FCC Chair Comments On Meet the Press, Political Rates

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Sunday that President Donald Trump is “over the target” after Trump demanded the agency rebuke or punish NBC’s Kristen Welker for saying his midterm endorsement record was “mixed.”

Asked on Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing” whether the FCC had received Trump’s complaint, Carr did not say a report had arrived. He instead argued that broadcast television is unlike cable and other platforms because stations receive what he called taxpayer-subsidized spectrum and must serve the public interest, “not some sort of narrow, partisan interest.”

“I think President Trump is over the target, and we’re looking at a lot of actions,” Carr said. He added that the FCC may soon issue guidance warning broadcasters not to air “fake polls,” especially if they could suppress turnout this fall.

🚨 NEW: FCC Chair Brendan Carr on President Trump calling for NBC’s Kristen Welker to receive "punishment" for saying he has a mixed record on endorsements: "I think President Trump is over the target, and we are looking at a lot of actions."

PETER DOOCY: “President Trump was… pic.twitter.com/CA1DmXH4sL

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) September 6, 2026

The dispute began after Welker, on a “Meet the Press” preview Sunday August 30 on NBC’s Washington affiliate, said Trump would “loom large” over the midterms and had endorsed a slate of primary candidates with “some mixed results.” 

She noted that his pick of Sen. Darline Graham, sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, had won in South Carolina and would face Dr. Annie Andrews.

Trump attacked that characterization on Truth Social, calling Welker the “Unpopular ‘Hostess’” of “Meet the Fake Press” and saying recent Senate wins for Graham and Mike Mazzei showed a 100% Senate success rate and 98% in the House. He wrote that no one “working for freely given Public Airwaves” should be allowed to say otherwise and that he would report her to the FCC “for rebuke or punishment.”

Days earlier, Trump had posted that his endorsements were “stronger than ever” and attached what he called an accurate list of results. Although Trump has more wins than losses this cycle, about 10 candidates he endorsed have lost their primaries.

Carr also discussed Friday’s high-court action, which paused a Fourth Circuit ruling that had limited the “lowest unit charge” to candidates themselves. The stay allows party committees and joint fundraising committees to pay the cheaper rates when they buy TV and radio ads coordinated with candidates. Those discounted rates took effect Friday, 60 days before the Nov. 3 elections.

Carr said the Supreme Court ruling will let political parties buy campaign ads at the same discounted broadcast rates long reserved for candidates — a change that arrives as Republicans hold a large cash advantage over Democrats heading into the midterms. 

He also highlighted the fundraising imbalance between the major party committees. Recent Federal Election Commission filings show the Republican National Committee holding more than $128 million in cash with no debt, while the Democratic National Committee has reported roughly $9.5 million to $16 million on hand and about $18 million in debt. Combined, the RNC, NRCC, and NRSC ended July with about $279 million, more than double the roughly $136 million held by their Democratic counterparts.

The practical effect is large. Party officials have said lowest-unit-charge rates have historically been three to 13 times cheaper than the market rates paid by outside groups. Combined with the Court’s June decision striking down caps on coordinated party-candidate spending, the ruling lets committees stretch their dollars further on the airwaves.

Norah O'Donnell Returns To 'CBS This Morning'

Norah O’Donnell will return to “CBS Mornings” as co-anchor today, the first move in what CBS News plans as a significant overhaul of the long-struggling program.

CBS News told staffers Thursday that O’Donnell, the former “CBS Evening News” anchor and a full-time “60 Minutes” correspondent, will join Gayle King and Nate Burleson on the morning desk. The show is expected to pick up a faster pace and more live interviews. People familiar with the plans, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said there is also discussion of making it more of a conversation program in the mold of MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” 

The internal memo announcing her return was written by “CBS Mornings” senior producer Jon Tower, who once worked on that show.

