Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.
Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season.
Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars, including World War II, The Vietnam War, The Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For decades, Memorial Day continued to be observed on May 30, the date General Logan had selected for the first Decoration Day. But in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The change went into effect in 1971. The same law also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday.
➦In 1903...comedian Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in London England (Died – July 27, 2003). He was a British-born American stand-up comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, and author. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 54 feature films with Hope as star, including a series of seven "Road" musical comedy movies with Bing Crosby as Hope's top-billed partner.
In addition to hosting the Academy Awards show 19 times, more than any other host, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles, and was the author of 14 books. The song "Thanks for the Memory" was his signature tune. Hope was born in the Eltham district of southeast London, UK, arrived in the United States of America with his family at the age of four, and grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio, area.
After a brief career as a boxer in the late 1910s, he began his career in show business in the early 1920s, initially as a comedian and dancer on the vaudeville circuit, before acting on Broadway. Hope began appearing on radio and in films starting in 1934. He was praised for his comedic timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes which often were self-deprecating. He helped establish modern American stand-up comedy.
Celebrated for his long career performing in United Service Organizations (USO) shows to entertain active duty American military personnel, making 57 tours for the USO between 1941 and 1991, Hope was declared an honorary veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces in 1997 by an act of the United States Congress. He appeared in numerous specials for NBC television starting in 1950, and was one of the first users of cue cards.
He debuted on NBC radio in 1935, and was heard on a weekly basis for the next 23 years, though the last 4 years were repeats. His TV show debuted in 1952, and his final special aired in 1996 when he was 93.
Hope retired in 1997, and died at the age of 100 in 2003, at his home in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.
➦In 1918...Herbert Arthur "Herb" Shriner born (Died – April 23, 1970). He was a humorist, radio personality and television host. Shriner was known for his homespun monologues, usually about his home state of Indiana. He was frequently compared to humorist Will Rogers.
Herb Shriner
In 1940, Shriner was hired by NBC for occasional radio appearances, which led to a regular spot in 1942 and 1943 on the comedy-variety program Camel Caravan. During World War II, he served in a United States Army special services unit and performed for two years in USO shows for GIs in Europe. After the war, he appeared on a number of radio shows, including The Philip Morris Follies of 1946 with Johnny Desmond and Margaret Whiting.
In 1947 he appeared in a Broadway musical review called Inside U.S.A. The performances were panned by critics, but Shriner's monologues made it a success and carried the show for over a year. Shriner hosted Herb Shriner Time, a CBS Radio weekday program, in 1948 and 1949 with the Raymond Scott Quintet, singer Dorothy Collins, and announcer Durward Kirby.
Herb Shriner Time evolved into a short-lived, fifteen-minute television show. A half-hour version on ABC ran during the 1951-52 season. Shriner found TV success with Two for the Money, a game show which appeared on NBC in the 1952-53 season, then moved to CBS for three seasons.
He died in an auto accident April 23 1970 at age 51.
➦In 1939…'When a Girl Marries' aired for the first time on CBS Radio. It was a daytime radio drama which was broadcast on three major radio networks from 1939 to 1957. It was the highest rated soap opera during the mid-1940s.
➦In 1941...Robert David "Bob" Simon born (Died in a car accident – February 11, 2015). He was a radio, TV correspondent for CBS News. During his career, he covered crises, war, and unrest in 67 countries. Simon reported the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, the Israeli-Lebanese Conflict in 1982, and the student protests in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989. During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, he and four of his TV crew were captured and imprisoned by Iraq for 40 days. He published a book about the experience titled "Forty Days."
He became a regular correspondent for CBS's 60 Minutes in 1996 and, in 1999, for 60 Minutes II. At the time of his death in an auto accident, he served as 60 Minutes senior foreign correspondent.
➦In 1942…Bing Crosby, backed by the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra, recorded Irving Berlin's "White Christmas." The first public performance of the song was by Bing Crosby, on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall on Christmas Day, 1941; a copy of the recording from the radio program is owned by Crosby's estate and was loaned to CBS News Sunday Morning for their December 25, 2011 program. It was released on July 30 as part of an album of six 78-rpm discs from the musical film Holiday Inn. At first, Crosby did not see anything special about the song.
By the end of October 1942, "White Christmas" topped the Your Hit Parade chart. It remained in that position until well into the new year. It has often been noted that the mix of melancholy—"just like the ones I used to know"—with comforting images of home—"where the treetops glisten"—resonated especially strongly with listeners during World War II. A few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Crosby introduced "White Christmas" on a Christmas Day broadcast. The Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests for the song. The recording is noted for Crosby's whistling during the second chorus.
In 1942 alone, Crosby's recording spent eleven weeks on top of the Billboard charts. In Holiday Inn, the composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942.
➦In 1961...Jack Spector began working as a disk jockey in New York in 1961 at WMCA 570 AM, where he was a member of a group of broadcasting personalities called the Good Guys. He labeled himself Your Main Man Jake and usually closed his shows saying, "Look out street, here I come!"
He switched to WHN 1050 AM in 1972, then for nine years was the host of the "Saturday Night Sock Hop" on WCBS 101.1 FM. He also worked for a brief period as the host of a sports talk show for WNBC 660 AM.
Spector broke into broadcasting in Martinsburg, W.Va., in 1955, then worked for stations in Albany, Providence, R.I., and Chicago before returning to New York. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he attended Brooklyn College and had a brief tryout as a minor-league baseball player with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization. He served in the United States Army in Korea.
➦In 1977...the NBC News & Information Service, which was a 24-hour-a-day news service, ended.
NBC launched the NBC News and Information Service (NIS) in 1975. According to Faded Signals, it allowed local radio stations to launch all-news formats, providing affiliates with up to 55 minutes of news per hour.
NBC aired the service on its Washington station, WRC. It also added the all-news format on its network-owned FM stations in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco.
