➦In 1907...Dr. Lee DeForest patented the Audion tube. De Forest is generally thought of as the "Father of Radio". The Audion tube allowed amplification which made Radio transmission more practical for voice and music.
The Audion was the fastest electronic switching element of the time, and was later used in early digital electronics (such as computers). The triode was vital in the development of transcontinental telephone communications, radio, and radar until the 1948 invention of the transistor.
➦In 1927…Jack Benny married Sadye Marks. Five years later, Marks started playing Mary Livingstone, a character on Benny's radio show, and became so identified with the part that she legally changed her name to Mary Livingstone.
➦In 1939..."Honolulu Bound" first aired on the CBS Radio Network.
➦In 1949...The detective series "Yours Truly Johnny Dollar," starring Charles Russell, then Edmond O'Brien and later John Lund, began its 12-year run on CBS Radio. The show was revived as a nightly radio serial in 1955 with Bob Bailey as the lead actor and continued in various forms until 1962.
➦In 1955...disc jockey Alan Freed held his first Rock `n’ Roll Party stage show in New York. Acts included the Clovers, Fats Domino and the Drifters.
➦In 1957...actor Humphrey Bogart, the major Hollywood star who co-starred with his wife Lauren Bacall in the wildly successful syndicated radio show “Bold Venture,” succumbed to cancer of the esophagus at age 57.
➦In 1966...Singer David Jones changed his last name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees.
➦In 1973...Elvis Presley drew the largest single television audience ever for his "Aloha From Hawaii" concert, broadcast live via satellite from Honolulu's International Center Arena to more than one billion people in 40 countries. Viewers in North America didn't get to see the show live, or at all, until April 4 when it was aired by NBC-TV. The audio from the concert was released as a double-album later that year.
➦In 1981...The Federal Communications Commission freed U.S. broadcasting stations to air as many commercials per hour as they wish.
➦In 1985...Dan Ingram started at WKTU 92.3 FM in NYC. Station is now WBMP and is owned by CBS Radio.
➦In 2013...WFME 94.7 FM In the NYC market changed call letters to WRXP.
➦In 2016…Radio news veteran Al Hart, the morning news anchor at KCBS-San Francisco for 24 years until his retirement in 2000, died of corticobasal degeneration, a rare, progressive brain disease, at age 88.
The truth is, no job is ever going to be free from stress, says a new CareerCast report on the most and least stressful jobs of 2018. This year's least stressful job, Diagnostic Medical Sonographer, may not work in the public eye, face imminent risk of bodily harm to oneself or one's patient, and will not typically deal with high travel or workplace hazards.
"However, the least stressful job – Diagnostic Medical Sonographer – isn't merely conducting pregnancy ultrasounds," says Kyle Kensing, Online Content Editor, CareerCast.com. "Their days may include the task of cancer screenings, which can add stress to the job."
When searching for a profession with low stress, it's important to keep in mind the job's growth outlook. While Jeweler (#7) is a low-stress profession, it has a negative growth outlook of -3%. On the other hand, Operations Research Analyst, which comes in as the 9th least stressful job, has a +27% growth outlook.
Most Stressful Jobs
Enlisted Military Personnel, Firefighters, Airline Pilots and Police Officers – the four most stressful jobs of 2018 – commonly face risk of death or injury, physical demands, and other hazards every single day.
Reporter, Broadcaster and Public Relations Executive are professions with high public visibility. Nearly three-quarters of the American population is estimated to suffer from public speaking anxiety, so with that in mind, one could understand how these careers are high stress.
Add strict and regular deadlines – a pressing concern for those who work as Event Coordinators, as well as Broadcasters, Reporters, Public Relations Executives and Senior Corporate Executives – and the causes of stress are evident.
How much stress we feel can vary depending on the field and stressors can vary dramatically from job to job.
"While the nature of fears and stressors for the 10 most stressful jobs are different, they are common fears just the same," says Kensing. "For those who thrive on stress, one of our most stressful professions may be a good fit for you." CareerCast's Least Stressful Jobs of 2018
CareerCast's Most Stressful Jobs of 2018
To rank the most and least stressful careers from the 200 professions on the Jobs Rated report, CareerCast evaluated 11 stress factors: travel required; growth potential; deadlines; working in the public eye; competition in the field; physical demands; environmental conditions; hazards encountered on a regular basis; own life at risk; life of others at risk; and meeting or interacting with the public at large. The methodology can be found here.
Median Annual Salary and Projected Hiring Growth by 2026 are via the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Jackson spent some 50 years calling the action in a folksy, down-to-earth manner that made him one of the most popular play-by-play personalities in the business.
"Keith Jackson is a man of great character and a legendary broadcaster," George Bodenheimer, then the president of ESPN and ABC Sports, said when Jackson retired in 2006. "For decades, his unmistakable style defined college football for millions of fans."
Jackson got his start on the radio in 1952, broadcasting Washington State games, but went on to provide the national television soundtrack for the biggest games in the most storied stadiums. His colorful expressions -- "Whoa, Nellie," and "Big Uglies," among the many -- became part of the college football lexicon.
He was credited with nicknaming the Rose Bowl "The Granddaddy of Them All" and Michigan's stadium "The Big House."
Jackson began calling college football games for ABC Sports when it acquired the broadcast rights for NCAA football in 1966. He also worked NFL and NBA games, numerous World Series, 10 Olympics and auto racing. In addition, he traveled to 31 countries for "Wide World of Sports."