O’Donnell, 52, was part of the co-host team that delivered CBS its strongest morning ratings in three decades. She, King and Charlie Rose launched “CBS This Morning” in 2012 and saw viewership rise for five straight years. Ratings dropped after Rose left in 2017 following sexual harassment allegations.

The program was rebranded “CBS Mornings” in 2021 and adopted the theme music of “CBS Sunday Morning,” but it never delivered the in-depth journalism promised or attracted a larger audience. It has remained a distant third behind NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and this year hit record lows, a decline compounded by the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Ratings Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN

O’Donnell left mornings in 2019 to anchor the “CBS Evening News.” That broadcast stayed in third place behind ABC and NBC but outperformed John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, who replaced her in 2025 and lasted only a year before Tony Dokoupil took over.

She later settled into a senior correspondent and contributor role at “60 Minutes,” avoided recent controversies at CBS News after Bari Weiss became editor in chief, and took on major assignments. 

That willingness to step up led to her promotion to full-time “60 Minutes” correspondent and now to the center of the morning-show reboot.

O’Donnell joined CBS News in 2011 as chief White House correspondent after 12 years at NBC News.

Summer of 2026 Belonged To Country Music

Summer 2026 was a high-water mark for country music’s cultural reach. The genre didn’t just own its own format—it repeatedly occupied the center of the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, powered by streaming, radio, and a run of sticky, sing-along singles that traveled far beyond traditional country audiences.

The season belonged first to Ella Langley. “Choosin’ Texas” spent the summer locked in as Billboard’s Song of the Summer and piled up historic weeks at No. 1 on both Hot Country Songs and the Hot 100, eventually breaking the record for longest-running non-holiday No. 1. Langley stacked the charts with follow-ups (“Be Her”) and a duet with Morgan Wallen (“I Can’t Love You Anymore”), at one point placing three songs in the Hot 100’s top four. For a stretch, country or country-adjacent records filled the entire Hot 100 top five—an unprecedented snapshot of how thoroughly Nashville product was traveling.

Country radio still did its traditional job even as the pop charts told a bigger story. Taylor Swift’s Toy Story 5 single “I Knew It, I Knew You” became a genuine format event: added everywhere on impact and later reaching No. 1 on Mediabase country radio. Other airplay leaders across the summer included Jason Aldean (“Don’t Tell On Me”), Luke Combs (“Be By You,” “Sleepless in a Hotel Room”), Morgan Wallen (“Don’t We”), Josh Ross, Tucker Wetmore (“Brunette”), and Jelly Roll.

Format share nationally held in the mid-to-high 5s (around 5.9% 6+ in PPM year-to-date), competitive with CHR and sitting comfortably behind AC and news/talk. Country remained a reliable third or fourth option among 18-34s even as it was no longer posting the sharp year-over-year gains of the mid-2020s.

The live circuit matched the chart heat. CMA Fest in early June put Langley, Aldean, Luke Bryan, Cody Johnson, HARDY, Shaboozey, Tucker Wetmore and others on Nissan Stadium stages. Traveling events such as Rock the Country, WE Fest, Voices of America, Country Thunder stops, and Carolina Country Music Fest kept amphitheaters and fairgrounds full. Headliners on the road included Aldean (Songs About Us), Bryan, Tim McGraw, Chris Stapleton, Zach Bryan, Thomas Rhett, Cody Johnson, Megan Moroney, and Langley’s own Dandelion Tour. Kacey Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere trek—complete with its now-infamous disco-ball stage piece—became one of the season’s most talked-about visual statements.

Creatively, critics and playlists noted a distinctly adult, playful streak. Rolling Stone dubbed it country’s “horny summer,” pointing to Musgraves’ staging and merch, Miranda Lambert’s disco-tinged “Crisco,” Lainey Wilson’s “Phone, Keys, Wallet,” and a run of songs about impulse, heat, and staying out too late. That tone sat alongside more familiar summer fare—pontoons, Texas pride, hotel rooms, and “carry on” anthems from Chesney and others—giving programmers both novelty and comfort food.