Many stations signed on with the service, but by 1976, NBC was not sure if its network would ever become profitable.
➦In 1978...former radio personality and actor Bob Crane (Donna Reed Show, Hogan in Hogan’s Heroes), died at age 49, the victim of a brutal murder.
Bob Crane
A drummer from age 11, Crane began his career as a radio personality, first in New York City and then Connecticut before moving to Los Angeles, where he hosted the number-one rated morning show. In the early 1960s, he moved into acting, eventually landing the lead role of Colonel Robert E. Hogan in Hogan's Heroes. The series aired from 1965 to 1971, and Crane received two Prime-Time Emmy Award nominations for his work on the series. After Hogan's Heroes ended, Crane's career declined. He became frustrated with the few roles he was being offered and began doing dinner theater. In 1975, he returned to television in the NBC series The Bob Crane Show. The series received poor ratings and was cancelled after 13 weeks. Afterwards, Crane returned to performing in dinner theaters and also appeared in occasional guest spots on television.
While on tour for his play Beginner's Luck in June 1978, Crane was found bludgeoned to death in his Scottsdale apartment, a murder that remains officially unsolved. This suspicious nature of his death and later revelations about his personal life gradually changed Crane's posthumous image from a cultural icon to a controversial figure.
➦In 1979..."The Source", considered Radio's first rock news network, debuted.
w/Groucho Marx
➦In 1997...Radio, TV announcer George Fenneman (left) died at age 77 (Born - November 10, 1919). He is most remembered as the announcer and good-natured sidekick for Groucho Marx's comedy/quiz show vehicle You Bet Your Life, which began in 1947 on radio and moved to television in 1950, where it remained on NBC for 11 years. Fenneman's mellifluous voice, clean-cut good looks, and gentlemanly manner provided the ideal foil for Marx's zany antics and bawdy ad libs.
Fenneman was one of a pair of announcers on Dragnet; he shared narration duties with Hal Gibney on radio and the original 1951 Dragnet television series, and then with John Stephenson when Dragnet returned to TV in 1967. It was Fenneman's voice which announced, "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent." while Stephenson would be heard at the end of the episode describing the court trials and verdicts.
➦In 2012…Radio actor Dick Beals, for many years the voice of "Speedy" in Alka-Seltzer TV commercials, died at the age of 85.
In January 1949, as a senior at MSU, Beals got a call to do a radio commercial for WXYZ, Detroit. After the show, the director asked him to be on call for all the children's voices as well as those of small, talking animals on all three network radio shows produced by WXYZ - The Lone Ranger, Green Hornet and Challenge of the Yukon.
In 1952, after performing in an episode of The Green Hornet, WXYZ station manager Jack McCarthy referred Beals to Forrest Owen of Wade Advertising. Owen showed Beals a rendering of a proposed product spokesman for their client, Alka-Seltzer and had him record a voice audition. Four months later, Beals was notified that he had been selected as the voice for Speedy Alka-Seltzer as well as the voice of Sticky, the Vaseline mascot.
Standing just 4'7" tall due to a glandular problem that also gave him his youthful voice, Beals provided the voices of 10-year-old boys well into his 70s.
➦In 2014…Former WNEW 102.7 FM NYC personality Dave Herman died of an aneurysm at 78 while in federal custody awaiting trial on charges of attempting to transport a 7-year-old girl from New Jersey to the Virgin Islands for a sexual liaison.
➦In 2014…Kenneth George Schram died at age 66 from kidney failure (Born - December 17, 1947). He was a news and radio broadcaster based in Seattle, Washington and was the former host of local-affairs show Town Meeting and KOMO 4’s evening news segments called "Schram on the Street." For several years he hosted a radio show, The Commentators, on KOMO Newsradio with conservative John Carlson.
That show was discontinued in September 2010. Starting September 20, 2010, Schram and Carlson each began hosting new, separate shows on the same station, with Carlson on from 9:00AM to Noon and Schram from Noon to 3:00PM. Schram is also known for his personal award, the "Schrammie", which he gave out on the air to "underscore what I think are among the worst of bone-headed decision, and/or the most appalling of asinine behavior", usually to local or regional newsmakers.
After a 35-year career, Ken Schram was fired from KOMO 4 and Radio on December 7, 2012, citing cutbacks to full-time employees.
Latoya Jackson is 67
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Anthony Geary (“General Hospital”) is 76.
Singer Rebbie Jackson is 73.
Composer Danny Elfman (Oingo Boingo) is 70.
Singer LaToya Jackson is 67.
Actor Ted Levine (“Monk,” ″The Silence of the Lambs”) is 66.
Actor Annette Bening is 65.
Actor Rupert Everett is 64.
Actor Adrian Paul (TV’s “The Highlander”) is 64.
Singer Melissa Etheridge is 62.
Actor Lisa Whelchel (“The Facts of Life”) is 60.
Guitarist Noel Gallagher (Oasis) is 56.
Singer Jayski McGowan of Quad City DJ’s is 56.
Actor Anthony Azizi (“Threat Matrix,” ″Lost”) is 54.
Guitarist Chan Kinchla of Blues Traveler is 54.
Actor Laverne Cox (“Doubt,” ″Orange Is the New Black”) is 51.
Guitarist Mark Lee of Third Day is 50.
Cartoonist Aaron McGruder (“Boondocks”) is 49.
Singer Melanie Brown (“Scary Spice”) of the Spice Girls is 48.
Rapper Playa Poncho is 48.
Singer Fonseca is 44.
Actor Justin Chon (“Deception,” ″Dr. Ken”) is 42.
Actor Billy Flynn (“Days of Our Lives”) is 38.
Actor Blake Foster (“Power Rangers Turbo”) is 38.
Actor Riley Keough (“Daisy Jones and the Six”) is 34.
Actor Brandon Mychal Smith (“Sonny With a Chance”) is 34.