Jackson announced he would retire from college football play-by-play after the 1998 season but ended up continuing with ABC Sports. He walked away for good in May 2006, telling The New York Times he was finished "forever."
Jackson was born on Oct. 18, 1928, in Georgia near the Alabama state line. He spent four years in the Marine Corps before attending Washington State and graduating with a broadcast journalism degree. He worked at the ABC affiliate in Seattle, KOMO, for 10 years, including conducting the first live sports broadcast from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1958.
The National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association named him the National Sportscaster of the Year five times, among other honors.
Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp are not in active merger discussions, although controlling shareholder Shari Redstone has had exploratory conversations with CBS directors about recombining the companies, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday.
CBS and Viacom are both controlled by ailing Sumner Redstone, 94, and his daughter Shari, through their privately owned movie theater company, National Amusements Inc.
Sumner Redstone split Viacom and CBS into separate companies a decade ago. He and his daughter attempted to merge the two in 2016, but the effort failed.
Entertainment and media news website The Wrap on Friday reported that Shari Redstone was seeking to merge Viacom and CBS, sending Viacom shares up as much as 15 percent, to $35.55.
Viacom shares fell, but were still trading up 7 percent in after hours trading following reports that a merger was not being pursued.
Shari Redstone
According to The LATimes, Shari Redstone wants to recombine CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. to better fortify the two medium-sized media companies at a time when other entertainment companies are scrambling to bulk up.
Redstone, who serves as vice chair of both companies, has expressed her feelings to the leadership and boards of the two entities, according to the sources.
“Shari is determined to get them back together,” said one of the sources. “Everything else she could think of went nowhere.”
I was never a great proponent of the split of the two companies,” she said at a media conference in November 2016.
Earlier that fall, Redstone announced that she wanted the two companies to explore a merger and board-level exploration committees were formed. The stronger CBS began evaluating whether to acquire Viacom, but the talks fell apart in December 2016 over a valuation of Viacom, which has seen its stock fall more than 50% since early 2015.
Redstone also decided that she wanted to give Viacom Chief Executive Bob Bakish — who was appointed at the end of 2016 — a chance to turn around the company.
But much has changed in the last year. Key Viacom cable channels continue to struggle with ratings declines and accelerated cord cutting. Viacom generates its profit from cable TV channels, so the shrinking universe of pay-TV homes makes it more difficult to grow its business.
The FCC received complaints after NBC and CNN used the word “s—hole” in their coverage of the controversy over comments President Donald Trump reportedly made to lawmakers during a meeting about immigration.
According to Variety, an FCC spokesman said they received a “handful” of comments, but did not have an exact figure yet. The agency does not monitor programming, but reviews each complaint to decide whether to take any type of action.
CNN featured the term on its chyron, and it was also repeated on air multiple times. But the FCC’s jurisdiction over indecency and profanity does not cover cable and satellite programming.
The word was used once on “NBC Nightly News,” but anchor Lester Holt issued a viewer warning in advance. CBS and ABC chose not to use the word.
The FCC considers a number of factors in whether to act on a complaint, including “context,” and that in the past has included whether it has been a part of news programming. Broadcasters are confident that they would be exempt for using the term in the news context.
News organizations said they decided to use the word in print and on TV because of the news value and the person making the remarks, the president of the United States.
Trump appeared to deny using the term “s—hole countries” to refer to Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations. He said in a tweet on Friday that it was “not the language used.”
The agency does not sanction individuals, but stations that broadcast the profane or indecent content. The FCC can fine or sanction individual stations for obscenity, indecency, or profanity. A station can be fined up to $383,038 for any “single indecent broadcast.”
Former President Barack Obama resurfaced on Friday and took a shot at Fox News Channel viewers, saying they’re “living on a different planet” than people who consume mainstream media.
Obama made the remarks on the premiere of the new monthly Netflix series “My next guest needs no introduction with David Letterman,” which hit the streaming service on Friday morning. Early in the episode, Obama asked Letterman about his retirement but the veteran talk show host quickly let the former president know who was boss.
“Now here’s how this is gonna work. I’m gonna ask you stuff, and then you respond to stuff,” Letterman joked.
Letterman then asked Obama what he considers the more dangerous threat to a democracy, the president demeaning the press or a foreign power sabotaging the voting process. Both options are clearly jabs at President Trump and Obama answered without mentioning the current president’s name.
The coverage begins at the 26:34 Times Mark:
“One of the biggest challenges we have to our democracy is the degree to which we don’t share a common baseline of facts,” Obama said. "If you watch Fox News, you are living on a different planet than you are if you are listening to NPR.”
The response got a big round of applause from the presumably liberal crowd at the City College of New York. Obama has a long history of taking shots at Fox News but the recent comment marks his first public attack on the network and its viewers since leaving the White House.
Cumulus Media has announced that Nashville’s WGFX 104.5 The Zone will expand its local sports coverage with an enhanced programming lineup that is all local, all day long, and kicks off Monday, January 15, 2018.
104.5 The Zone made the announcement Friday during a live broadcast from Providence, RI, during the AFC Divisional Round 2 Playoffs featuring the Tennessee Titans vs. the New England Patriots. 104.5 The Zone is the official radio home of the Tennessee Titans.