By Labor Day the picture was clear: country radio remained a stable, high-volume format with plenty of spins that never become pop hits, while a handful of superstars and one breakout female voice turned the whole genre into the default soundtrack of an American summer. “Choosin’ Texas” was the emblem; the rest of the chart, the tours, and the festivals showed it wasn’t a one-song fluke.

Swifties Get To Hear Taylor On Country Radio

Taylor Swift Visits ACC

Taylor Swift appeared on country radio over the weekend, but she did not announce a new rerecording, “reputation (Taylor’s Version)” or a 13th era.

Instead, her Saturday spots used prerecorded answers about songwriting, “Toy Story 5” and lessons from years in the studio. Hosts posed questions and played Swift’s supplied clips rather than conducting live interviews.

The same audio ran on Nashville’s WSM Radio during “Y’all Access with Kelly Sutton” and the nationally syndicated “American Country Countdown with Ryan Fox.” 

🚨Full Taylor Swift segment on radio for American Country Countdown. pic.twitter.com/bnbSWvGRaS

— Taylor Swift HQ (@TSwiftHQ13) September 5, 2026

“The iHeartCountry House Party with Wayne D and Tay” aired some different clips that covered much of the same ground.

In one of the longest excerpts shared on X, Swift described writing “I Knew It, I Knew You” with producer Jack Antonoff for the “Toy Story 5” soundtrack.

“When I realized that we were gonna have the opportunity to write a song for ‘Toy Story,’ it really hit me the weight of this, like how lucky we were to get to sort of take up what Randy Newman has created and continue that legacy,” she said on American Country Countdown.

She and Antonoff did not try to reinvent Newman’s sound, she said, but to make a song that could sit beside his work. “I just thought we’re gonna take these beautiful, you know, tapestries of musical art he’s created, brushstroke by brushstroke, and we’re gonna try to create something that would go in that collection,” Swift said. 

Judge Allows Pentagon Dismissal Of Journalists

A federal judge on Friday refused to block the Pentagon from firing three Stars and Stripes journalists who say they were punished for speaking out about the military newspaper’s editorial independence.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled that publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and Middle East reporter Lara Korte are unlikely to prove the Defense Department violated their First Amendment rights. He said the outlet’s independence “is not at stake here” and that the journalists had not shown their firings would chill protected speech at the paper.

The three sued last Thursday in Washington, D.C., after the Pentagon, which partially funds Stars and Stripes, moved to dismiss them. Slavin said he was fired for insubordination after a CBS News interview in which he objected to possible military censorship. Korte took part in the same interview. 

Their lawsuit also alleges retaliation for a report on deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Lederer was dismissed shortly after announcing his retirement; he said the Pentagon installed an active-duty deputy publisher under him without his knowledge.

McFadden concluded that Slavin and Korte gave the interviews as public employees performing official duties, not as private citizens. “They are being fired for giving pre-approved interviews on their paper’s behalf in which they largely toed the company line,” he wrote. “Whatever else such a scheme may violate, it does not clearly offend the First Amendment.”

The Defense Department and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are among the defendants. The journalists are represented by Democracy Defenders Fund, Lawyers for Good Government, the Government Accountability Project and a Yale Law School clinic.

Attorney Taryn Wilgus Null of Democracy Defenders Fund said the ruling underscores the high bar for a preliminary injunction and is not the final word. “While we are disappointed in the decision, we fully expect to prevail after we have an opportunity to take discovery and all the facts are revealed,” she said.

Senator Fetterman Blasts WSJ 'Hit Piece'

Sen. John Fetterman on Sunday dismissed former aides as “a hit piece from disgruntled staffers” pushing “smears,” after they accused him of indifference to Senate work and routinely skipping constituent meetings.

