Saturday, October 17, 2020

October 18 Radio History


➦In 1922…The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was established to monitor the development of the radio in Great Britain.

Keith Jackson
➦In 1928...Keith Max Jackson born in Roopville, GA.(Died at age 89 – January 12, 2018). Jackson was a sports commentator, journalist, author and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his career, he is best known for his coverage of college football from 1952 until 2006, and his distinctive voice, "a throwback voice, deep and operatic. A voice that was to college football what Edward R. Murrow's was to war. It was the voice of ultimate authority in his profession. His trademark expression?  “Whoa Nelly!”

The son of a dirt farmer, Jackson was born in Roopville, Georgia and grew up on a farm outside Carrollton, near the Alabama state line.  He was the only surviving child in a poor family and grew up listening to sports on the radio. After enlisting and serving as a mechanic in the United States Marine Corps, he attended Washington State University in Pullman under the G.I. Bill.[8] Jackson began as a political science major, but he became interested in broadcasting.He graduated in 1954 with a degree in speech communications.

Though best known for his college football broadcasts, Jackson announced numerous other sports for ABC throughout his career, including Major League Baseball, NBA basketball, boxing, auto racing, PGA Tour golf, the USFL, and the Olympic Games. He briefly worked college basketball with Dick Vitale. Jackson also served as the pregame, halftime, and postgame anchor for ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII in 1988. During his on-air tenure, he is credited with nicknaming the Rose Bowl as "The Grandaddy of them All" and Michigan Stadium as "The Big House".

Jackson began his career as a broadcaster in 1952, when he called on radio a game between Stanford and Washington State. He then worked for KOMO radio in Seattle, and later for KOMO-TV from 1954 to 1964 as co-anchor for their first news team.

Jackson became a radio news correspondent for ABC News Radio and sports director of ABC Radio West in 1964 before joining ABC Sports in 1966.


➦In 1931…Inventor Thomas Alva Edison died at age 84 (Born February 11, 1847). He has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world.  He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.



Edison was raised in the American Midwest; early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, NJ, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanic laboratory in Fort Myers, FL in collaboration with businessmen Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone, and a laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey that featured the world's first film studio, the Black Maria. He was a prolific inventor, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as patents in other countries. Edison married twice and fathered six children. He died of complications of diabetes.


➦In 1943...Perry Mason was first heard on CBS Radio Network. The 15-minute continuing series aired weekdays until December 30, 1955. Geared more towards action than courtroom drama, it mixed mystery and soap opera, with attorney Perry Mason sometimes even exchanging gunfire with criminals.



Erle Stanley Gardner's literary success with the Perry Mason novels convinced Warner Bros. to try its hand, unsuccessfully, with some motion pictures. However, the Perry Mason radio show stayed on the air for 12 years.  Mason was played by Barlett Robinson, Santos Ortega, Donald Briggs and finally & most memorably by John Larkin as Perry Mason and Joan Alexander as Della Street. Larkin played the role the longest and was reportedly very disappointed when Raymond Burr got the role for TV in 1957.



➦In 1954…Six years after Bell Laboratories developed the first prototype, Texas Instruments announced the first production model of a transistor radio.  The small portable radio receiver used transistor-based circuitry. The mass-market success of the smaller and cheaper Sony TR-63, released in 1957, led to the transistor radio becoming the most popular electronic communication device of the 1960s and 1970s. Transistor radios are still commonly used as car radios. Billions of transistor radios are estimated to have been sold worldwide between the 1950s and 2012.

The pocket size of transistor radios sparked a change in popular music listening habits, allowing people to listen to music anywhere they went. Beginning in the 1980s, however, cheap AM transistor radios were superseded by devices with higher audio quality such as portable CD players, personal audio players, boomboxes, and (eventually) smartphones.


➦In 1954...WNBC 660 AM, New York City, became WRCA-AM (as a tie-in to their parent company RCA). Six years later, call letters were changed back to WNBC on June 1, 1960.


➦In 1957...Paul McCartney made his debut appearance with the Quarry Men (led by  John Lennon) in Liverpool, England.

➦In 1959...Sports personality Christopher Michael Russo known as was born.   Known as Mad Dog, he is best known as the former co-host of the Mike and the Mad Dog sports radio program with Mike Francesa, which was broadcast on WFAN in New York City and simulcast on the YES Network. Russo joined Sirius XM Radio in August 2008 and operates his own channel, Mad Dog Radio. He also hosts an afternoon radio show, Mad Dog Unleashed, SiriusXM Ch. 82 Mad Dog Sports Radio.

Chris Russo
Russo was born in Syosset on Long Island, New York. He went to Rollins College in Orlando graduating with a degree in history.

Prior to joining WFAN, Russo worked for WKIS in Orlando between 1984 and 1987 and WMCA in New York City between 1987 and 1988. During his career at WKIS, when it became clear that the people of Central Florida were having difficulty understanding his accent, the station sent him to see a speech therapist twice a week. He received the "Mad Dog" nickname from New York Daily News Sports TV and Radio critic Bob Raissman, who said Russo's approach to radio reminded him of former professional wrestler Maurice Vachon, who was also known as "Mad Dog."

Russo is known for his quick manner of speaking, his whistles, and his trademark greeting of "Good afternoon everybody!"


➦In 1997…Journalist Nancy Dickerson, the first female correspondent at CBS, died after a stroke at age 70. She reported for NBC News from 1963 to 1970 and is the mother of John Dickerson, who works for CBS.

Bill King  - 1994
➦In 2005...Sportscaster Wilbur "Bill" King died (Born - October 6, 1927). He was the radio voice of the Oakland Athletics baseball team for 25 years (1981–2005), the longest tenure of any A's announcer since the team's games were first broadcast in Philadelphia in 1938, as well as the longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders football team and the San Francisco/Golden State Warriors basketball team.

Earlier in his career, he had been a member of the San Francisco Giants' original broadcasting team (together with Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons) when the Giants moved west from New York in 1958, and had called University of California football and basketball games.

King was widely recognized by his distinctive handlebar moustache and Van Dyke beard, as well as his broadcasting catchphrase, "Holy Toledo!"  In 2016, the National Baseball Hall of Fame named King recipient of the 2017 Ford C. Frick Award, the highest honor for American baseball broadcasters.