Actor Kristen Alderson (“General Hospital,” ″One Life to Live”) is 32.
Actor Lorelei Linklater (“Boyhood”) is 30.
✞DEATH ANNIVERSARIES:
In 1979..Mary Pickford, Canadian actress (Poor Little Rich Girl, Suds, Secrets), dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 87
In 1982..Romy Schneider, actress (Cardinal), dies of cardiac arrest at 43
In 2008..Harvey Korman, Actor (The Carol Burnett Show; Blazing Saddles; High Anxiety), dies at 81
In 2010..Dennis Hopper, Actor and director (True Grit, Blue Velvet, Easy Rider), dies at 74
In 2021..B.J. Thomas, Singer ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"; "Hooked On A Feeling"; "Growing Pains Theme"), dies of lung cancer at 78
In 2021..Gavin MacLeod [Allan See], Actor (Mary Tyler Moore Show -"Murray"; The Love Boat - "Captain Stubing"), dies at 90
In 2022..Ronnie Hawkins, American-Canadian rock musician, dies at 87
➦In 1957....The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) is established, leading to the creation of the annual Grammy Awards.
➦In 1958….Top40 1010WINS pranked rival WMGM 1050 AM with a Charles DeGaulle phone call..
Before the era of radio shock jocks and tv prank-yankers, there was the infamous Charles de Gaulle Hoax of 1958, when DeGaulle was President of France.
It was the first truly great prank call in the history of radio--a doozy of a sting. Broadcast live throughout the Northeast, the faux phone call left one station supremely humiliated, leaving the other--the perpetrator of this mad hoax--basking in smug glory.
According to an aerticle Ken Brooks which appeared in Plus! magazine, in the spring of 1958, New York City radio stations were waging a fierce war for listeners. The combination of rock-and-roll and the transistor radio had made Elvis the King, and AM radio stations--at least those with their ears to the asphalt--were hastily switching formats.
One of the first stations to make the switch--in 1956, in fact--was WINS. By 1958, WINS had assembled a legendary line-up of disc jockeys that including Alan Freed, the former Cleveland jock credited with coining the term "rock and roll."
WINS's large news department was impressive as well; indeed, station call letters stood for International News Service, a division of the powerful Hearst Corporation.
Struggling in the shadow of WINS was low-rated WMGM. The station had once been the proud home of Brooklyn Dodger broadcasts, but the team was gone now, transplanted to Los Angeles that very spring. WMGM's tepid music format combined a bit of rock with easy-listening.
The station was not exactly a strong news-gathering force, either. Without a large news staff, WMGM execs outfitted an old panel truck and assigned two reporters to cruise the streets looking for "scoops." The reporters were dubbed the Minute Men; presumably they would be on the scene of a breaking story in a matter of minutes.
Headlines on the morning of Tuesday, May 28, 1958, concerned big news overseas: The imminent collapse of the French government, and the possibility that Gen. Charles De Gaulle--the popular World War II hero--would seize control of the republic.In the WMGM newsroom, executives decided on a bold move that would prove to New Yorkers that WMGM could be taken seriously as a news-gathering operation.
At 10:30 am, newscaster Bill Edmunds interrupted with this announcement:
"French President Coty is conferring with political leaders after receiving the resignation of Premier Pflimlin. A new government may be created today with General de Gaulle at the helm. WMGM has a call in, long-distance, overseas to General De Gaulle to bring you a direct interview...As soon as that call is completed, we'll put that call right on the air."
Monitoring rival stations' broadcasts is standard practice in the radio business. WMGM's plan to call de Gaulle caused no panic in the WINS newsroom, where it was seen as a desperate act on the part of WMGM. The idea that General de Gaulle would actually return a call to a local New York City radio station was outlandish.
Unless...
At noon the phone rang at WMGM studios. On the line was an overseas operator--or so she claimed. "Your trans- atlantic call is ready, sir," she said.
Bill Edmunds hustled to a mic."General? General de Gaulle?"
"Yas?" The response sounded static-y and far-away.
"General de Gaulle, this is WMGM in New York City." One could feel the adrenaline in Edmund's voice; they gave out awards for scoops like this. "I would like to know if you would care to make a statement to the American people at this time."
"Yas, I certainly would," said de Gaulle in a heavily French-accented English. "Are we on zee air now?" he asked.
"No sir, we are making a tape to play later, throughout the day and on our newscasts," Edmunds said.
"Well..." There was a pause as the General mulled this over. "No," he said finally, "I would not like to be recorded, as I have not yet granted the French press any of thees informay-shee-own. But I will agree to be broadcast."
"Will you hold, please, and we'll put you directly on the air? Can you do that?" Edmunds was practically begging.
"Yas, but make it very fast as I must go to ze Na-shee-a-nal Assem-blee."
"Just as soon as they give me the go-ahead, General..." In the thirteen seconds of dead-air that followed--an eternity in radio-time--one could hear the engineers scrambling to punch the right buttons.
Then, live, in stentorian tones, Edmunds announced: "I am on the phone with General Charles De Gaulle in France. General de Gaulle, would you care to make a statement about the crisis in France?"
"Thank you Mr. Edmunds," the General began. "I would like to make clear that when I assume pow-air I weel not do so by any dictatorial means. I am too much of an old soldier...and I weel give to the pee-pull of France the government they should have had ever since the war."
Edmunds wasn't about to let the General go just yet. A few more questions. Then de Gaulle broke in: "...Monseuir, can you tell me again whom I am speaking to?"
"Bill Edmunds, General. I'm one of the WMGM Minute Men." Surprisingly, de Gaulle sounded not the least bit impressed.
"WMGM?" the General repeated. "Why, everybody knows the best radio station in New York is WINS." Then he screamed: "Viva la France!"
In the second-and-a-half before the line went dead, in the background, one could hear the unmistakable sounds of hysterical laughter.