The first-term Pennsylvania Democrat broke his silence after The Wall Street Journal published text messages and cited ex-staffers who said he has grown more interested in courting conservative media than in the duties of a U.S. senator. Fetterman, who did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment, issued a statement to CNN calling the story “the third hit piece from disgruntled staffers.”

“Per usual — lies, half-truths, innuendos, smears and anonymous,” he said. “No matter how many smears or stories, I’m proud to continue to deliver for Pennsylvania.”

John Fetterman

He addressed three leaked texts from the Journal report, saying they were “stripped of any context and circumstances.” In one September exchange, Fetterman asked why he had to “keep having to meet” with officials from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. An aide replied that they were worried about Medicaid cuts. Fetterman wrote: “Well, I’m not.”

He later called that remark a “dumb joke” and apologized, saying he has met with CHOP officials “virtually and in person” and that his office “always has, and always will, advocate for CHOP.” He pointed to a photo he posted on X.

Former staffers have since created an anonymous X account and threatened to release more unflattering details. Fetterman faces sagging approval ratings inside his own party amid clashes with the left over Israel, Iran and immigration as he looks toward a possible 2028 reelection bid. In July he warned he would leave the Democratic Party if it adopts an anti-Israel policy.

Fewer Laboring In Radio Broadcasting

In 2026 (through early September), U.S. radio broadcasting saw another wave of job cuts driven by debt, weak advertising, centralization, automation, and for public stations, the lingering effects of lost federal funding. Exact nationwide totals were not published; companies rarely released headcount figures. The pattern was consistent: fewer local on-air voices, more national or automated programming, and repeated reductions at the largest groups. 

CBS News Radio
In March, CBS News announced it would shut down its nearly century-old radio service (founded 1927), which supplied hourly newscasts to about 700 affiliates. The service ended May 22. The move was part of a broader CBS News reduction of more than 60 jobs (about 6% of the newsroom). Every radio-division position was eliminated.

Audacy
In late March and early April the company cut on-air talent and staff while eliminating the local market-manager role in favor of a regional sales-and-oversight structure. Affected markets included Houston (the Frito & Katy morning show), Cleveland, Hartford, Philadelphia, Seattle, and others. The company described the reductions as limited but did not give a number. Audacy had already cut as many as 300 jobs in 2025 after emerging from bankruptcy.

Public radio and NPR
Cuts continued after Congress rescinded federal public-media funding in 2025. NPR laid off 10 journalists and accepted at least 18 buyouts in May while leaving other positions unfilled, aiming to close an $8 million gap tied to lower station fees. Local public stations also reduced staff (examples included a 10% cut at KUER/PBS Utah). One industry tally put public-media layoffs above 500 since mid-2025, with reductions continuing into 2026.

iHeartMedia
The largest commercial radio cuts of the year came in two phases. Management and sales jobs were reduced in April. A wider programming and on-air round began June 23 and continued through the week. iHeart did not disclose a total; reports ranged from “dozens” to roughly 100, and at least one affected employee said he was told he was “one of the hundreds.” Veteran hosts and programmers with 20–41 years of tenure lost jobs in markets large and small (Denver, St. Louis, Louisville, Fort Myers, Anchorage, Riverside’s KGGI, Des Moines sports station KXnO, and many others). 

Some smaller-market stations lost most or all remaining local talent. The company framed the changes as a programming restructure to “move faster,” leverage technology, and support sales, part of an additional $50 million in annualized savings on top of about $100 million already planned ($150 million combined). Industry observers compared the scale to the harsh 2009 and 2020 rounds.

Cumulus Media
In early August, while still awaiting final steps out of Chapter 11, Cumulus cut sales, programming, and some podcast-network leadership roles. Departures were reported in Washington, D.C., Columbia (S.C.), Mobile, Shreveport, Albuquerque, and San Francisco (including KNBR’s Greg Papa). The company said claims that the entire podcast network had been eliminated were inaccurate.