➦In 2013…Chicago broadcast journalist Hugh Hill died at the age of 89.  The son of a coal miner from the southern Illinois town of Gillespie, Hill graduated on the G.I. Bill from the University of Missouri journalism school and worked at radio stations in St. Charles, Aurora and Hammond before joining WBBM 780 AM in 1953.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY:
  • Actor Dawn Wells (“Gilligan’s Island”) is 82. 
  • Singer Russ Giguere of The Association is 77. 
  • Actor Joe Morton is 73. 
  • Actor Pam Dawber is 70. 
  • Gospel singer Vickie Winans is 67. 
  • Actor Jon Lindstrom (“General Hospital”) is 63. 
  • Joy Bryant is 46
    Actor Jean-Claude Van Damme is 60. 
  • Jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is 59. 
  • Actor Vincent Spano is 58. 
  • Bassist Tim Cross (Sponge) is 54. 
  • Singer Nonchalant is 53. 
  • Actor Joy Bryant (“Parenthood”) is 46. 
  • Guitarist Peter Svensson of The Cardigans is 46. 
  • Actor Wesley Jonathan is 42. 
  • Singer Ne-Yo is 41. 
  • Country singer and “American Idol” contestant Josh Gracin is 40. 
  • Country musician Jesse Littleton (Marshall Dyllon) is 39. 
  • Actor Freida Pinto (“Slumdog Millionaire”) is 36. 
  • Jazz musician Esperanza Spalding is 36. 
  • Actor Zac Efron (“High School Musical,” ″Hairspray”) is 33. 
  • Actor Joy Lauren (“Desperate Housewives”) is 31. 
  • Actor Tyler Posey is 29. 
  • Actor Toby Regbo (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”) is 29.

Pittsburgh Radio: Wendy Bell Officially OUT At KDKA Radio

Radio host Wendy Bell has officially left KDKA 1020 AM, a spokesman for the station’s parent company said Friday.

“Wendy Bell is no longer with KDKA, and we mutually agreed to part ways,” Entercom said in a statement.

Bell declined to comment further about the situation with KDKA Radio, but said she will continue to stream her show on her website. She also streams the show on a Facebook page.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Bell said during a phone call with The Tribune-Review.

Bell was taken off the station’s afternoon lineup Sept. 4 after she suggested park rangers “shoot on sight” people who deface public monuments.

The statement was recorded in a video June 26 during her live radio show and published on Facebook, where Bell looks into the camera and says: “My easy solution for the park rangers and hopefully snipers who are going to be watching for this is to shoot on sight.” Bell then imitated the sound of a gunshot. “Shoot! Done! No more messing with monuments. You want to mess with a monument? Done! Get out!”

The video clip was posted to Twitter on Aug. 31 by an anonymous user under the name “Coco.”


The Twitter account also posted a video snippet of Bell delivering a message to protesters, saying that “the silent majority is pissed and they are armed and they are ready. So, don’t muck with us.” Though the earlier clip had been broadcast and publically available since June 26, it did not attract attention until the Twitter posting in August went viral.

“Entercom is the home to thousands of voices representing Americans of all races, ethnicities, gender identity, sexual orientation, beliefs and ability,” the company said in a statement issued when Bell was taken off the air.

“We take very seriously our responsibility to provide a platform for our communities to engage in diverse and meaningful dialogue, debate and the right to freedom of speech, we do not condone the incitement of violence on any of our platforms,” the statement said.

Bell’s comments have also spurred KDKA-TV, which is owned by Viacom and isn’t affiliated with the radio station, to distance themselves from Bell.

She joined the radio station in 2019.

Prior to that, Bell was an award winning anchor at WTAE-TV. She was fired in 2016 for comments she posted online in the aftermath of a shooting in Wilkinsburg that used racial stereotypes and generalizations to talk about the crimes.

Bell alleged she was discriminated against when she was fired and sued WTAE’s parent company Hearst. She settled the lawsuit in 2018.

TV Ratings: Biden Edges Trump During Dueling Townhalls


It’s not the tally that really matters, but Joe Biden scored something of an upset over President Donald Trump, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

In their dueling town halls, the Democratic presidential candidate reached more viewers on ABC than Trump did for NBC News Thursday night.

The Biden town hall reached 14.1 million people on ABC between 8 and 9 p.m. and Trump had 13.5 million combined on NBC, CNBC and MSNBC, the Nielsen company said.

It had been expected that Trump would reach more people simply because it was being seen on three networks. But with a prime-time lineup of liberal opinion hosts on MSNBC, Trump wasn’t particularly welcomed by either viewers or network personnel.

ShowBuzzDaily graphic

The Biden town hall, with questions from the audience and moderator George Stephanopoulos, lasted 90 minutes.

NBC had received sharp criticism for scheduling its event at the same time as Biden. It was supposed to have been the night of the second debate, but the independent commission canceled it after Trump balked at doing a virtual debate.

In some markets, the events did not compete directly. In Los Angeles, for example, ABC aired the Biden event live at 5 p.m. Pacific while NBC broadcast a recording of Trump at 8 p.m. Pacific.

Biden Rips CBS Reporter For Asking About NYPost Story

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was finally asked about the explosive New York Post report that alleges emails show his son made millions trading on his father's influence.

His response, according to FOX News? "I have no response." 

After not being asked about the growing controversy surrounding Hunter Biden at the ABC News town hall by moderator George Stephanopoulos, the former vice president spoke to reporters outside his private jet Friday following his campaign events in Michigan. And when he was approached about the subject by CBS News reporter Bo Erickson, Biden went after the journalist. 

"Mr. Biden, what is your response to the New York Post story about your son, sir?" Erickson asked. 


"I know you’d ask it," Biden fired back. "I have no response, it’s another smear campaign, right up your alley, those are the questions you always ask."


The Biden 2020 presidential campaign previously responded to the Post story on Wednesday, saying the former vice president "carried out official U.S. policy toward Ukraine and engaged in no wrongdoing," and that "Trump administration officials have attested to these facts under oath."

The Post obtained a 2015 email indicating that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, thanked Hunter Biden for "giving an opportunity" to meet his father, who was then serving as vice president under Barack Obama.