104.5 The Zone also announced that it has re-signed on-air personalities Chad Withrow, Jonathon Hutton and Paul Kuharsky, hosts of the Midday 180 show, to multi-year contracts. Concurrent with the announcement, the Midday 180 show will be expanded to a four-hour broadcast, airing weekdays from 10am-2pm, following The Wake Up Zone morning show.
In addition, the popular 3HL show with Brent Dougherty, Mickey Ryan and Dawn Davenport will also be adding an hour to its broadcast, airing weekdays from 2pm – 6pm. The Wake Up Zone with Mark Howard, Kevin Ingram and Blaine Bishop continues daily from 6am-10am.
Brad Willis, Program Director, 104.5 The Zone, said: “104.5 The Zone has long been Nashville’s pre-eminent sports station, and in an effort to devote more time to Nashville’s continually evolving sports landscape, we feel like it’s time that we are all local, all day long. I look forward to having our team cover the teams and sports that are important to Nashville, non-stop from 6am till 6pm every weekday.”
WGFX 104.5 FM (58 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area
Midday 180 hosts Chad Withrow, Jonathan Hutton and Paul Kuharsky noted: “There have been plenty of days when we’ve signed off at 3 p.m. saying, 'We had more.' We’re grateful that Cumulus and 104.5 The Zone are now giving us time to get to all of it. We look forward to loading up with even more great interviews with important people, giving you more commentary on the local teams and the issues of the day and spending additional time making each other — and hopefully our audience — laugh. Our commitment to you remains the same: In and out of season, we will crush on a daily basis.”
3HL hosts Brent Dougherty, Mickey Ryan and Dawn Davenport added: “Nashville sports fans are the best in the country and we are excited about the opportunity to spend more time with them. During that time we plan to continue to focus heavily on the sports and story lines that are most important to our listeners.”
According to a MLB Padres spokesperson, the team has been “assured” that its radio content for the upcoming season will not involve controversial sports-talk host Dan Sileo, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Sileo recently left The Mighty 1090 and, according to people familiar with the situation, likely will join Entercom, the Padres’ radio partner. The possibility exists that Sileo, in a yet-to-be-announced capacity, and Padres games will be carried on the same station. Entercom operates several stations in San Diego. They include Alternative KBZT 94.9 FM, the Padres’ home last season, and KEGY Energy 97.3, a potential destination for 2018.
Both sides have considered a change in format. Bob Bolinger, vice president/market manager of Entercom San Diego, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
The Padres do not have input on Entercom hires, and Sileo will not be a club employee. Per their agreement, Entercom also supplies the personnel and format for pre- and post-game shows. The Padres determine in-game staffing. Radio broadcasters Ted Leitner, Jesse Agler and Tony Gwynn Jr. are expected to return in 2018.
Speculation about Sileo’s next job has heightened, even as Sileo has increased his activity on social media. On Thursday, Sileo joined the masses reacting to reports that President Donald Trump slurred immigrants from certain countries, tweeting:
Sileo, who has a history of controversial statements, faced allegations of racism, sexism and anti-Semitism in prior workplaces. Between 2012 and 2013, he was fired by three Florida radio stations, once for remarks he made on air and twice for things he tweeted. He landed with The Mighty 1090, the Padres’ former flagship station, in early 2014.
Sileo hosted The Mighty 1090’s morning-drive show until last month.
Mornings on ESPN will look different this spring when its new morning show Get Up, featuring Michelle Beadle, Mike Greenberg, and Jalen Rose, premieres Monday, April 2.
The weekday program will originate from a brand new studio at NYC’s South Street Seaport and will air live from 7-10 a.m. ET on ESPN, re-airing each day at 10 a.m. on ESPN2. The program will feature news, opinion, and analysis.
“Sports fans start their days with sports and with ESPN,” said Bill Wolff, vice president, studio production, ESPN. “Our programming is based on two tenets — personality and authority. In both areas Michelle, Greeny, and Jalen are stars, which is why we’re so excited for Get Up.’”
For almost two decades, sports fans have been waking up with Mike Greenberg (“Greeny” as he is called) as half of ESPN Radio’s Mike & Mike, with co-host Mike Golic. Greenberg joined ESPN in September 1996 as an anchor for the launch of ESPNEWS. He later anchored SportsCenter for many years, even long after Mike & Mike launched on January 3, 2000.
In 2016, Greenberg and Golic were inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcasting Hall of Fame.
Michelle Beadle currently serves as the full-time host of NBA Countdown on ABC and ESPN. In this role, Beadle leads all of the company’s pre-game and halftime NBA shows for the NBA Finals on ABC, the Conference Finals, NBA Playoffs, and NBA regular season.
Jalen Rose joined ESPN in 2007 as regular contributor to the network’s NBA coverage. In 2012, Rose was named a studio analyst for NBA Countdown — ABC and ESPN’s pre-game show. Rose also provides NBA analysis for ESPN news and information programming, including SportsCenter and ESPN Radio.
On January 5, 2016, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews interviewed Hillary Clinton in an Iowa fire station during the Democratic primary season. Network footage obtained by the Cut shows Matthews, during the interview setup, making a couple of “jokes” about Clinton. He asks, “Can I have some of the queen’s waters? Precious waters?” And then, as he waits for the water, he adds, “Where’s that Bill Cosby pill I brought with me?”