Smaller and independent stations
In late July, Anaheim Broadcasting’s KCAL-FM (96.7, Inland Empire classic rock) laid off its entire on-air staff—full-time hosts with decades of service plus part-timers—and switched to a fully automated “all music, all the time” format.

Broader picture
The 2026 cuts continued a multi-year contraction. Major groups cited technology, efficiency, and balance-sheet pressure. Public radio cited the loss of Corporation for Public Broadcasting support. The practical result in many markets was less locally produced talk and fewer familiar on-air personalities, with programming increasingly centralized or automated.

Denver Radio: KIMN-FM Launches New Morning Show

Mix 100 will launch a new weekday wake-up program, “Denver’s Morning Show,” with Nina Blanco and Josh Griesemer on Tuesday, Sept. 8, KSE Media announced, filling the hole left after the station ended its previous morning team last week. 

The Hot AC station, KIMN (100.3 FM), said Blanco will move from afternoon drive to mornings and pair with Griesemer, who remains from the outgoing “Jeremy, Katy & Josh Morning Show.” 

That program aired its final broadcast at the start of the week as management prepared “the next phase of its morning programming strategy.” Jeremy Padgett and Katy Mitchell are leaving Mix 100. Griesemer is staying. “We extend our sincere appreciation to Jeremy, Katy, and Josh for their contributions, their commitment to MIX 100, and the energy they brought to the morning show,” said Joel Clary, senior vice president and general manager of KSE Radio. 

Launches Tuesday

He called Padgett “a familiar and trusted voice in Denver radio for 23 years, most of which were spent with Mix 100,” and said his “professionalism, consistency, and connection with listeners have been hallmarks of his time on the station.” Padgett, Mitchell and Griesemer had hosted mornings together since October 2024. Padgett rose from producer to host at KIMN and was previously part of “Dom & Jane,” 

“Dom & Jeremy,” and “The Boys in the Morning.” Mitchell joined KSE Media in 2022 as a weekend and fill-in host at Mix 100 and sister station Kool 105, moved to middays in April 2023, then to mornings. 

She has also worked at KKFN in Denver and at stations in Jamestown, N.D., and Grand Junction, Colo. Blanco joined Mix 100 in April 2023 as the 2-4 p.m. host, moved to afternoon drive in September 2024, and added Music Director duties last November after signing a two-year contract extension. She previously co-hosted mornings at iHeartMedia CHR 95.7 The Party (KPTT), held multiple roles at Max Media Hip Hop Flo 107.1 (KFCO), worked mornings and nights at Now 96.3 (KNOU) in St. Louis, and hosted nights at CHR 101.5 WCIL-FM in Carbondale, Ill. 

Griesemer joined KSE’s sports station Altitude 92.5 (KKSE-FM) in 2018 and has been Mix 100’s morning producer and co-host since 2020. 

The change is the latest in a two-year stretch of morning-show turnover at KSE Radio Ventures. Longtime Mix 100 host Dom Testa crossed the hall to Kool 105 in 2024. A planned “Boys in the Morning” lineup with then-program director Steve Marshall collapsed when Marshall left for KOSI, after which Mitchell joined Padgett and Griesemer. That version of the show lasted less than two years.

Maria Is Gone, Here's What Else Has Changed At Fox News

Fox News has canceled Maria Bartiromo’s program, ending its relationship with one of cable news’s earliest defining stars and underscoring how the network has changed since the 2020 election.

The NYTimes reports the split matters most for Donald Trump. In 2020 he could count on hosts like Bartiromo to air his most extreme election-fraud claims on Fox’s highest-rated shows with little pushback. He cannot count on that now as he again argues the American election system is rife with fraud ahead of a midterm that polls suggest could be difficult for his party.