The elder Biden has previously said he has "never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings."

Chris Wallace: Censored Biden Story 'Smacks Of Big Brother'


Chris Wallace said Friday he's got a "real problem" with this week's decision by Facebook and Twitter to limit users from sharing a controversial New York Post article on Hunter Biden, reports The Hill.

"Either it's the Wild West and you post everything — and I can understand the concern about that after what happened in 2016 with Russian disinformation — or you put everything out there. And if you have a problem with some of it then put a word on there to your users and say, 'We can't confirm this story' or 'There's some questions with this story,'" the "Fox News Sunday" anchor said on the "Fox News Rundown" podcast.

"But to just ban it and to say, 'Nobody is allowed to discuss this story or post this story' — which is out there and you can't put the genie back in the bottle, it was the front page of the New York Post — really strikes me as smacking of Big Brother," he added.

Wallace's comments come after White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News on Wednesday night that Twitter "essentially" had her at "gunpoint" by locking her out of her account for sharing the New York Post story on Hunter Biden that has raised questions about its sourcing and accuracy, in addition to including unredacted personal information.

McEnany's account, which has more 5.7 million followers, was locked early Wednesday evening but restored Thursday morning. Her account was allowed to post again after deleting the tweet sharing the article, a spokesperson told The Hill.

GOP Alleges Censored Story Amounts to Political Donation

The Republican National Committee on Friday filed a federal elections complaint over Twitter’s decision earlier this week to ban sharing on its platform recent news articles about Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

CNBC reports the RNC complained to the Federal Election Commission that Twitter’s blocking of The New York Post articles amounts to an “illegal corporate in-kind political contribution” to former Vice President Biden’s campaign, which is seeking to unseat President Donald Trump, the Republican incumbent.

A computer hard drive said to be owned by Hunter Biden was used as source material by the New York Post for the articles subject to Twitter’s ban. A copy of the hard drive was provided to the newspaper by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, the Post said.

Twitter has said it banned the Hunter Biden articles in question because they were found to be in violation of Twitter’s Hacked Material Policy, which does not “permit the use of our services to directly distribute content obtained through hacking that contains private information, may put people in physical harm or danger, or contains trade secrets.”

The social media giant also said it was banning links to the articles because they contained images of hacked material with personal and private information.

Shortly after the RNC’s complaint to the FEC became public Friday, Twitter said it had reversed its ban and would let users share The Post’s articles. A Twitter spokesman said that the company’s decision reflected the fact that alleged personal information contained in the articles had become widely available across the internet.

NAB Show NY To Celebrate '100 Years of Broadcast News’


The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) will co-produce “100 Years of Broadcast News: Challenges Met, Challenges Anew,” a celebration of broadcasting’s centennial with the industry’s leading voices and historians.

The NAB Show New York main stage session, hosted by Hubbard Radio Chair and CEO Ginny Morris and Beasley Media Group’s Chief Communications Officer Heidi Raphael, will be held October 21, 2020 at 2 p.m. and is available to all NAB Show New York attendees. Registration for the show is available at NABShowNY.com.

Ginny Morris
“Broadcasting has a storied past that needs to be commemorated and celebrated,” said Morris, who additionally serves as co-chair of the LABF. “The industry has been a resource of news, information and entertainment at every juncture of the last 100 years and will be well into the next century. The LABF is committed to preserving that history for the generations that will sustain the industry for the next 100 years.”

Marci Burdick, former head of Television for Schurz Communications and a one-time TV reporter and news director, will interview four award-winning journalists to reflect on broadcasting’s legacy of newsgathering and reporting over the past 100 years, and how broadcasting will face rising challenges in the years ahead. Burdick will conduct interviews with Ted Koppel, senior commentator on CBS “Sunday Morning” and former host of ABC News’ “Nightline”; Carol Marin, director of the DePaul Center for Journalism Integrity & Excellence and political editor at WTTW-TV Chicago; acclaimed news anchor Soledad O’Brien, anchor of “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien”; and former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered” Robert Siegel.

Heidi Raphael
“As we celebrate the heritage of broadcasting, it is impossible to overstate the impact of broadcast radio and television in shaping our history, culture and communities,” said NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith, who will deliver remarks at the event. “Millions of Americans have trusted broadcasters to be their eyes and ears during our nation’s most pivotal events, and broadcasters look forward to serving as a window to the world for the next 100 years.”

The program will also include a visit to the grounds of the old Westinghouse Electric works in Pittsburgh where the National Museum of Broadcasting has recreated the tiny rooftop shack that housed KDKA's transmitter and studio on the night of its historic November 2, 1920 broadcast of the election returns of the presidential race between Warren Harding and James Cox. The host for the visit will be KDKA morning newsman Larry Richert. The segment was made possible by the museum; the Regional Industrial Development Corp., which now owns the site; and video producer Michael Savisky of Make Roots.

Boston News Anchor Fired For Cameo In Film

Alaina Pinto

A cameo in Adam Sandler's new Netflix film has cost a Boston news anchor her job. 

USAToday reports Boston's WHDH 7News morning anchor Alaina Pinto announced on Twitter Thursday that she was fired for violating her contract by appearing in Sandler’s "Hubie Halloween" flick, which debuted on Netflix earlier this month.

"Earlier this week I was let go from 7 News," she wrote on Twitter. "I am posting this because I want to be open and honest with all of you. Last year, I participated in a cameo in the recently released Netflix movie by Adam Sandler, 'Hubie Halloween.' "

Pinto — who joined WHDH in December 2016 — said in doing so, she "mistakenly violated my contract with the station."

During "Hubie Halloween," Pinto appears as an anchor on the fictional morning news show "Wake Up Boston" on Halloween dressed as Harley Quinn. During her broadcast, she discussed Halloween festivities going on in Salem, Massachusetts with her colleague Tracy Phillips, played by Sandler's wife, Jackie. 


The Halloween film, which stars Sandler, Kevin James, Julie Bowen, Maya Rudolph and Noah Schnapp, is trending at No. 2 on Netflix, as of Friday.

October 17 Radio History


➦In 1919...Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was created.

