Radio Broadcasting
New Highs: Online audio and podcast listening in the United States reached new peaks in 2026, according to Edison Research’s annual “The Infinite Dial” study, conducted with SSRS and supported by SiriusXM Media. The report found that 81% of Americans age 12 and older (roughly 233 million people) listened to online audio in the past month, while 76% did so in the past week.
Revenue Drop: Beasley Media posted first-quarter revenue of $41.3 million, down 13% year-over-year, with adjusted EBITDA turning to a loss of roughly $375,000. Same-station revenue fell 6.7%.
Loss Narrows: Salem Media Group reported a significantly narrower net loss for the first quarter of 2026 as operating expenses declined sharply, even as total revenue fell year-over-year. For the quarter ended March 31, Salem posted net revenue of $45.9 million, down from $51.7 million in Q1 2025. The company narrowed its net loss to $2.6 million.
Media Industry
FOX News Channel (FNC) ended the week of May 4th with over 2.9 million weekday primetime viewers and 267,000 in the 25-54 demo. Securing 97 out of the Top 100 cable news telecasts among total viewers, FNC beat ESPN (2.4 million viewers and 1.1 million in the 25-54 demo) with primetime viewers during the NBA and NHL playoffs for the third consecutive week.
“World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (8.183 million) on all of broadcast and cable for the third time in the last four weeks during the week of May 4, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
Missing Out: CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil is broadcasting from Taipei, Taiwan, this week instead of Beijing, China, after the network failed to secure a Chinese visa for him in time. The development represents a logistical setback for CBS as it seeks a prominent role in covering the week's biggest international story: President Donald Trump's summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.
U-S News
Red-Carpet Welcome: Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed President Trump at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing for a red-carpet arrival ceremony featuring a military honor guard and flag-waving schoolchildren. Trump said the relationship between the U.S. and China “will be better than ever before.” He heaped praise on Xi, calling him “a great leader.” Xi said the countries should be “partners, not rivals.”
Hormuz Passage: A vessel carrying four Japanese crew members that had been stuck in the Persian Gulf passed through the Strait of Hormuz and is heading toward Japan, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said. The ministry said there are 39 Japan-related vessels still stuck in the Persian Gulf, adding that it will continue to pursue diplomatic efforts to secure their safe passage through the strait.
Biz Upbeat: U.S. business leaders accompanying President Trump on his China visit sounded upbeat about the summit between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “Mr. Xi and President Trump were incredible,” Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang told reporters as the CEO entourage left the front entrance of Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, where the summit was taking place, according to a White House travel pool report.