The caution is a direct result of the lawsuits that followed 2020. Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic, the two voting-technology companies at the center of stolen-election theories, sued Fox for $1.6 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively, alleging the network damaged their reputations. Fox paid $787.5 million to settle the Dominion case. Its litigation with Smartmatic continues, adding pressure to avoid promoting conspiracy theories in another election year.

Maria Bartiromo

Fox is a different network than it was in late 2020, both on camera and behind the scenes. Chief legal officer Viet Dinh, whose handling of the Dominion case drew scrutiny, is gone. So is his deputy Raj Shah, a former Trump aide who had helped keep the network tightly focused on right-wing criticism whenever Fox or its hosts were seen as insufficiently deferential to Trump’s fraud claims. 

Early in 2021 Fox ended Lou Dobbs’s program; he had been among the most enthusiastic promoters of the idea that the presidential election was rigged. After the Dominion settlement it parted ways with Tucker Carlson, who was mentioned in the case and had also drawn advertiser boycotts with his embrace of right-wing conspiracies. Jeanine Pirro, another figure in the two voting cases, now serves as Trump’s U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Fox’s most popular hosts remain overwhelmingly loyal to Trump, including prime-time stars Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters. The network still tilts heavily in his favor and was alone among major news networks in airing his election-integrity speech in full. At the same time it has shown a willingness to break with the administration—for example on the military campaign in Iran, which some on-air hosts, including Ingraham, have criticized. Anchor Bret Baier also delivered a rare on-air defense of colleague Jonathan Hunt after Trump attacked Hunt’s Iran coverage.

'Free' For Streamer's Gateway To More Proift

After years of raising subscription prices, major streamers are turning to free, ad-supported tiers to find new viewers and convert them into paying customers. 

Disney is considering a free product for price-sensitive customers. Paramount+ is already testing limited free access for U.S. mobile users. Sony has launched a free live TV service on PlayStation 5. Netflix says a free offering “could make sense in some markets,” though it has no near-term launch plan. The pitch is straightforward: a free front door can widen the audience, put more ads against huge libraries, lift engagement and, most important, funnel people into paid plans and bundles. 

Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro has said a free offering could expand reach, add ad inventory the company says it can already sell, and drive “top-of-funnel” Disney+ growth. He has announced no product details or timeline. Paramount+ is further along. It is testing a “free front porch” that lets U.S. mobile users browse the app and sample a small slate of titles — in one Android test, as little as two episodes from selected shows — after signing in. The goal is lower friction, habit-building and later upgrades, without replacing paid Essential and Premium plans. 

Paramount already owns Pluto TV, a fully free FAST service, so the company has to keep the two products distinct. Sony’s play is different. Live TV on PS5, from Sony Pictures Television, gives U.S. console owners more than 100 free ad-supported channels plus on-demand movies, series, anime, sports and news. Access is through the PS5 Media tab and a PlayStation account. 

Canada is next; BRAVIA TVs are planned later this year. That puts Sony in the same FAST lane as Tubi, Pluto TV and The Roku Channel, which have gained share as paid prices climbed. Netflix is the most cautious. Co-CEO Greg Peters has said a free tier might work where paid penetration is lower and the ads business is large enough to fund it. The risk he flagged is cannibalization: paying subscribers trading down.  Netflix has no near-term plan and previously ended a limited free Android test in Vietnam and Kenya. 

Experts told TheWrap the model can work if streamers keep free catalogs clearly weaker than paid ones, launch only where they already sell ads at scale, and design the product so existing subscribers do not drop to free. Done poorly, a wave of free inventory could also pressure ad rates industrywide. The backdrop is saturation and “streamflation.” 

Nielsen has shown free streaming taking a larger slice of U.S. TV time as YouTube, Tubi and Pluto pull viewers who will not add another $10–$20 app. Amazon already folded Freevee into Prime Video. Fox’s deal for Roku underscored how seriously Hollywood now treats free as a growth engine, not just a dumping ground for old reruns. 

The open question is whether free tiers become a true on-ramp — or a cheaper substitute that undercuts the subscriptions these companies spent a decade building.