First logo
At the end of World War I, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America was the only company in the United States that was equipped to operate transatlantic radio and telegraph communications. The United States government found this unacceptable since the Marconi Wireless Company of America was entirely owned by a foreign company—the British Marconi Company.

At the prompting of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was undersecretary of the navy at the time, General Electric (GE) formed a privately owned corporation to acquire the assets of American Marconi from British Marconi. On October 17, 1919, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was incorporated and within a month had acquired those assets.

General Electric was the major shareholder of RCA and the two companies cross licensed their patents on long distance transmission equipment. A year later American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) bought into RCA and also cross licensed patents with the new company. Transoceanic radio service began that same year with a major station in New Jersey broadcasting to England, France, Germany, Norway, Japan, and Hawaii. The world’s first licensed radio station also began transmitting in 1920. This station, KDKA of Pittsburgh, was owned by the Westinghouse Company.

In 1921, Westinghouse, too, joined the ranks of asset holders of RCA; in exchange for selling Westinghouse radio equipment to the public, RCA was permitted access to Westinghouse patents.

RCA entered the broadcasting field in 1921 with its transmission of the Dempsey-Carpentier fight in Jersey City, New Jersey. Using a transmitter borrowed from the navy. The company began full-time radio broadcasting shortly afterwards when it became an equal partner with Westinghouse in station WJZ of Newark, NJ.

RCA continued to expand its transoceanic communications operations and opened two more broadcasting stations, in New York and Washington, D.C. In 1924 RCA transmitted the first radio-photo, a portrait of Secretary of State Charles Hughes. This transmission was made from New York to London and back to New York, where it was recorded and marked a pioneering development in the history of television. Two years later, in 1926, RCA formed the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). NBC controlled the radio stations owned by RCA, produced radio programs, and marketed these programs to other radio stations, activities which constituted the first radio network. David Sarnoff, the leading figure at RCA during these formative years, had envisioned the radio network as a form of public service, free from advertising, but this proved financially impossible and sponsors were solicited. At this time RCA began selling components manufactured by the Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey.

Product innovation abounded in this era. In 1927 RCA introduced the first Radiotron tube. This radio tube was the first to operate on alternating current, thereby eliminating the need for batteries—a crucial step in the development of mass-produced electric radios.

David Sarnoff 1922
In the following year RCA purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company. Sarnoff had always wanted to market a radio and phonograph housed in the same box, but the phonograph companies were suspicious of radio, fearing the loss of their market. So Sarnoff decided to purchase a phonograph company. Several years of negotiation preceded RCA’s 1929 purchase of Victor. RCA owned 50% of Victor, General Electric owned 30%, and Westinghouse owned the remainder. RCA formed the RCA-Victor Company (and the RCA Radiotron Company) only after it had acquired tube-manufacturing assets from General Electric and Westinghouse. The trademark of the Victor company, a dog staring at an old phonograph above the caption “His Master’s Voice,” was also purchased by RCA and became one of the most famous trademarks in marketing history.

David Sarnoff became president of RCA in 1930, the year legal problems concerning the company’s monopoly status began. The Justice Department filed an antitrust suit against RCA seeking to strip RCA of all the patents it had gained. The battle ended two years later; RCA retained all of its patents but General Electric, AT&T, and Westinghouse were forced to sell their interests in the company. The General Electric association was remembered in NBC’s trademark three-note chime—G,E,C—which stands for General Electric company.

By this time RCA’s various businesses included broadcasting, communications, marine radio, manufacturing and merchandising, and a radio school. The year after it became an independent company, RCA moved into its new headquarters—the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center in New York City.


➦In 1934..."The Aldrich Family" premiered on radio.

Ezra Stone, Jackie Kelk 1947
It was a popular radio teenage situation comedy (1939-1953), was also presented in films, television and comic books. In the radio series' well-remembered weekly opening exchange, awkward teen Henry's mother called, "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!", and he responded with a breaking adolescent voice, "Com-ing, Mother!"

The creation of playwright Clifford Goldsmith, Henry Aldrich began on Broadway as a minor character in Goldsmith's play What a Life. Produced and directed by George Abbott, What a Life ran for 538 performances.

When Rudy Vallee saw the play, he asked Goldsmith to adapt it into some sketches for his radio program, and this was followed in 1938 by a 39-week run of a sketch comedy series on The Kate Smith Hour with Stone continuing in the role of Henry. Kate Smith's director, Bob Welsh, is credited with the creation of the "Hen-reeeeeeeeeeeee! Hen-ree Al-drich!" opening, which eventually became one of the most famous signature sounds in radio.

After finding an audience with Kate Smith's listeners, The Aldrich Family was launched in its own series as a summer replacement program for Jack Benny in NBC's Sunday night lineup, July 2, 1939, and it stayed there until October 1, 1939, when it moved to Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., sponsored by General Foods's popular gelatin dessert Jell-O, which also sponsored Jack Benny at the time. The Aldrichs ran in that slot from October 10, 1939 until May 28, 1940, moving to Thursdays, from July 4, 1940 until July 20, 1944. After a brief hiatus, the show moved to CBS, running on Fridays from September 1, 1944 until August 30, 1946 with sponsors Grape Nuts and Jell-O before moving back to NBC from September 5, 1946 to June 28, 1951 on Thursdays and, then, as a Sustaining program in its final run of September 21, 1952 to April 19, 1953 on Sundays.

The main characters (created by Clifford Goldsmith) never age. Henry Aldrich (portrayed by Ezra Stone, Vic Jones and Bobby Ellis) is one of those types of teenagers everyone has met at sometime during life, as is his best buddy, Homer Brown (Jackie Kelk, Jack Grimes, Johnny Fieldler). More characters: Mary (Henry's sister).



The show was a top-ten ratings hit within two years of its birth (in 1941, the show carried a 33.4 Crossley rating, landing it solidly alongside Jack Benny and Bob Hope). Earning $3000 a week, Goldsmith was the highest paid writer in radio, and his show became a prototype for the teen-oriented situation comedies that followed on radio and television.


➦In 1938...NBC moved its studios to the corner of Sunset and Vine, the “Crossroads of the World”.

The new Hollywood Radio City drew thousands of visitors ready to fill studio-audience seats for NBC’s popular programs.


