Radio Broadcasting
Stern Troubles: Fans of “The Howard Stern Show” on SiriusXM are staging a mutiny, with longtime listeners canceling subscriptions en masse after plans surfaced to slash the program to just one new live episode per week.
Country Get New Signal: Connoisseur Media has announced country station 98.5 KBAY (Bay Country) is significantly expanding its broadcast footprint by adding the 98.5 FM frequency, dramatically increasing coverage across the South Bay and surrounding communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Barrera Is Back: Former Houston Life co-host Tessa Barrera has joined iHeartMedia’s KODA Sunny 99.1 as an afternoon host, airing daily from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Barrera announced the role in a YouTube video posted this week.
Media Industry
DOJ Backs-Off: The Justice Department on Thursday withdrew subpoenas seeking phone records and grand jury testimony from New York Times journalists who reported on the security capabilities of President Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One jet.
Merger Hold Extended: Paramount Skydance must pause its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery through August 17 after a federal judge ruled Thursday, giving the company more time to fight a potential longer delay that it warns could cost more than $1 billion and plunge the deal into uncertainty.
Storm Clouds At CBS: CBS News President Tom Cibrowski is under fire after “CBS Mornings” posted its lowest-rated week on record, averaging 1.59 million viewers for the week of July 13 — the first time the Gayle King- and Nate Burleson-anchored show has fallen below 1.6 million, a 13% drop from the same week last year, according to Nielsen data.
U-S News
Oil Surges: Oil prices roared back Thursday to crack the $100-a-barrel mark, an inflation-triggering threshold that threatens to bedevil the U.S. economy while putting pressure on Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. As President Trump warned that Iran could soon feel “major military punishment,” Brent crude, the global gauge, topped $100 a barrel for the first time since May.
Trough Tariffs: The U.S. will impose tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on its major trading partners as part of a new set of duties that the Trump administration says are designed to combat forced labor.
Mortgage Rates Spike: Mortgage rates rose to their highest level in almost a year, as rising tensions in the Middle East spurred fears of higher inflation. The 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.58% this week, up from 6.55% the week prior, according to Freddie Mac, the highest level to date this year.