Matthews then laughs, delighted with the line, for an extended moment, as the staffers around him react with disbelief, clearly uncomfortable. (Cosby has been accused of sexual impropriety by dozens of women, some of whom allege that they were drugged and raped by the comedian.)
“This was a terrible comment I made in poor taste during the height of the Bill Cosby headlines,” Matthews said to the Cut. “I realize that’s no excuse. I deeply regret it and I’m sorry.”
Matthews has a long history of talking disparagingly about Hillary Clinton, whom he once called “witchy,”and often seems to channel what a hypothetical sexist Republican might say about a woman candidate: “she-devil,” “Madame Defarge.”
Spanish Broadcasting System Friday announced that it had reached an agreement with Grupo Radio Centro to settle the parties' long-standing lawsuit.
SBS filed suit in February 2016 after Martin ‘El Ratón’ Romero Hernandez jumped from mornings at their “La Raza 97.9” KLAX to middays at KLAX despite being under contract until 2020. In the lawsuit, SBS alleged tortious interference and unfair competition.
The settlement, the terms of which cannot be disclosed as they are protected by a confidentiality provision, was reached in advance of the upcoming trial. The settlement resolves all pending legal proceedings between the parties.
"We are extremely pleased to have amicably resolved the matter," stated SBS General Counsel Richard Lara. "As has always been its practice, SBS will not hesitate to take legal action when necessary to defend its contractual rights and business interests," he added.
SBS owns and operates Hispanic-formatted KLAX-FM and KXOL-FM in the Los Angeles market, two of the highest-rated radio stations in Southern California.
SiriusXM filed an 8-K form with The Securities And Exchange Commission, which indicates a new deal for CEO James Meyer. The deal runs through 2018..
James Meyer
In the filing SiriusXM states, "The Employment Agreement provides for an annual base salary of $2,000,000 and an opportunity to earn an annual bonus in an amount determined by the Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors based on the achievement of performance goals. The Employment Agreement does not provide for a specified annual bonus target opportunity. The Employment Agreement also provides, in the case of certain qualifying terminations, for a pro-rated bonus payment for the year of termination based on actual performance, and a lump sum cash severance payment equal to the remaining amount of Mr. Meyer’s base salary through the scheduled expiration of the Employment Agreement on December 31, 2018. Our obligation to pay the pro-rated bonus and severance is subject to Mr. Meyer’s execution of a release of claims against us and his compliance with certain restrictive covenants."
The deal also offers Meyer a three-year consulting agreement, "upon his termination of employment due to the expiration of the Employment Agreement or in the case of certain qualifying terminations."
On top of salary, Meyer is granted, "restricted stock units with a grant date value of $7,500,000 (based on the closing price of our common stock on The NASDAQ Global Select Market on the date of grant). Mr. Meyer’s restricted stock units will cliff vest on December 31, 2018, subject to earlier acceleration or termination under certain circumstances."
Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of the world’s largest social-media business, saw his fortune fall $3.3 billion Friday after he posted plans to shift users’ news feeds toward content from family and friends at the expense of material from media outlets and businesses.
Shares of Menlo Park, California-based Facebook tumbled 4.5 percent on Friday in New York, cutting Zuckerberg’s fortune to $74 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He lost his place as the world’s fourth-richest person to Spanish retail billionaire Amancio Ortega.
The drop wiped out much of the $4.5 billion Zuckerberg, 33, had added this year through Thursday. The world’s 500 richest people gained $1 trillion in 2017 and an additional $192 billion in the first two weeks of 2018, according to the Bloomberg index.
The producers of The Simpsons have been mum on The Problem with Apu, a recent truTV documentary from comedian (and Simpsons fan) Hari Kondabolu that asserts that the Indian Kwik-E-Mart owner Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a problematic stereotype of South Asian people. But Hank Azaria, who voices the character, is indicating that the matter will be addressed, with possible changes to Apu, reports ew.com.
“The idea that anybody, young or old, past or present, was bullied or teased or worse based on the character of Apu on The Simpsons, or the voice or any other tropes of the character is distressing, especially in post-9/11 America,”
Azaria told reporters at the Television Critics Association in Pasadena during a panel for his IFC comedy Brockmire. “The idea that anybody was marginalized based on it or had a hard time was very upsetting to me personally and professionally. It’s a character I’ve done for 29 years now, and I’ve done it with a lot of love, and joy, and pride. That certainly wasn’t the intent. The intent was to make people laugh and bring joy. For it to cause suffering or pain in any way, it’s disturbing, actually.”
What is the future of the character, who stands one of the most recognizable tertiary characters on the long-running animated Fox comedy? Azaria, who is not of South Asian descent, stresses that the decision is not just up to him.
➦In 1905..."Scientific America" published an advertisement for the "Telimco", a device guaranteed to received signals for as far as one mile. It cost $8.50.
The Telimco system included a battery-operated spark transmitter, shown on the left, plus a tapping-coherer receiver, also battery operated, shown on the right. (The use of a spark transmitter and tapping-coherer receiver meant it could only be used to send and receive telegraphic dots-and-dashes, and not full audio.) This small ad--which measured just 2-1/4 inches wide by 1-1/8 inches high (60 by 28 millimeters)--appeared on the back pages of the magazine, mixed in with the advertisements for sundry offering by numerous other small firms. It is generally believed that this was the first-ever advertisement run by a company selling complete radio systems to the general public.