➦In 1939...the radio adventure serial Captain Midnight premiered from the studios of WGN Chicago.   Within the year it was appointment listening for kids coast-to-coast, nightly on Mutual


NY Daily News 10/18/1966
➦In 1966...Jack Sterling aired last show at WCBS 880 AM. Appreciation site: Click Here.

Jack Sterling was born in Baltimore on June 24, 1915, the son of Jack Sexton and Edna Cable. The names of Sexton and Cable were of considerable note in show business, a profession to which Jack's parents devoted forty years. It was natural then that Jack was destined to make his debut as an actor at an early age. He did, at age 2 when he appeared as Little Willie in 'East Lynne.' By the time he was 7, Sterling had worked up a routine as a minstrel and played the same bill as his parents in their coast-to-coast tours. At 15, he was a leading player in the John D. Winninger stock company which toured midwestern cities.

He rounded out his experience....and in 1939 settled down in Peoria, Illinois, where he joined WMBD as an announcer and producer.

One year later he moved to WTAD in Quincy, Ill., as program director and from there to CBS Radio's KMOX, St. Louis.

In 1947, after two years at KMOX, he was promoted to program manager of CBS Radio's WBBM, Chicago.

While in that post, CBS Radio sent out a call to its affiliates requesting audition records of its top local talent. Arthur Godfrey's heavy network broadcasting schedule was forcing him to give up his local WCBS Radio morning show and a replacement was needed. Sterling became active in the midwestern search for a candidate but overlooked the person who was to get the job: himself.

"I never considered myself as a candidate because I decided to devote my time to the executive phase of radio," Jack recalls.

"However, WCBS Radio asked for my audition record."

Jack's modesty was underlined by the fact that he would only make the audition record on the condition that WCBS Radio would pay the cost. The station did, and on November 5, 1948, Sterling made his debut on WCBS Radio in the early morning time formerly occupied by Godfrey.

STERLING AIRCHECK: 10th Anniversary Show 1958, (courtesy of Jack Sterling Appreciation website).

Sterling died of lung cancer in 1990 at age 75.


➦In 1991...News anchor Bree Walker Lampley filed a complaint with the FCC against Los Angeles radio station KFI 640 AM saying it personally attacked her by talking about her having a disformed baby.


➦In 2006...Joseph Christopher Glenn died from liver cancer (Born - March 23, 1938), He was a radio and television news journalist who worked in broadcasting for over 45 years and spent the final 35 years of his career at CBS, retiring in 2006 at the age of 68.

His early years in broadcasting were spent working for the American Forces Network while he served in the US Army in 1960.

Christopher Glenn
Glenn worked at various radio stations in New York, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C. before joining CBS in 1971. While at CBS, Glenn worked in a variety of capacities in its news organization. He was a narrator for In the News, a long-running Emmy award-winning TV news program geared toward children and young people, which aired between the network's Saturday-morning children's shows. Glenn also appeared on camera as an anchor for the short-lived "30 Minutes", a young people's version of "60 Minutes".

He served as an anchor for two of the CBS Radio Network's signature news roundups carried by affiliates in the United States - The World Tonight (now the CBS World News Roundup Late Edition) from 1988 to 1999, and the morning CBS World News Roundup from 1999 until his retirement. Glenn's final morning broadcast occurred on February 23, 2006.

From 1982 to 1984, Glenn served as a television news anchor, on CBS News Nightwatch, which aired from 2-6 a.m. weekdays.

Glenn made his best-known report on January 28, 1986, when he anchored CBS Radio's live coverage of the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Glenn had just signed off—after what was thought to have been a normal launch—when the shuttle disintegrated, killing the seven astronauts on board. "I had to get back on the air real fast to describe that, and had a very difficult time doing that," he recalled. Glenn and correspondent Frank Mottek (later a reporter at CBS Radio Station KNX L-A) covered the Challenger disaster from that point as a CBS NetAlert bulletin.



Glenn was among the first CBS News correspondents to use a personal computer (an Apple II). Glenn continued to play sound clips in his newscasts from carts long after most of the industry had switched to computer-based playback systems.

Glenn, who suffered from liver cancer, died suddenly on October 17, 2006 in Norwalk, Connecticut. Glenn was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago on November 4.

Ted Hallaman

➦In 2010...Cleveland radio personality "Tall Ted" Hallaman died at the age of 83.  He was born Eleftherios Hallaman and raised in Aliquippa and Ambridge, Pa.

He earned a journalism degree at Duquesne University and started broadcasting there. He worked in Beaver Falls, Pittsburgh and Youngstown before reaching Cleveland and WGAR in 1960. Local critics called him Cleveland's first radio personality.

He quickly became a star. In 1961, the station held a "Take a Pretty Girl to Lunch" contest for a date with him on Valentine's Day. "A married woman won the contest," he later told The Plain Dealer. "She brought her husband along on the date.

Hallaman lost several gigs over the years but found new ones fast. Some of his longer stops were at WHK, WQAL and WKHR.  In 1973, Hallaman became president of the local American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY:
  • Actor Marsha Hunt is 103. 
  • Singer Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts is 78. 
  • Singer Gary Puckett of Gary Puckett and the Union Gap is 78. 
  • Actor Michael McKean is 73. 
  • Sharon Leal is 48
    Actor George Wendt is 72. 
  • Singer-comedian Bill Hudson of The Hudson Brothers is 71. 
  • Country singer Alan Jackson is 62. 
  • Actor Grant Shaud (“Murphy Brown”) is 60. 
  • Animator Mike Judge (“King of the Hill,” ″Beavis and Butthead”) is 58. 
  • Comedian Norm Macdonald is 57. 
  • Singer Rene’ Dif (Aqua) is 53. 
  • Reggae singer Ziggy Marley is 52. 
  • Actor Wood Harris (“The Wire”) is 51. 
  • Singer Wyclef Jean of The Fugees is 51. 
  • Singer Chris Kirkpatrick of ’N Sync is 49. 
  • Rapper Eminem is 47. 
  • Actor Sharon Leal (“Boston Public”) is 48. 
  • Actor Felicity Jones (“The Theory of Everything”) is 37. 
  • Actor Chris Lowell (“The Help,” ″Private Practice”) is 36. 
  • Actor Dee Jay Daniels (“The Hughleys,” ″In The House”) is 32.