Poor Bill Edmunds: Totally nonplussed, unsure what had transpired, unwilling to let go of that award he'd surely have received.
Here's what he said next: "Uh...ladies and gentlemen...we've, uh, been talking to, uh..."--Edmunds drew a blank..."General Charles de Gaulle!"
Mercifully, someone at the studio had the presence to kill Edmunds' mike.
By the time New York's afternoon newspapers hit the streets, the incident was front page news. The World-Telegram headline read: "WHO HAD DE GALL TO CALL WMGM?"
"Switchboards at WMGM and WINS were as hot as the French crisis today," the paper declared, " and General Charles de Gaulle was at least partially responsible..." Executives at WMGM, the paper reported, are demanding an immediate investigation by the Federal Communications Commission.
When asked by the World-Telegram for comment, WINS general manager Herb Fearnhead responded blankly, "I don't know a thing about it." Not that WINS was adverse to rubbing it in: The rest of Tuesday afternoon their announcers broadcast the time in French.
Then, on Wednesday morning, a final insult. A telegram arrived at WMGM. Sent from Paris, it read: "I was cut off. What happened? --Charles de Gaulle."
Twenty-six years would pass before anyone fessed up. That's when an assistant program director for WINS admitted that the entire episode, complete with pre-recorded "transatlantic static," was the brainchild of WINS news director Tom O'Brien. And it was O'Brien's fiancee--a stewardess for British Overseas Airlines, stationed in Paris--who authored the bogus telegram.
➦In 1962…"Wide World of Sports with Chris Schenkel" debuted on the CBS Radio Network.
➦In 1998…actor/comedian, Phil Hartman, was shot to death while asleep by his wife. He was 49. Hartman starred in the TV sitcom, "NewsRadio".
➦In 2017...sportswriter Frank Deford, longtime sports commentator/philosopher on NPR’s Morning Edition, died at age 78. Beginning in 1980 he did 1,656 commentaries for the public radio network.
➦In 2017...Radio personality & news anchor Ken Ackerman of KCBS Radio San Francisco for parts of 5 decades, died at age 95. From 1958-70 he hosted American Airlines’ Music til Dawn.
Kylie Minogue is 55
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Carroll Baker is 92.
Singer Gladys Knight is 79.
Singer Billy Vera is 79.
Singer John Fogerty is 78.
Musician Jerry Douglas of Alison Krauss and Union Station is 67.
Actor Louis Mustillo (“Mike and Molly”) is 65.
Actor Brandon Cruz (“The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”) is 61.
Actor Christa Miller (“Scrubs,” ″The Drew Carey Show”) is 59.
Country singer Phil Vassar is 59.
Singer Chris Ballew of Presidents of the United States of America is 58.
Singer Kylie Minogue is 55.
Rapper Chubb Rock is 55.
Actor Justin Kirk (“Weeds”) is 54.
Talk show host Elisabeth Hasselbeck (“Fox and Friends,” ″The View”) is 46.
R&B singer Jaheim is 46. Actor Jake Johnson (“New Girl”) is 45.
Actor Monica Keena (“Dawson’s Creek,” ″Undeclared”) is 44.
Actor Alexa Davalos (“Clash of the Titans” ″The Chronicles of Riddick”) is 41.
Actor Megalyn Echikunwoke (“24”) is 41.
Singer Colbie Caillat is 38.
Actor Carey Mulligan (“The Great Gatsby”) is 38.
✞DEATH ANNIVERSARIES:
In 1971..Audie Murphy, American soldier who was among the most decorated in WW II with 33 medals and actor (To Hell and Back, Whispering Smiths), killed in a plane crash at 46
In 1972..Edward VIII, King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India (Jan 20th, 1936 until his abdication on Dec 11th, 1936), dies at 77
In 1998..Phil Hartman, Canadian-American actor (NewsRadio, 1995-98; The Simpsons, 1991-91; SNL, 1986-94: Peewee's Playhouse), and graphic artist, murdered by his wife in his sleep at 49
In 2010..Gary Coleman, American actor (Diff'rent Strokes), dies at 42
The rise of artificial intelligence could “fatally undermine” journalism, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson warned — echoing dire forecasts that humans may be cast aside in a variety of knowledge-based industries.
The NY Post reports Thomson raised the alarm over AI programs that can swipe proprietary content or steer away advertising dollars from “blacklisted” publications as he addressed industry leaders at the International News Media Association’s World Congress in New York on Thursday.
“Our collective IP [intellectual property] is under threat” from AI, said Thomson, the top executive at The Post’s parent company, which also owns the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the Times of London.
“Firstly, our content is being harvested and scraped and otherwise ingested to train AI engines.
“Secondly, individual stories will be surfaced in specific searches.”
“And, thirdly, our content will be synthesized and presented as distinct when it is actually an extracting of editorial essence,” Thomson added.
“These are super snippets, containing all the effort and insight of great journalism but designed so the reader will never visit a journalism website, thus fatally undermining that journalism.”
Thomson cited “extreme revenue pressure” and “the uncertain macroeconomic times ahead” for the news business, which will require media companies to “optimize operations.”
He took aim at “Global Disinformation Index and its ilk” for dissuading advertisers from doing business with publishers that post stories that are deemed “disinformation.”
GDI, a UK-based entity with affiliates in the US, reportedly compiled secretive “exclusion lists” of conservative media outlets in an attempt to deny them advertising dollars.
Thomson said he recently approached the CEO of a major advertiser and wondered why the company banned placing ads with The Post.
“The chief exec said he was completely unaware of any such ban,” Thomson said.
“So he checked, and to his genuine and annoyed surprise, a hyper-politicized agency flunky had a Post prohibition.”
GDI’s blacklists are reportedly sent to large advertising firms that are lobbied by “nonpartisan” organizations that purport to fight disinformation online.