The Telimco brand name was a contraction of The Electro Importing Co. In addition to Telimco Wireless Telegraph Outfits, you could also buy Telimco Experimental X-Ray Outfits, Telimco-meters, Telimphones, etc.
➦In 1910...the first opera was broadcast on Radio, courtesy of the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The first public radio broadcast consisted of performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. Riccardo Martin performed as Turridu, Emmy Destinn as Santuzza, and Enrico Caruso as Canio. The conductor was Egisto Tango. This wireless radio transmission event of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso of a concert from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City is regarded as the birth of public radio broadcasting.
The New York Times reported on January 14, 1910,
"Opera broadcast in part from the stage of the New York City Metropolitan Opera Company was heard on January 13, 1910, when Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn sang arias from Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, which were "trapped and magnified by the dictograph directly from the stage and borne by wireless Hertzian waves over the turbulent waters of the sea to transcontinental and coastwise ships and over the mountainous peaks and undulating valleys of the country." The microphone was connected by telephone wire to the laboratory of Dr. Lee De Forest.”
The few radio receivers able to pick up this first-ever "outside broadcast" were those at the De Forest Radio Laboratory, on board ships in New York Harbor, in large hotels on Times Square and at New York city locations where members of the press were stationed at receiving sets. Public receivers with earphones had been set up in several well-advertised locations throughout New York City. There were members of the press stationed at various receiving sets throughout the city and the general public was invited to listen to the broadcast.
The experiment was considered mostly unsuccessful. The microphones of the day were of poor quality and couldn't pick up most of the singing done on stage. Only off-stage singers singing directly into a microphone could be heard clearly. The New York Times reported the next day that static and interference kept the homeless song waves from finding themselves.
➦In 1913...producer/host Ralph Edwards was born near Merino Colorado. Best known as producer/host of TV’s This is Your Life, he came to prominence as the host of radio’s zany Truth or Consequences, a game show which ran for 38 years on radio & TV. As producer he brought to the airwaves TV’s The People’s Court, still on the air 25 years later. He died of congestive heart failure Nov. 25 1997 at age 84.
➦On 1918...actor Steve Dunne was born in Northampton Mass. He succeeded Howard Duff on radio as the star of The Adventures of Sam Spade. On TV he starred in the series Professional Father & The Brothers Brannigan, and appeared repeatedly on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Brady Bunch, The Millionaire & Lux Video Theatre. He died Sept. 2 1977 at age 59.
➦In 1922...WHA 970 AM in Madison, Wisconsin began broadcasting.
WHA's history dates back to 1914 when Professor Edward Bennett started using the call sign 9XM. A year later, the call sign was transferred to the University of Wisconsin and used for many experiments in the physics department. Professor Earle M. Terry managed many of these tests, and he eventually decided that the station should start making regular weather broadcasts. From December 4, 1916 onward, the station transmitted regular reports in Morse code.
While most early radio stations in the United States were shut down when the country entered World War I, 9XM's early transmissions were considered important enough to continue, spending much of the war broadcasting weather information to ships sailing on the Great Lakes.
Regularly scheduled audio broadcasts began in February 1920. A six-day-per-week schedule began on January 3, 1921, notable for the introduction of the first radio broadcast of a weather forecast. The station received its WHA call sign on January 13, 1922.
➦In 1928…The first public demonstration of television was given by Ernst F. W. Alexanderson. The first television broadcast in the United States was to his home in Schenectady, New York in 1927.
➦In 1934...a comedy-variety hit of early radio The Al Pearce Show debuted on NBC Blue, after 5 successful years on KFRC San Francisco.
➦In 1958...St. Louis radio station KWK (now KXFN 1380 AM) declared Rock n’ Roll dead. (Ha ha ha ha ha.) After giving their rock records a final play, the station staff broke them
➦In 1962..."The Twist" by Chubby Checker hit Number 1 again, over a year after it first reached the top spot on the charts. The only other song ever to do that was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas."
➦In 1970...Los Angeles DJ Sam Riddle forms the Sam Riddle Organization to be known as SRO for coordinating five separate companies headed by Riddle. The divisions include concert promotions, television appearances, record production, publishing and artist management. Riddle is host of “Get It Together” on ABC-TV and still syndicates “Boss City” on TV. He was still heard on 93/KHJ.
➦In 1970....David Sarnoff, the man who put radio into the American home, resigned as chairman of RCA Corp. because of ill health.
➦In 1970....Host Bob Grant completes the final two-way talkshow over KLAC, Los Angeles, ending the station’s run as an aggressive “in-your-face” talk format. The station has been transitioning into a MOR music format for the past few months.
➦In 1980...Orchestra leader/arranger Andre Kostelanetz, whose radio program was one of America's most popular from the 1930s to the 1950s, died at the age of 78.
➦In 2006...Bob Grant did last long-form form talk show at WOR 710 AM.
➦In 2011...the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council banned Dire Straits ‘85 hit “Money For Nothing” because a homophobic epithet in the song is no longer acceptable. “The panel concluded that, like other racially driven words in the English language, ‘faggot’ is one that, even if entirely or marginally accepted in earlier days, is no longer so,” said CBSC chair Ron Cohen in an official statement. Many Canadian stations ignored the ban.
➦In 2012…Former Radio/TV newsman (CBS, ABC) Richard Threlkeld was killed in a car accident at age 74.