Friday, October 16, 2020

The Rundown: Trump, Biden Appear In Dueling Town Halls

Newsday 10/16/20

On the night when President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden were supposed to appear in their second presidential debate before Trump backed out when it was changed to a virtual format in the wake of his coronavirus diagnosis, the two presidential candidates appeared in dueling town halls on separate networks last night at the same 8 p.m. ET hour, Trump on NBC in Miami and Biden on ABC in Philadelphia. 



Trump defended his administration's handling of the coronavirus and declared that we're "rounding the corner," and addressed why he's nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett for the Supreme Court just weeks before the election when in 2016 he said then-President Barack Obama shouldn't nominate a justice nine months before the election because it was an election year, saying his stance had changed because of what he said was the bad treatment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was nominated in 2018. He also addressed issues including health care, taxes, policing and racial justice. 



In his town hall, Biden was critical of Trump's handling of the coronavirus, including him rarely wearing a mask and sometimes mocking those who do. Asked about the possibility of expanding the Supreme Court if Barrett is confirmed, Biden again wouldn't give an answer, but said he'd do so before the election depending on how Barrett's nomination, quote, "is handled," while stating he's, quote, "still not a fan" of expanding the court. Giving answers that were at times lengthy and in the policy weeds, Biden also addressed issues including tax cuts, policing and climate change.

CORONAVIRUS CASES GROWING IN U.S. AT RATE NOT SEEN SINCE JUNE: coronavirus cases is speeding up again in the U.S., growing at a rate not seen since June, according to USA Today, which said that at the current rate, we could set a record for new cases in a single week in the first days of November. The U.S. added more than 366,400 cases in the past week, nearly 50,000 higher than what was added the previous week, with cases particularly surging across the Midwest. Hospitalizations are also rising. There have been more than 217,700 deaths in the U.S. as of early this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University's count, and more than 7,980,000 confirmed cases. Europe is also seeing a surge in cases.



WHO: Remdesivir Doesn't Work: The World Health Organization said yesterday that the results of a study it described as conclusive show that the drug remdesivir has, quote, "little to no effect on mortality" of hospitalized coronavirus patients and doesn't seem to help patients recover any faster either. Remdesivir had been the only drug that appeared to have some benefits against the coronavirus and had been given emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. The study covered more than 11,000 coronavirus patients in 30 countries. However, remdesivir's maker, Gilead Sciences, questioned the WHO results. A previous large study in the U.S. had found that remdesivir shortened recovery time in severely ill patients, but did little to help those with milder cases.

➤BARRETT MOVES CLOSER TO CONFIRMATION: Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett moved a step closer to confirmation Thursday as the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee set October 22nd for its vote on whether to send the nomination to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. That came over the continued objections of Democrats on the committee, with Senator Chris Coons of Delaware saying, "You don’t convene a Supreme Court confirmation hearing, in the middle of a pandemic, when the Senate’s on recess, when voting has already started in the presidential election in a majority of states." After opening remarks by Barrett and senators on Monday followed by two days of questioning, Barrett wasn't present yesterday as the committee heard from people in support and opposition to her nomination.

➤THREE ASSOCIATED WITH BIDEN CAMPAIGN POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS: Joe Biden's campaign revealed yesterday that three people associated with the campaign had tested positive for the coronavirus. One is a top aide to vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris, and Harris will temporarily suspend travel, even though she has tested negative. Biden also continues to test negative, and will continue to travel as medical experts say they don't believe he was exposed.

➤TEXAS BILLIONAIRE CHARGED IN TAX FRAUD SCHEME, LARGEST AGAINST AMERICAN: The Justice Department announced yesterday that it had charged 79-year-old Texas billionaire Robert Brockman in a $2 billion tax fraud scheme that they said is the largest such case against an American. The officials said that Brockman, CEO of Ohio-based software company Reynolds and Reynolds, hid capital gains income over 20 years through a web of offshore entities in Bermuda and Nevis and secret bank accounts in Bermuda and Switzerland. Brockman pled not guilty yesterday and was released on $1 million bond.

⚾ASTROS WIN ALCS GAME 5 ON CORREA WALKOFF HOMER, NOW DOWN 3-2 TO RAYS: The Houston Astros won Game 5 of the American League Championship Series last night 4-3 on a ninth-inning walkoff home run by Carlos Correa with one out. They now trail the Tampa Bay Rays 3 games to 2, avoiding elimination in a second straight game. Game 6 will be played today.

⚾BRAVES BEAT DODGERS 10-2, TAKE 3-1 NLCS LEAD: The Atlanta Braves beat the L.A. Dodgers 10-2 last night, taking a 3 games to 1 lead in the National League Championship Series. They got the lopsided win in a game in which Marcell Ozuna homered twice. Game 5 is tonight. 



🏈BELL SIGNS ONE-YEAR DEAL WITH CHIEFS: Running back Le'Veon Bell signed a one-year deal with the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs yesterday (October 15th), two days after being released by the New York Jets. Bell's relationship with the Jets never really meshed, particularly with head coach Adam Gase, and a frustrated Bell had reportedly spoken with Gase and general manager Joe Douglas about wanting out.

🏀REPORTS: LUE TO BE CLIPPERS NEW COACH: Tyronn Lue has agreed to be the L.A. Clippers' new head coach, according to media reports yesterday (October 15th). He will replace Doc Rivers, who's now coaching the Philadelphia 76ers after seven seasons with the Clippers. Lue was on Rivers' Clippers staff this season. Lue was previously head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2016 to 2018, including leading them to the NBA championship in the spring of 2016 as a rookie coach.

➤SABAN STILL ASYMPTOMATIC AFTER TESTING POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS: Legendary Alabama football coach Nick Saban said Thursday that he was still asymptomatic after testing positive for the coronavirus a day earlier. The 68-year-old said on his radio show last night that he hadn't had any symptoms and had been able to do all his work from home, where he's self-isolating. However, he won't be allowed to coach Alabama from home against Georgia this weekend.

Radio Called 'Soundtrack of Economic Recovery'


The latest Westwood One blog highlights new results from Nielsen of a just-completed national consumer study of 1,000 respondents that was conducted October 1-5. 