The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, the New York Times, the BBC, and Thomson Reuters are among the news agencies that have started to incorporate AI into their news operations.
Soon after veteran radio programmer Ken Charles joined FM 95.5 WSB radio last year, he learned long-time host Scott Slade was planning to leave the morning show after 31 years.
Rodny Ho at ajc.comreports Charles was armed with fresh internal research from WSB listeners, so earlier ths year he used Slade’s departure as a starting point to embark on a series of moves that have impacted four of the station’s six weekday time slots, the most change WSB has seen in more than three decades.
Chris Chandler recently took over for Slade as morning host. Mark Arum’s show switched time slots with Eric Von Haessler’s team, which is now on in afternoons. And Shelley Wynter has gone solo on weekday evenings with his former co-host MalaniKai Massey getting her own show on Saturday nights.
In an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Charles explained why he made the changes and how he believes they will make an already well-established, financially profitable station even better.
WSB's Ken Charles
“I feel very comfortable that we’ve got the right people in the right slots,” said Charles, who previously worked as director of programming at former rival news/talk station WGST-AM from 1998 to 2001. “We are set to grow our success.”
The station, which was No. 1 in Atlanta for much of 2020 and 2021 when the news cycle was super hot, saw some slippage last year, which happened to many news/talk stations nationwide. But WSB remains a powerhouse. In April, it was No. 3 overall behind rock station 97.1/The River and R&B station Majic 107.5/97.5 and top 5 in all major dayparts, according to Nielsen ratings.
Here are some highlights from the talk with Charles:
Recent high-profile and controversial marketing decisions by Target and Bud Light are backfiring and burning shareholders in the process to the tune of a combined $28 billion, according to Fox Business.
"These are both cases where brands have gotten in the middle of some really controversial issues," said Timothy Calkins, associate chair of the marketing department at Northwestern Kellogg, in an interview with FOX Business. "I think we'll see more brands be very cautious about getting into the middle of some of these really controversial issues."
Bud Light’s gifting transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney a personalized pack of beer with the influencer's likeness as part of an ad for the company's March Madness contest and to celebrate the year anniversary since Mulvaney began identifying as a woman has cost Anheuser-Busch nearly $19 billion with shares down 14% amid nationwide boycotts of the beer and sales tanking.
"It was pretty clear, with Bud Light, that decisions were made by the team working on the brand, but not by more senior executives. And so, there wasn't really a line in there. I think in hindsight a team would say, you really don't want to get involved in that controversial an issue. The problem is it just takes your brand into a space that it doesn't need to be, and it just creates a lot of strong feelings about something that isn't really related to the product or its brand," Calkins observed.
"Why did its US leadership underestimate the risk of pushback given the recent experience of other firms? Is A-B hiring the best people to grow the brands and gauge risk? If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firm’s largest brand? These questions are not trivial to the crisis and say a lot about the state of A-B’s marketing culture," he wrote.
Target, which has supported LGBTQ Pride for years, this year offered merchandise that included female-style swimsuits that have the option to "tuck" male genitalia. Other products offered included ones labeled as "Thoughtfully fit on multiple body types and gender expressions," a "Gender Fluid" mug, and a variety of adult clothing with slogans such as "Super Queer" among other items
When customer backlash erupted, as first reported by Fox News Digital, the company was forced to make some in-store changes.
"For more than a decade, Target has offered an assortment of products aimed at celebrating Pride Month," a company spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "Since introducing this year’s collection, we've experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense of safety and well-being while at work. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year."
The merchandising move shaved more than $9 billion off the retailer’s market value since mid-week last week.
The streaming wars started as a race for subscribers. It's now evolved into a race for ad dollars amid a greater profitability push, accoreding to Alexandra Canal at Yahoo! Finnce.
Mark Boidman, partner and global head of media at Solomon Partners, told Yahoo Finance the shift from pure-play subscriber growth to cash generation via ads means the streaming wars are no longer about one platform versus the other. Rather, Boidman described it as "a different type of battle" — a battle against broadcast television and its multibillion dollar ad bucket.
US TV ad spending hit $66.64 billion in 2022, an increase of more than $5 billion compared to the previous year, according to recent data from eMarketer.
Although ad spending is expected to slow over the next five years, Boidman argued capturing ad money from that bucket is "where you're going to see all of these companies create value for shareholders."
Ultimately, Boidman predicted cable will be obsolete in the next 10 years, signaling traditional TV's demise as "a massive opportunity for all of these streaming companies to go after not only those audiences, but those advertising dollars."
"That doesn't mean that you need to have the largest audience [but] the highest quality audience," he explained. "Audiences who can afford a subscription, who can afford to shop in the store. ...That's attractive to brands."
Media giants are already beginning to flex their ability to attract ad buyers.
At Netflix's virtual upfronts presentation earlier this month, the platform revealed its ad-based plan, dubbed "Basic with Ads," has 5 million global monthly active users, or MAUs, a metric that Netflix Worldwide Advertising President Jeremi Gorman said "actually matter[s] to advertisers." The plan debuted in November.
Disney, meanwhile, said it plans to optimize its pricing model in order to "increase subscriber revenue for the premium ad-free tier and drive growth of subscribers who opt for the lower cost ad-supported option." The company launched its $7.99 ad tier in December of last year.
Additionally, Disney revealed it will be it will soon offer a one-app experience domestically that incorporates Hulu content via Disney+ — a similar play to Paramount's Showtime combination, as well as the integration of HBO Max and Discovery+.
"Bundling is increasingly going to be a theme," Boidman said. "Some of that is to unify the streaming experience, reduce churn and give consumers greater experience and engagement [but] that could also help on the advertising side as putting content under one app brings in more advertisers."
A handful of Fox News anchors have allegedly reached out to Tucker Carlson directly or had their surrogates contact the axed anchor to let him know that they were 'eager' to join whatever venture he starts on Twitter when their contracts are up.
