fall 7 percent in all of 2017.

Boston Radio: Market Vet Josh Binswanger Returns To WBZ-AM

CBS Radio's NewsRadio WBZ 1030 AM announced Thursday that veteran television and radio anchor, Josh Binswanger, will be rejoining WBZ NewsRadio as a morning drive anchor beginning in early September 2017.

Alongside WBZ’s Deb Lawler, Binswanger will deliver the morning’s news stories, weekdays from 5 AM to 10 AM, on one of the most widely known and top rated all-news stations in the country.

Josh Binswanger

“This is a homecoming that’s a perfect fit for WBZ and for Josh,” said Peter Casey, WBZ Director of News & Programming, “He brings a wealth of local knowledge and national news experience, and needs no tutorial on how to pronounce Gloucester or Worcester.”

“I look forward to digging into the daily process of providing great journalism on the radio every day,” added Binswanger. “In an era of news anytime anywhere I’m thrilled to be able to be a part of that on WBZ.”

He began his career in broadcasting when he was 14 years old and never looked back. From 1990-1995 Josh was the host and a producer of WBZ’s Kid Company, a live weekly two-hour radio talk show for children ages 8-15. In 1993, Kid Company won a Peabody Award, one of the highest honors in broadcasting. In 1994, while continuing his work on Kid Company, Josh joined the News at Noon on WBZ-TV.

In 1995, Josh relocated to New York as an on-air host for FX. He then moved back to news as an Anchor and Reporter for Dow Jones Television in 1997. In 1998, he became the anchor of “Fox Morning News,” from the nation’s capital, where he conducted interviews with foreign heads of State, Cabinet Members, and members of Congress. Josh has filled-in as a co-anchor of ABC’s “World News Now”, as well as “The Early Show” on CBS in New York.

WBZ 1030 AM (50 Kw, DA)

During his career, Josh has received a number of honors and awards, including a Peabody Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award, two Telly Awards and an Action for Children’s Television Award. Josh is a strong advocate for education and children’s rights, and has worked with a number of groups including Boston Children’s Hospital, The National Educator Awards, The Rainforest Alliance, Habitat for Humanity, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, First Literacy, The Massachusetts Teacher of the Year Awards, The Boston Science Career Program, Deerfield Academy, The Boston Children’s Chorus and Reading is Fundamental.

Albuquerque Radio: KTEG Adds The Woody Morning Show

iHeartMedia’s KTEG 104.1 The Edge, Albuquerque’s Alternative, has announced the addition of The Woody Show to the station’s weekday morning lineup. Effective August 25, the top-rated morning show will air in the Monday through Friday, 5 to 10 a.m. MT timeslot.

Concurrently, morning personality Baxter will transition to the 2 to 6 p.m. MT timeslot.

The Woody Show is highly-interactive, socially-engaging appointment radio. Featuring Woody, along with co-hosts Ravey, Greg Gory, Menace and Sebas, The Woody Show is described by listeners as “authentic,” “raw,” “unapologetic,” and “recess/happy hour on the radio.” In 2016, the popular program was a NAB Marconi Radio Award finalist for “Major Market Personality of the Year,” and it was launched into national syndication by Premiere Networks in 2017. Fans can follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

“Thanks to everyone at iHeartMedia Albuquerque for making this happen,” shared Woody. “Even though it’s clear to us that someone lost a bet, we are very excited to join the team at The Edge.”

KTEG-FM is licensed to Santa Fe, NM.

KTEG 104.1 FM (100 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

“We are very excited to welcome The Woody Show to the Land of Enchantment!” added Chuck Hammond, iHeartMedia New Mexico Area President. “The tremendous amount of success he and his team have had in Los Angeles should translate very well in Albuquerque.”