Good Morning: Start Monday, July 27 With The Pulse

Radio Broadcasting

Backlash Worries Conservarives: Conservative advocacy groups are defending Disney-owned ABC against the FCC, urging Chairman Brendan Carr to keep broadcast license renewals routine and avoid setting precedents that could later harm non-liberal broadcasters.

Automakers Lobbying: Automakers and Big Tech interests outspent broadcasters on second-quarter lobbying over the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act, according to new disclosures, as Washington’s fight over requiring AM radio in cars continues.

Non-Com Drops NPR: Huntsville’s public radio station WLRH is expanding its locally produced programming from 32% to 72% of its weekly schedule beginning today.

Media Industry

Quickest Route to Closing: Paramount Skydance has agreed to pause its roughly $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery until five days after a federal court rules on antitrust claims brought by a coalition of 12 states—or until June 1, 2027, whichever comes first—because company officials concluded that moving straight to a full trial offers the fastest route to completing the deal. 

Musk To Media: Elon Musk told The Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes last week that the public hates the media far more than it hates him

Combatting News Deserts: The closure of nearly 3,500 U.S. newspapers from 2005 to 2025 has left 50 million Americans in news deserts, correlating with higher municipal borrowing costs, increased loneliness, lower voter turnout, and reduced civic engagement, according to recent studies.

U-S News

Bibi Accuses Mandani: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday responded directly to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s calls for his arrest, accusing the mayor of “fomenting hate” and referring to a video address that Mr. Mamdani made last week as “hate speech.” In an appearance on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Netanyahu criticized the mayor for the video, released Tuesday, in which Mr. Mamdani called him a “war criminal,” condemned the war in Gaza.

Shooting Kills 3: Police in Seattle are investigating a mass shooting near the city's iconic Space Needle on Sunday that left three people dead and five others injured, including a toddler. "What happened at the Seattle Center today was an act of horrific violence," Mayor Wilson said. "Impacted families are living through the worst moment of their lives, and an entire community is trying to understand how a gathering built around culture, connection, and joy ended in gunfire. 

Storms Brew:  Widespread thunderstorms will bring hail and damaging winds to the nation’s northern corridor starting Sunday evening, threatening Monday evening commutes with gusty downpours and flash flooding, forecasters said. The Great Lakes and Ohio Valley will face the greatest risk.