Radio Broadcasting
Back to Her Roots: Taylor Swift made a surprise return to her country roots on Wednesday night, appearing unannounced at the Bluebird Café and debuting raw, acoustic material that signals a full artistic homecoming after more than a decade dominating pop.
Hamand Sets Retirement: Doug Hamand, Vice President of Programming Operations at Cumulus Media, will retire from the company at the end of June, concluding a 48-year career in radio.
Giving Day Set: The Broadcasters Foundation of America (BFOA) will hold its annual Giving Day on June 25, bringing together broadcasters nationwide for a one-day fundraising campaign to support radio and television professionals facing severe financial hardship.
Media Induistry
FNC Has Quite The Month: FOX News Channel (FNC) continued to exert its dominance in all of television for the month of May, beating ABC in weekday primetime, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. FNC averaged 2.8 million viewers in weekday primetime making it the third highest-rated network in all of television, leading ABC (2.7 million viewers) and marking the network's highest rated May during a midterm election year in the network's history.
Political Interference Denied: A CBS spokesman said there is “no political interference at CBS News, not from ownership, not from Bari Weiss” and it is common for there to be a back-and-forth between editors and correspondents.
WNT Tops: For the seventh consecutive week, “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program in Total Viewers (7.824 million) on all of broadcast and cable (excluding sports) during the week of May 25, 2026, based on Live+Same Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
U-S News
War End? In a severe political blow to President Donald Trump, the House of Representatives voted for the first time on Wednesday, June 3, to end the war in Iran. The 215-208 vote, which was mostly symbolic, marked a new period of congressional unease with the conflict in the Middle East amid an impasse in peace negotiations. Strikes in the region have continued in recent days despite the White House's assertion to lawmakers that hostilities have ended.
CA Runoff: With slightly more than half of the votes counted as of Wednesday afternoon, Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator endorsed by President Donald Trump, is leading the pack in California’s governor race at roughly 28%. Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former Biden administration official, follows at 25%. Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist who jousted with Becerra in the campaign's final weeks, is at nearly 20%.
Hiring Solid: Hiring by American businesses remained resilient in May, according to the latest monthly numbers from human-resources firm ADP, adding to evidence that the U.S. labor market has found more solid footing. Private companies added a net 122,000 jobs in May tacking on more solid gains after the 105,000 roles added in April. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal were expecting to see 110,000 new private-sector jobs.