According to knews.com, Carlson also reportedly received a surprising phone call from one of the network's board members.
According to sources with knowledge of the conversation, the board member informed Carlson that his recent firing was a condition of Fox News' settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Though the condition is not noted in any of the settlement files, it was an alleged spoken agreement with the guarantee that the settlement would be off if Fox didn't comply.
Sources believe that Dominion had a goal in mind - to maim the conservative news network - and that requiring Fox News to cut ties with their most watched personality, Carlson, would cause a viewer exodus.
The sources added that Carlson is a "civilian casualty," Dominion wanted to send a message to Fox, which seems to be working.
Cumulus Media announces that Savannah Classic Rock station I-95/WIXV-FM has been named the Best Local Radio Station in Savannah in Connect Savannah’s 2023 Best Of Savannah Awards. I-95 beat out nine other local radio stations for the title of Savannah’s Best Local Radio Station. The Best of Savannah Awards are presented annually by Connect Savannah and winners are nominated and voted on by the public.
Billie Marshall, Program Director, I-95, said: "We already knew our listeners rocked, but for them to take time out of their day to vote I-95 “The Best of” is an incredible honor!"
DJ Rax, Operations Manager, Cumulus Savannah, commented: "I'm so proud of Billie and our team at WIXV. They are truly amazing, and they understand the assignment. A huge thanks to our listeners who make what we do worthwhile and to all our fans who voted for us – THANK YOU!”
➦In 1933...Future Canadian media mogul Ted Rogers Jr. was born in Toronto. He founded his company in 1960 with Toronto radio station CHFI and built it into Canada’s largest wireless, cable and media company. He died from congestive heart failure Dec. 2 2008 at age 75.
➦In 1951…The radio serial "Wild Bill Hickock" began on the Mutual Radio network. Guy Madison and Andy Devine starred on both the radio and syndicated TV versions.
➦In 1957...1050 CHUM-AM became Canada's first Top 40 radio station.
The CHUM Building at 1331 Yonge St., Toronto was the home of 1050 CHUM from 1959 until 2009
Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" was the first song played. "1050 CHUM" pioneered rock and roll radio in Toronto, and was noteworthy for hosting many noteworthy rock concerts including, among others, visits to Maple Leaf Gardens by Elvis Presley (1957) and The Beatles (1964, '65, and '66).
In the late 1950s, CHUM was calling itself "Radio One", as its ratings continued to increase. An important part of CHUM's success was the station's unpredictable morning man Al Boliska, who joined CHUM in October 1957, after working at station CKLC in Kingston, Ontario.
By 1959, Boliska had made a name for himself as a disc jockey who got listeners talking. He also made them laugh, and became known for telling what he called the "World's Worst Jokes".
Boliska also did a number of stunts, such as taking part in a professional wrestling match with Whipper Billy Watson. When he lost, that led to another stunt, where Boliska stayed away from his show for several days, saying he was now too discouraged by the loss to do his show. A hypnotist was called in, and Boliska's self-esteem was restored.
Boliska left CHUM in late 1963 to go 'across the street' to CKEY. He was replaced by WKBW Buffalo radio & TV personality Jay Nelson, popularly known as "Jungle Jay" from his role as host of a children's show on Buffalo's Channel 7 which was also popular among Toronto youngsters. He would be followed by housewives' jock John Spragge; singer/DJ Mike Darow; Pete Nordheimer, replaced in 1961 by Bob McAdorey, teen DJ Dave Johnson, and all night DJ Bob Laine. Later additions to the CHUM DJ lineup included Duff Roman and Brian Skinner, both of whom came from rival Toronto rocker CKEY (then owned by Jack Kent Cooke).
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, CHUM DJs included Duke Roberts (also known as Gary Duke for a time), Johnny Mitchell (better known today as Sonny Fox), J. Michael Wilson, Tom Rivers, Scott Carpenter, Jim Van Horne, John Rode, Don Reagan, John Majhor, Mike Cooper, Daryl B, Terry Steele, Mike Holland and Roger Ashby. Among their later night-time hosts was J. D. Roberts, who joined CHUM for a time in 1977, eventually becoming known across North America as White House correspondent for CBS News, then the co-anchor of CNN's morning program American Morning. Rick Moranis, later famous for his work on SCTV and Ghostbusters, was briefly a late-night CHUM DJ in the mid-seventies under the name "Rick Allan".
CHUM became well known for its zany contests. In the 1950's and '60's, it was contests such as 'The Walking Man', where listeners had to spot CHUM's mystery walking man using only clues given out on the air. The 1970s' "I Listen to CHUM" promotion had DJs dialing phone numbers at random and awarding $1,000 to anyone who answered the phone with that phrase. In 1976, there was the CHUM Starsign promotion. Listeners wore a button featuring their astrological sign. If CHUM's 'Starsign spotter' saw you wearing your Starsign, you won prizes such as money or concert tickets to major events.
The CHUM Chart was, for many years, the most influential weekly Top 40 chart in Canada and has been hailed as the longest-running continuously published radio station record survey in North America. The first CHUM Chart was released on May 27, 1957, with Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up" the first Number 1 song.
1050 CHUM aired Top 40 from 1957 to 1986. Today, 1050 CHUM airs Sports Talk.
➦In 1994...famed talk-show host, Larry King, aired his final Westwood One show, leaving radio to concentrate on his nightly CNN hour.
Peri Gilpin is 62
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Lee Meriwether is 88.
Actor Louis Gossett Jr. is 87.
Actor Bruce Weitz is 80.
Singer Bruce Cockburn is 78.
Jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater is 73.
Actor Richard Schiff (“The Good Doctor,” “The West Wing”) is 68.
Singer Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees is 66.
Singer-guitarist Neil Finn of Crowded House and Split Enz is 65.