➦In 2016…Retired sportscaster (NBC-TV, NBC Radio, ESPN, ABC, CBS, TNT)/National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Famer Jim Simpson died at the age of 88.
iHeartMedia announced today that its National Programming Group has elevated renowned programming veteran Doc Wynter to the new position of Executive Vice President of Urban/Hip-Hop Programming Strategy.
He will report to Tom Poleman, Chief Programming Officer for iHeartMedia.
In his new role, Wynter will continue to oversee iHeartMedia’s Urban and Hip-Hop brand formats and work to improve the company’s Urban brands in its over 150 markets. In addition, he will continue to guide and develop the company’s roster of Urban and Hip-Hop programmers and on-air talent, and book artists and produce events for iHeartMedia including REAL 92.3’s The REAL Show.
Wynter will also remain in his role of Program Director of iHeartMedia’s KRRL REAL 92.3, LA’s Home for Hip Hop.
“No one understands Urban and Hip-Hop programming like Doc and we’re thrilled he’s expanding his role leading iHeartMedia’s programming strategy for those key formats,” said Rich Bressler, President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for iHeartMedia. “He’s been instrumental in launching several of our Urban and Hip-Hop stations nationwide and we’re excited for him to be even more hands-on with all of our Urban brands in our over 150 markets.”
Wynter will celebrate 29 years with iHeartMedia in January and most recently served as Senior Vice President of Urban Programming and Urban Brand Manager for the company.
“Urban radio has been my passion for as long as I can remember,” said Wynter. “Having worked with iHeartMedia for almost three decades, I know we have some of the best programmers and on-air personalities in radio. I can’t wait to help our Region and Market Presidents provide their local Urban and Hip-Hop music fans with one-of-a-kind listening experiences that only a company like iHeartMedia can create.”
CNN host Don Lemon began his show Thursday night by labeling President Trump as “racist” in the wake of reports that the president called Haiti and African nations “shithole countries.”
“The president of the United States is racist,” Lemon said at the opening of his show. “A lot of us already knew that.”
According to The Hill, Lemon was responding to reports from The Washington Post and other media outlets that Trump referred to immigrants from Haiti and African countries as coming from “shithole countries.”
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump reportedly said in an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers while discussing protections for immigrants from several countries.
Trump then reportedly said that the U.S. should bring in more immigrants from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met with the previous day.
Lemon called those remarks “disgusting.”
“There’s other language I’d like to use, but we are on television,” Lemon said. “But you know what? They’re not shocking. They’re not even really surprising. Because this is who Donald Trump is.”
Earlier Thursday, Lemon’s fellow CNN host Anderson Cooper slammed Trump’s remarks, calling them “racist.”
In a statement Thursday, the White House did not deny Trump’s “shithole” comments.
Over at Fox, host Tucker Carlson on Thursday night questioned the backlash over President Trump's reported remarks on accepting some immigrants from "shithole countries." The Hill reports Carlson said it would be dishonest to say one would rather live in Norway, a country where Trump reportedly suggested that the U.S. focus on bringing in immigrants, rather than Haiti.
"So if you say Norway is a better place to live and Haiti is kind of a hole, well anyone who’s been to those countries or has lived in them would agree. But we’re jumping up and down, ‘Oh, you can’t say that.’ Why can’t you say that?" Carlson asked following amid bipartisan criticism of Trump's remarks.
Fox News host Jesse Watters also defended Trump's remark Thursday, arguing that the "forgotten men and women" who make up the president's base would approve of the comment.
Former Tonight Show host Jay Leno has called-out his fellow late-night television hosts over their “depressing” non-stop coverage of President Trump, adding that there’s “such negativity now” that viewers are quickly tuning out.
The stand-up comedy legend was speaking with the Hollywood Reporter over his new television series when he veered into the current atmosphere surrounding Late Night TV, saying Americans watch TV to escape from reality, not obsess over it.
“Ultimately, it’s depressing. You don’t really watch late-night TV to get away from reality anymore; now it’s more in your face. You laugh but then you go to bed going, ‘Oh man, the world is really pretty rough,’” he added.
Late-night television hosts, particularly Jimmy Kimmel, routinely use their programs as a vehicle to attack President Trump and the GOP. Last year, Kimmel viciously attacked the President and fellow Republicans over healthcare legislation, Roy Moore, gun control, Russia, immigration reform, and more.
iHeartMedia announced Thursday that Freddy Rivera has been named Afternoon Drive Host for KDMX 102.9 Now, Dallas/Ft. Worth’s Variety from 90’s to Now, effective February 5. Freddy Rivera will broadcast weekdays from 2 – 7 p.m.
Rivera’s afternoon show will discuss the latest entertainment news and trends in pop culture. Listeners can expect to hear a variety of music from artists including Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, Ed Sheeran, The Chainsmokers and more.
“Freddy is an outstanding on-air talent and we are very fortunate to add him to our line up,” said Jay Shannon, Program Director for 102.9 Now. “Freddy is very much looking forward to calling DFW his home.”
KDMX 102.9 FM (100 Kw)
Rivera comes to 102.9 Now from 102.7 KIIS-FM in Los Angeles where he has hosted the late night show for the last four years. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Inland Empire, he started his radio broadcasting career as an intern for Rick Dees.