This is fourth in a series of studies that have tracked the pandemic’s impact on consumer movement, spending, attitudes, and media usage. The prior studies were conducted in April, May, and June of this year. 
  • Commuting surge: There is a +56% increase in the number of Americans working outside the home. Nielsen reports 61% of U.S. workers are now commuting to their workplace, up from 39% in early May.
  • The number of at-home workers is down -55%. As of early October, Nielsen finds 19% of those employed are working at home, down from 42% in May.
  • Dallas Federal Reserve: In September, 69% of U.S. workers commuted to work and 20% worked from home. Validating Nielsen’s findings is a just-released national commuting study from the Dallas Federal Reserve. As of September 2020, 69% of those who were employed pre-pandemic were commuting to work. 20% were working from home and 11% were not employed.
  • Half of American schoolchildren are driven to school with AM/FM radio playing in the car. 50% say their children are driven to school (3% carpool, 47% parent/family member). 44% of American schoolchildren are taking the bus. 62% indicate that AM/FM radio is always on, and 35% say AM/FM radio is sometimes on in the car.
  • AM/FM radio’s audience recovery, and time spent in the car is powered by commuting increases and a return to school. From May to October, Nielsen finds daily time spent in the car has grown +81% from 36 minutes in May to 65 minutes in October. Among heavy AM/FM radio listeners, daily time spent in the car has doubled from an hour and six minutes a day to two hours and eleven minutes.
  • AM/FM radio is the soundtrack of the American economic recovery. Across 29 purchase categories, heavy AM/FM radio listeners show stronger purchase intentions compared to heavy TV viewers.
  • The economy will affect holiday shopping, but AM/FM radio listeners will spend more than the average. A greater proportion of heavy AM/FM radio listeners say they will spend more this holiday (14%) versus heavy TV viewers (10%) and the overall market (10%).

EMF Promotes Mandy Young To PD for Radio Group


Educational Media Foundation (EMF) is adjusting its internal structure to incorporate three positions among its contemporary Christian music radio networks (K-LOVE and Air1):
  • EMF Radio Group Program Director
  • Air1 Assistant Program Director/Music Director
  • K-LOVE Assistant Program Director (To be hired)
After more than a decade on-air and behind-the-scenes at Air1, Mandy Young has been named Program Director of the EMF Radio Group and will now head programming for both the K-LOVE and Air1 networks. In her new role, Young, who served most recently as Air1 Program Director and On-Air Talent, will continue to report to Jim Houser, Chief Content Officer.

Mandy Young
Houser, who joined EMF in May 2020, said “I was privileged to speak with an extensive group of highly qualified candidates on the search for the programmer to lead K-LOVE. I was on the hunt for a Program Director with a passion for the Gospel, an excitement for the challenge, and an ear for hits, imaging, and air talent—a tall task. I spoke to people all over the country, and the right choice was in our building the whole time.”

“After years in the AC and CHR worlds as an air-talent giant,” Houser added, “Mandy has been blazing the trail for a ground-breaking worship format on Air1. She understands Christian formats and the faith audience in a way few do, and I’m ecstatic about the future of K-LOVE and Air1 with Mandy leading the way.”

“When I started in radio more than 20 years ago,” Young said, “coming in two minutes before the start of my morning show with a towel on my head, I never imagined I’d be here today. I am humbled by and excited for this new role. I have loved this ministry and the people it reaches for 11 years and I look forward to leading an amazing team at K-LOVE and Air1.”

Supporting Young in her expanded position, Dan Arthur (half of Air1’s morning show team, “Dan & Michelle”) adds Assistant Program Director and Music Director to his role at Air1. Dan will remain on-air, while also putting his 20+ years of radio experience as a PD, APD and MD to use. Arthur also has extensive experience with music research and a true passion for Air1 and the all-worship format.

“I’ve had the pleasure of spending the last two years working alongside Dan,” Young said. “I’ve seen firsthand how deeply he cares for the ministry and for sharing Jesus with people. I’m excited to see the contributions Dan will bring to his new role and I am sure our audience will benefit greatly from his creativity and skillset.”

The hiring of an Assistant Program Director for the K-LOVE network is planned.

Twitter Changes Policy That Blocked NYPost Story


Twitter issued a stunning policy reversal Thursday, changing a rule about hacked materials that resulted in blocking a controversial New York Post story about the alleged emails of Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s son, The Washington Post is reporting.

The link to the New York Post story will still be blocked under a policy that prohibits sharing people’s personal information, the company said.

Late Thursday night, Twitter executive Vijaya Gadde tweeted that the company made the decision after receiving “feedback” over the past 24 hours that the policy on hacked materials as written could result in undue censorship of journalists and whistleblowers. Going forward, the company will remove content only if it’s directly posted by hackers or those acting in concert with them. It will label more questionable tweets.

The late-night move reflected the challenges of real-time decision-making being made by Silicon Valley companies in the name of protecting public discussion during a presidential election that has been marred by disinformation and misleading news. Tech companies are intent on avoiding a repeat of the 2016 election, when their platforms were exploited by Russian operatives. As a result, they have issued a host of new rules and have taken some highly unusual actions, including censoring a major U.S. media company.

“Content moderation is incredibly difficult, especially in the critical context of an election. We are trying to act responsibly & quickly to prevent harms, but we’re still learning along the way,” Gadde, who leads the company’s legal, policy, and trust and safety divisions, wrote,

Facebook and Twitter take unusual steps to limit spread of New York Post story

On Wednesday, Twitter blocked the link to the article in which President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and former top adviser Stephen K. Bannon claimed to have obtained and leaked a trove of private materials from Hunter Biden. The leaked documents suggested that at one point he gave a Ukrainian executive the “opportunity” to meet the former vice president. The Biden campaign said his schedule indicated no such meeting took place.

The story surged to the top of Twitter’s trending topics list before it was censored.

FCC To Consider Trump's Plan To Weaken Social Media Legal Shield


U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency will consider U.S. President Donald Trump’s request to weaken legal protections for social media companies such as Twitter Inc., reports Bloomberg.

The FCC will begin a rulemaking to “clarify” the meaning of a law that gives broad legal immunity to social media companies for their handling of users’ posts, Pai said in an emailed statement.