Actor Peri Gilpin (“Frasier”) is 62.
Actor Cathy Silvers (“Happy Days”) is 62.
Comedian Adam Carolla is 59.
Actor Todd Bridges (“Diff’rent Strokes”) is 58.
Drummer Sean Kinney of Alice In Chains is 57.
Actor Dondre’ Whitfield (“Queen Sugar”) is 54.
Actor Paul Bettany (“The Da Vinci Code,” ″A Beautiful Mind”) is 52.
Singer-guitarist Brian Desveaux of Nine Days is 52.
Actor Jack McBrayer (“30 Rock”) is 50.
Musician Andre 3000 of Outkast is 48.
Rapper Jadakiss is 48.
TV chef Jamie Oliver is 48.
Actor Ben Feldman (“Mad Men”) is 43.
Actor Darin Brooks (“The Bold and the Beautiful”) is 39.
Actor Chris Colfer (“Glee”) is 33.
Actor Ethan Dampf (“American Dreams”) is 29.
Actor Desiree Ross (“Greenleaf”) is 24.
✞DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
In 2011..Jeff Conaway, Actor and singer (Taxi - "Bobby"; Grease - "Kenickie"; Babylon 5 - "Zack"), dies of pneumonia and sepsis at 60
In 2017..Gregg Allman, Hammond organist, guitarist and vocalist (The Allman Brothers Band - "Whipping Post"), dies of cancer at 69
CBS is marking its 15th consecutive season as the most watched broadcast network, and Fox claimed the 2022-23 season among adults 18-49. Each of the seven top broadcasters, however, lost some on-air audience amid the ongoing shift from linear to streaming viewing, according to The Hollywood Reporter citing Nielsen data.
CBS finished the September-to-May season, which officially wrapped Wednesday night, with a primetime average of 5.96 million viewers. NBC finished second, about 700,000 viewers off the lead, with 5.27 million, followed by Fox (4.45 million) and ABC (4.14 million). Univision came in at 1.28 million viewers, Telemundo at 937,000, and The CW at 548,000.
Fox led the key ad-sales demographic of adults 18-49 with a 1.0 rating — equal to about 1.3 million people in that age range — thanks in no small part to having the Super Bowl in February. NBC, last season’s leader in the demo, finished second with a 0.9. CBS (0.7) edged out ABC (0.6) for third place. Univision (0.4), Telemundo (0.3) and The CW (0.1) followed.
According to Nielsen, overall TV usage in primetime was down by about 9 percent compared to the 2021-22 season. Three networks — ABC, CBS and Fox — came in under that: Fox recorded the smallest decline, 1 percent, while ABC dipped by just 2 percent and CBS was off by about 5 percent. Telemundo fell by 6 percent vs. last season, while NBC (-13 percent), Univision (-14 percent) and The CW (-17 percent) all dropped by double digits.
NBC also had the biggest loss among adults 18-49, falling three tenths of a point season to season. That’s not a huge surprise, however, as the network had both the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics to boost its ratings in 2021-22. ABC, CBS, Fox and Univision all lost a tenth of a point from last season, and Telemundo and The CW were flat.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football is once again the most watched (18.09 million viewers) and highest rated (4.83 rating among adults 18-49) show on broadcast TV (not including streaming). NCIS (9.87 million viewers over seven days, pending figures for its final two episodes) has the biggest total audience for non-sports programs on the network, and Survivor (1.05 rating) leads everything but the NFL in adults 18-49.
Fox News won prime time with 1.82 million total average viewers as its numbers were boosted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) interview with Trey Gowdy at 8 p.m.
Mediaite reports Gowdy brought in nearly 2 million average viewers to easily win his time slot. Notably, DeSantis’s Twitter Spaces event brought peaked with some 300,000 listeners, a fraction of the Fox interview.
MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell pulled off a rare win in his time slot at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, beating both Fox News’s Laura Ingraham and CNN.
O’Donnell raked in 1.64 million total average viewers to Ingraham’s 1.62 million viewers to just come out on top. In the key 25054 age demographic, however, Ingraham led O’Donnell with 241,000 viewers to his 135,000.
CNN scored 114,000 demo viewers during the hour and 435,000 total average viewers.
CNN viewers still smarting from the cable network’s chaotic town hall with Donald Trump earlier this month vowed to flip the channel when it airs a similar event with former Vice President Mike Pence on June 7.
Dana Bash, CNN’s political anchor and correspondent, announced Thursday that she will moderate the town hall from Iowa.
The tweet was met with a deluge of furious responses.
“‘Looking forward to hosting Former Vice President @Mike_Pence’ — Said no one ever? LOL,” tweeted one Twitter user.
Another Twitter user commented: “And I’ll look forward to watching MSNBC.”
“I would rather watch paint dry,” tweeted Irene Adams.
Another angry Twitter user vowed: “I’m done with your town halls.”
Pence has yet to official declare his candidacy for the presidency in 2024.
Over On Fox News..FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Hannity will present a town hall with former President Donald Trump on Thursday, June 1st from 9-10PM/ET in Clive, Iowa. During the event, which will pre-tape earlier in the day, host Sean Hannity will take questions from the audience while discussing the 2024 presidential race and the overall state of the country with the former president. *A transcript will be made available following the interview.
In the days after the 2020 presidential election, Newsmax looked to be breaking out. The small conservative cable news channel saw its ratings surge after some partisan viewers soured on Fox News for accurately predicting that Joe Biden would win the pivotal state of Arizona. But Newsmax’s gains were fleeting, and Fox quickly lured its viewers back.
Now, The Washington Post reports Newsmax is gaining again — and once again, it has come at the expense of Fox. After Fox fired star host Tucker Carlson, Newsmax’s ratings surged. One month later, they remain unusually high.