Soon after his internship, he realized radio was the career he wanted to pursue, and landed a gig as a producer for a well known satellite radio channel. From there, Freddy got his first chance as a radio on-air personality for 99.1 KGGI in Los Angeles.
He stays connected with his listeners off air by responding to his fans on social media. He even has his own food dedicated Instagram page @freddylovesfood!
“I am very excited to write the next chapter in my radio career with 102.9 Now in Dallas/Fort Worth,” said Rivera. “I have heard so much about the food, nightlife and community. I can’t wait to jump right in.”
A starting date and a well-known co-host have been set for Guy Phillips' debut on KTRS 550 AM, according to stltoday.com.
Guy Phillips
Julie Buck
At 3 p.m on Feb. 12, Phillips will take over the afternoon shift at the station, a slot that had been commanded by Frank O. Pinion.
And when that debut comes, longtime STL media personality Julie Buck will be alongside. Buck has worked at several radio and television stations over the years.
She is the daughter of the late Cardinal announcer Jack Buck and was a business partner in restaurants with her brother, sportscaster Joe Buck.
The hiring of Phillips was set into motion in July, when Frank O. Pinion (whose real name is John Craddock) announced his resignation from KTRS by saying it was "not amicable." Craddock now mans the afternoon shift at KFNS-AM 590.
Phillips, who had worked at KYKY-FM 98.1 since 1979, left that station in November. Because of no-compete conditions in his contract, he can't start at KTRS until next month.
Beasley Media Group has announced Dennis Gwiazdon has been named as the Vice President and Market Manager of the company’s cluster of radio stations in the Las Vegas market, including: Country KCYE-FM, Lite AC KCYE-HD2, Classic Hits KKLZ-FM, Talk KDWN-AM, Old School KOAS-FM and Hot AC KVGS-FM.
Gwiazdon most recently served as the Vice President and Market Manager of Midwest Communications & South Central Communications’ WCJK-FM, WJXA-FM and WNFN-FM in Nashville, Tennessee.
Previous to that, the radio veteran held the role of President of Sales Insights in San Diego, California, where in partnership with Coleman Insights, he provided advertiser perceptual studios for local radio cluster.
In addition, Gwiazdon served as Vice President and General Manager at Nationwide Communications’ KMCG-FM and KXGL-FM in San Diego, as well as holding a similar position at Brown Broadcasting Company’s KGB-FM/KPOP-AM in San Diego, KRWM-FM in Seattle, Washington and KKAT-FM in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“It’s a privilege to welcome Dennis to the Beasley Media Group family,” said Beasley Media Group Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Beasley. “His proven track record, combined with his leadership skills, is the perfect fit for our Las Vegas cluster as we continue to grow and expand our business in the market.”
“I’m absolutely thrilled about joining the Beasley team,” said Gwiazdon.” There is tremendous potential for us in Las Vegas and I’m grateful that Caroline, Brian and Bruce are giving me the opportunity to make a difference.”
Gwiazdon currently serves as the president of the Nashville Area Radio Association. In addition, he is a past president and current board member of American Advertising Federation/Nashville.
Kirk Minihane, controversial co-host of WEEI's No. 1-ranked "Kirk & Callahan" show, said Thursday morning that he's planning to take a year off from sports radio.
Minihane is known for his sarcasm and dry humor, so it wouldn't be a shock if this were all just radio shtick. But he certainly sounded serious, insisting that he's "tired of being treated like a child" by management and others, reports NECN.com.
"I've been through a lot," he said on his show Thursday. "I'm a little worn down. I just want to take some time."
He didn't say when his 1-year break would begin, but said it would likely be in a matter of weeks, not months.
The "Kirk & Callahan" show finished first in Boston among morning drive radio shows in this fall's Nielsen ratings. It was the top ranked morning show over the summer as well.
After less than a year on the air, broadcast veterans Don Stuck and Dave “Gunner” Gunn have struck out as a morning team at sports talker WNDE 1260 AM.
Last week, WNDE officials sacked the duo's "Flagrant Foul" morning show and brought back nationally syndicated “Outkick the Coverage,” hosted by Clay Travis, to the drive-time slot.
According to the Indy Business Joournal, Stuck and Gunn still can be heard on WNDE’s classic rock sister station, WFBQ 94.7 FM.
Although it was the only local sports-talk show in Indianapolis during the morning drive time, "Flagrant Foul" struggled to gain much traction with listeners and compete with WFNI-AM 1070’s ESPN syndicated morning show.
During the last three months of 2017, WNDE had a 0.9 share during the morning drive time (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.) with their target audience, men 25 to 54 years old, according to New York-based Nielsen Media Research.
NBC expects $1.4 billion in ad revenue from the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, the payoff for its huge investment in sports programming.
According to Bloomberg, the figure includes $900 million for the Olympics in South Korea, which start Feb. 9. Ad prices are running higher than the 2014 winter games in Sochi, Russia, NBC executives said Thursday on a conference call. Comcast Corp.’s entertainment division is charging more than $5 million for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl, in line with the past couple of years.
Ratings for live sports, including the Olympics and pro football, have declined in an era when viewers have so many choices for entertainment, from Snapchat to YouTube. But they still let advertisers reach tens of millions of viewers at once, and networks compete fiercely for the rights to big games. NBC has the Olympics through 2032 as part of a $12 billion deal, and it’s one of three networks that will take turns carrying the Super Bowl through 2022.