The action follows a request by the Trump administration for regulators to dilute the decades-old law that Facebook Inc., Twitter and Google say is crucial.

The request was called for in an executive order that Trump signed in May. Tech trade groups, civil liberties organizations and legal scholars have slammed the action and said it isn’t likely to survive a court challenge.

Pai in his statement that “many advance an overly broad interpretation that in some cases shields social media companies from consumer protection laws.”

“Social media companies have a First Amendment right to free speech,” Pai said in his statement. “But they do not have a First Amendment right to a special immunity denied to other media outlets, such as newspapers and broadcasters.”

Fargo Radio: Virus Sidelines KFGO's Joel Heitkamp

Joel Heitkamp
KFGO News and Views host Joel Heitkamp is in self-quarantine at home after testing positive for Covid-19.

According to the statio's website, he began to show symptoms of the virus last weekend. Heitkamp, who is 58, said he’s lost his sense of taste and smell and is experiencing body aches.

“I am in a part of the process where it’s certainly after talking with people in the medical field, it certainly looks as though I’m going to be one of the lucky ones in terms of how this has infected me, in terms of how I’m going to feel throughout this process, not going to feel good, not going to feel great,” Heitkamp said during his Thurs. show.

Heitkamp, who has tried to social distance as much as possible, said he won’t leave home or return to work until he’s cleared. He’s been doing his show remotely from home. KFGO and other Midwest Communications radio stations in Fargo have required masks for employees for several weeks.

Heitkamp also serves as operations manager for News-Talk KFGO and KNFL 740 The Fan.

Street Talk Has The Drudge Report Up For Sale

Screenshot 10/16/20

Ever since rumors began circulating that Matt Drudge might be looking for an investor in his popular Drudge Report website, media watchers have been trying to figure out what the 25-year news aggregation site might be worth, reports The NYPost.

One Drudge watcher pegs it north of $200 million while others say its closer to $100 million. Any minority stake would be discounted, however, since Drudge is unlikely to surrender any control of the news aggregation site, which links to 50 or more stories a day and usually pushes a political agenda.

The Drudge Report has been grabbing attention this year for boosting Joe Biden instead of Trump, who it pushed in 2016. The apparent change-of-heart has drawn the ire of the President, who recently tweeted that the Drudge Report “sold out,” and suggested that its provocateur founder may have suffered a “nervous breakdown.”

Rumors that Drudge is looking for an investor swept the publishing and financial worlds a few weeks ago, but remain just that. And emails to the reclusive Drudge were not returned.

Following Media Ink’s Sept. 29 column on the rumors, website 24/7 Wall Street wrote that the privately held company that could be worth over $100 million.

But Matthew Lysiak, author of the recently released bio “Drudge Revolution,” thinks the valuation is easily double that figure. “If Axios is really worth $200 million, Drudge has to be worth well north of that.” He pointed out that Axios attracts about 16 million unique visitors per month. “Drudge has that on a very bad month. And his overhead is much lower. ”

“Drudge has himself, a server, and one employee,” said Lysiak. “That’s it. Those are all of his expenses. No office. No staff. Nothing.”

Traffic is important because it determines ad revenue. But it remains unclear how much traffic Drudge really has and calls to the firm handling the site’s ad sales, Granite Cubed, were not returned.

Drudge on his website Thursday claimed that in the last 24 hours he had 27.3 million “visits,” and that over that last month he attracted 767.2 million “visits.” But there is no clarity on whether that is one visitor turning up numerous times per day or a “unique visitor” who would only be counted once a month. Comscore, which tracks unique visitors and other traffic metrics, has not returned numerous calls and emails seeking Drudge’s numbers in recent weeks.

C-Span Suspends Canceled Debate Moderator Steve Scully


C-SPAN announced Thursday it had suspended political editor Steve Scully indefinitely after he admitted he lied that his Twitter account was hacked after a message to former Trump aide-turned-adversary Anthony Scaramucci emerged.

FOX News reports Scully, the "Washington Journal" host who was slated to moderate the now-canceled town hall debate between president Trump and Joe Biden, went viral last week after a tweet sent from his account indicated he had reached out to the former White House communications director.

Scully issued his first statement addressing the controversy to CNN following his suspension.

"For several weeks, I was subjected to relentless criticism on social media and in conservative news outlets regarding my role as moderator for the second presidential debate, including attacks aimed directly at my family," Scully wrote. "This culminated on Thursday, October 8th when I heard President Trump go on national television twice and falsely attack me by name. Out of frustration, I sent a brief tweet addressed to Anthony Scaramucci. The next morning when I saw that this tweet had created a controversy, I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked."

"These were both errors in judgment for which I am totally responsible. I apologize," Scully said.

He continued, "These actions have let down a lot of people, including my colleagues at C-SPAN, where I have worked for the past 30 years, professional colleagues in the media, and the team at the Commission on Presidential Debates. I ask for their forgiveness as I try to move forward in a moment of reflection and disappointment in myself."



C-SPAN also issued a statement, revealing that the network and the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) were made aware about Scully's fabrication on Wednesday.

Comcast Settles Pay Discrimination Allegations


Comcast Corp. agreed to pay $295,000 to 45 Black and Hispanic workers at its Philadelphia headquarters and raised some salaries to settle allegations of pay discrimination from the U.S. Department of Labor, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) said it accused Comcast of discriminating against Black workers in engineering and program project management, as well as Hispanic employees in marketing and strategic planning. The agency said it found average pay disparities for the various positions ranging from $2,337 to $4,850 for those workers as of July 1, 2018, according to the agreement between the government and the cable giant.

Comcast will also make $78,670 in salary adjustments, monitor compensation for workers in those areas, and conduct training for staffers involved in determining base salaries.

Comcast denies the allegations but said it decided to resolve the matter to avoid litigation.

The Labor Department said it found the pay disparities during a routine compliance audit to see whether workers face barriers to advancing into mid-level and senior corporate management. The agency enforces federal laws that make it illegal for contractors doing business with the federal government to discriminate in employment.

Comcast, with 190,000 employees worldwide and 9,000 at its Philadelphia campus, has contracts with several federal agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Corporation for National and Community Service, the Labor Department said in a news release late Wednesday.