While the biggest beneficiary has been Newsmax’s 8 p.m. host Eric Bolling, a former Fox News personality whose ratings have increased by 142 percent in the time slot once dominated by Carlson, the entire prime-time lineups for both channels are showing the effects of a viewer migration.
Fox still maintains a large advantage over Newsmax, with an average 1.6 million total viewers in prime time to Newsmax’s 383,000. But it’s lost more than half its usual 8 p.m. viewers through several weeks of temporary replacement hosts — including morning show host Brian Kilmeade and former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany — none of whom have come close to matching Carlson’s numbers.
In the four weeks before Carlson’s firing, Bolling’s Newsmax show averaged 202,000 total viewers. Since Carlson was ousted, Newsmax has averaged 489,000 viewers, according to Nielsen ratings data obtained by The Washington Post. Carlson’s show on Fox averaged 3.27 million in his last four weeks as a host. The hosts who have replaced him at 8 p.m. have averaged just 1.49 million.
Even Carlson’s fellow prime-time stars who have stayed with the network are suffering weaker ratings. In the past month, Fox’s overall prime-time ratings have declined by 39 percent — from an average of 2.6 million viewers to 1.6 million — while Newsmax’s prime-time ratings have increased by 135 percent.
Newsmax’s surge comes amid an overall scramble in cable news viewership that has also been marked by sharp declines for CNN. For three consecutive nights last week, Bolling pulled more viewers than the rival offering hosted by CNN’s veteran anchor Anderson Cooper, arguably the biggest star on the network. Before Carlson’s firing, Newsmax rarely came close to matching CNN at 8 p.m.
Two of The Wall Street Journal’s top editors will leave the publication, its new editor in chief, Emma Tucker, said on Thursday.
In an email to the staff, Tucker said Neal Lipschutz and Jason Anders, both deputy editors in chief, would depart “after many years of distinguished service.”
Lipschutz, who has spent 41 years at Dow Jones and The Journal, said in an email to his colleagues on Thursday that “the time has come for me to move on to new things.” He was previously a top editor for the Dow Jones newswires and had been a deputy editor in chief since 2019.
Emma Tucker
Anders has worked at The Journal for more than 25 years and was one of the organization’s first digital reporters. He was promoted to deputy editor in chief in 2022. He wrote in an email to colleagues on Thursday that he was at home with Covid, but “I’ll look forward to saying farewell in person over the next couple of weeks.”
Their departures are the latest in a string of changes since Ms. Tucker took over the newsroom in February, reports The NYTimes.
Days after she started, Ms. Tucker let go of Karen Pensiero, the managing editor. She was replaced with Liz Harris, an editor who previously worked with Ms. Tucker at The Sunday Times in London.
Last week, Ms. Tucker announced that the news organization would no longer use honorifics, the courtesy titles like Mr. and Ms.
“The flood of Mr., Ms., Mx. or Mrs. in sentences can slow down readers’ enjoyment of our writing,” she wrote. Tucker has also ended the use of corporate designations, such as Inc. or Corp., in news articles.
Tucker is the first woman to run The Journal’s newsroom. She has worked for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp since 2007, and became the editor of The Sunday Times, a sister paper to The Times of London, in 2020.
Bally Sports RSN is cutting costs as well as cameras used to create extensive coverage of MLB games while operating in bankruptcy, reports Cord Cutters News. Bally Sports’ parent company, Diamond Sports Group, filed on March 9th, 2023 after missing a $140 million interest payment in April.
“DSG will continue broadcasting games and connecting fans across the country with the sports and teams they love. We look forward to working constructively with our team and league partners and all DSG stakeholders throughout this process and beyond,” said Diamond Sports CEO David Preschlack earlier this month.
While originally, Bally Sports reported game coverage wouldn’t be affected, now it’s cutting robotic cameras as well as smaller handheld cameras, which are mostly used to highlight crowd reactions. It’s seemingly insignificant and likely won’t affect viewers’ enjoyment of any games. Fans tune in to see the games over the crowds anyway.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean fans won’t still have great coverage. As sources report, “The idea is to cut back in areas considered nice to have — such as a robotic camera — but continue to invest in areas that are necessary to maintain high-quality productions.”
One way Bally Sports plans to do this is by bringing its studio show inside the stadium. Other ideas are brewing, but the overall plan is to make changes that are “imperceptible to viewers.” Packing more outside coverage into the stadium while eliminating what some would deem fluff crowd shots will only create more time for cameras to be focused on the field.
U.S. President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy are closing in on a deal that would raise the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for two years while capping spending on most items, a U.S. official told Reuters. The deal, which is not final, would increase funding for discretionary spending on military and veterans while essentially holding non-defense discretionary spending at current year levels, the official said, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about internal discussions. The White House is considering scaling back its plan to boost funding at the Internal Revenue Service to hire more auditors and target wealthy Americans, the official said.
Democrats demanding President Biden be more aggressive in debt limit talks: Voters 'pulling their hair out' https://t.co/CQ9ERyjLtc
The final deal would specify the total amount the government could spend on discretionary programs like housing and education, according to a person familiar with the talks, but not break that down into individual categories. The two sides are just $70 billion apart on a total figure that would be well over $1 trillion, according to another source.
➤LAWMAKERS TAKE THE HOLIDAY OFF: House Democrats tore into Republicans for returning to their districts on Thursday even as debt negotiations are still ongoing, but President Biden himself has not canceled his travel plans for the weekend. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday knocked Republicans for skipping town before a deal is done. House Republican leaders announced Thursday that they were sending members home for Memorial Day – but instructed them to be prepared to return to D.C. on 24-hours notice in the event of a breakthrough. House Democrats, too, are getting out of town - though not all of them are happy about it.
Meanwhile the White House on Thursday defended Biden's expected travel plans just one week before the so-called X deadline when Treasury Sec. Janet Yellen has said the U.S. could default on its bills - June 1. 'What I can say is that the President can deal with this issue anywhere he is,' White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
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