Super Bowl advertisers haven’t expressed concern about ratings declines for regular-season NFL games, said Dan Lovinger, executive vice president for ad sales at NBC Sports Group, and are enthusiastic about the Feb. 4 telecast. The average audience for a regular season game declined 9.7 percent from 2016, according to Nielsen data.
“The game almost transcends the season,” Lovinger said. “It’s the only environment where viewers admit they look forward as much to the commercials as the content itself.”
NBC’s Super Bowl inventory isn’t sold out, though only a “a handful” spots are left. Automakers and Hollywood studios are two of the biggest advertisers this year. NBC is also selling digital-only advertising packages for the game for the first time.
More than in any other country, Americans on both sides of the political aisle believe the media does does a poor job covering political issues fairly, according to a blockbuster new survey of media consumption in 38 nations.
What’s more, the Pew Research Center’s study found that supporters of President Trump believe the media is doing a worse job covering politics than the supporters of any of the other international political leaders in countries surveyed.
“Large gaps in ratings of the media emerge between governing party supporters and non-supporters. On the question of whether their news media cover political issues fairly, for example, partisan differences appear in 20 of the 38 countries surveyed. In five countries, the gap is at least 20 percentage points, with the largest by far in the U.S. at 34 percentage points,” said Pew.
According to The Washington Examiner, the survey found that just 21 percent of Americans supportive of Trump and Republicans believe the media is fair. But it also found that just 55 percent of those who don’t back Trump also believe the media is not fairly covering politics in the U.S.
In every other case, those numbers are flipped, said Pew.
“The U.S. is also one of only a few countries where governing party supporters are less satisfied with their news media than are non-supporters. In most countries, people who support the political party currently in power are more satisfied with the performance of their news media than those who do not support the governing party,” said the study.
Facebook Inc on Thursday began to change the way it filters posts and videos on its centerpiece News Feed, the start of what Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said would be a series of changes in the design of the world’s largest social network.
Zuckerberg, in a sweeping post on Facebook, said the company would change the filter for the News Feed to prioritize what friends and family share, while reducing the amount of non-advertising content from publishers and brands.
Reuters reports Facebook, which owns four of the world’s most popular smartphone apps including Instagram, has for years prioritized material that its complex computer algorithms think people will engage with through comments, “likes” or other ways of showing interest.
Zuckerberg, the company’s 33-year-old co-founder, said that would no longer be the goal.
“I‘m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions,” Zuckerberg wrote.
The shift was likely to mean that the time people spend on Facebook and some measures of engagement would go down in the short term, he wrote, but he added it would be better for users and for the business over the long term.
Facebook and its social media competitors have been inundated by criticism that their products reinforce users’ views on social and political issues and lead to addictive viewing habits, raising questions about possible regulation and the businesses’ long-term viability.
The company has been criticized for algorithms that may have prioritized misleading news and misinformation in people’s feeds, influencing the 2016 American presidential election, as well as political discourse in many countries.
Radio trailblazer Tom Perryman — whose life work represented a spectrum of contrasts from remote cotton fields in Rural Shade, Texas, to the star-lined stage of the Grand Ole Opry, striking up friendships along the way with the likes of Elvis, Ray Price and Jim Reeves — died Thursday evening.
Perryman was legendary in the national radio and country music scene, in part for helping talented young artists survive and thrive in a tough industry.
As a tribute to his longevity, the Texas Association of Broadcasters gave him its 2013 Pioneer of the Year Award.
He was an encyclopedia of music history, having experienced varying trends over the years, from hillbilly to country to rock 'n' roll.
Perryman and wife, Billie, who was at his side when he died, owned stations in both Texas and Tennessee, including WMTS-AM/FM near Nashville that was a founding member of the Country Music Association.
Most recently, he hosted a two-hour weekday morning radio show on KKUS-FM 104.1, The Ranch, that was a throwback to the good old days of radio.
"Music is a way of life," he said in a 2015 interview with the Tyler Morning Telegraph. "When people hear music they haven't heard in a long time, it brings back a memory. That's why I play so much old music. ... It reminds them of something in the past."
Perryman was the first regular disc jockey of an all-night country music show on WSM, and an General Manger and co-owner of two of the earliest full-time country radio stations.
Perryman started in country radio KEBE Jacksonville, TX (1947-1949) after his high school graduation. He then joined KSIJ Gladewater, TX, and became a charter member of the Country Music Disc Jockey Association in 1953.
He was named WSM's Mr. DJ USA in 1954 and then joined WSM Nashville, TN (1956-1958).
Having simultaneously worked as Talent Coordinator of the Artists Service Bureau and Assistant Manager of The Grand Ole Opry, he left radio for awhile to become co-owner of the All Star Talent Agency (1958-1959). Perryman became General Manager and partner with Jim Reeves at KGRI AM/FM Henderson, TX. He then became General Manager of WMTS AM/FM Murfreesboro, TN (1967-1978), which was named CMA Station of the Year in 1969 and was the top ranked country station in the Nashville market in 1971 and 1972.
In 1985, he became Vice President of Jim Reeves Enterprises. Tom Perryman was inducted into the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame in 1988. Perryman currently plays classic country music in east Texas on "The Ranch" (KKUS Tyler TX/KKFO Longview TX/KOUL Marshall TX).
Perryman's awards over his 70-year career in radio include the National Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame, Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame, and many others.