Former ABC Producer Drops Matt Gutman From Lawsuit

A former ABC News field producer has asked a court to drop CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman as a defendant in her wrongful termination lawsuit, which alleged he sexually harassed her while they worked together.

Samira Said’s lawyers filed the request Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Said sued ABC News and parent company The Walt Disney Co. on Aug. 14 after four years as a field producer. ABC and Disney remain defendants. The claims against Gutman and former ABC News Los Angeles Bureau Chief Dave Herndon also remain in the complaint.

Samira Said

The lawsuit cites two incidents in which Said said Gutman created a hostile work environment by making inappropriate sexual comments on the job. Gutman, through a CBS News representative, declined to comment. Said’s lawyers did not respond to an email asking why they sought to remove him as a defendant.

Said alleges she was wrongfully fired in 2025 after struggling with mental health issues and that ABC violated California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act by failing to accommodate her. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages plus attorneys’ fees.

Gutman, 48, spent 17 years at ABC News, mostly reporting from Los Angeles. He was the first high-profile on-air hire by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss after she took over the division in October. He recently filled in as anchor of the “CBS Evening News” and drew higher ratings than regular anchor Tony Dokoupil.

Atlanta Radio: Criminal Charges Dropped Against WVEE Morning Host

Prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against Atlanta radio personality Big Tigger after his June arrest in Sandy Springs. Darian Morgan, known on air as Big Tigger, was arrested by Sandy Springs police and charged with aggravated battery and third-degree cruelty to children. 

Court records obtained by TMZ show the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute, ending the criminal case.

Morgan has denied wrongdoing. In a June Instagram post, he said he would “continue to cooperate fully and trust that the truth will come to light.”

Big Tigger

In July, he announced he would step away from his WVEE V-103 morning show (Show name remains on station website) to focus on his family and let his lawyers handle the public legal issues. “My personal life is in the public eye and has become the subject of overwhelming speculation and misinformation,” he wrote.

That announcement came days after co-host Francesca Amiker sued Morgan’s estranged wife, Alicia Brown, in federal court in Atlanta. The June 30 lawsuit alleges Brown made or directed social media posts that falsely claimed Amiker had an affair with Morgan and that the relationship helped her get the V-103 job.

Brown was arrested in July during a traffic stop on Interstate 85 in Hart County. Deputies said she had active warrants from Fulton County and Baltimore County, Maryland. The Maryland warrant was tied to the 2019 disappearance of her daughter, who was 10 when she was reported missing.

In August, Brown sued Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, alleging that the sheriff, sheriff’s office employees, and Morgan may have discussed her movements around the time of her arrest. She also asked the court to examine whether Morgan received preferential treatment after his June arrest. She is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.

Newsman’s Startup Uses AI To Find Stories

Former NBC 10 Boston reporter Eli Rosenberg is leaving television news to launch Your Assignment Desk, an AI-powered startup that scrapes public records and generates local story ideas for newsrooms.

Rosenberg, 47, returned earlier this year from covering the Winter Olympics in Milan and began building the tool as a personal reporting aid. Six months later, he is turning it into a company. The product scans dozens of public sources, then produces a list of possible stories and suggested interview subjects.

Eli Rosenberg

“We’re not looking to replace journalists,” Rosenberg said. “We’re trying to make everyone’s life easier, and use a very powerful tool that the industry is fully embracing day-by-day to help.”

The name nods to the assignment desk, the newsroom hub that compiles potential stories from press releases, phone calls, and police scanners before editors assign them to reporters. Rosenberg, so far the company’s only employee, built the system with Anthropic’s Claude. At its core is what he calls the “truth doctrine”: guardrails requiring that suggestions be grounded in actual records such as police reports, meeting agendas, or court filings. He adopted the rule after early experiments produced AI errors and hallucinations.

“The truth doctrine is that brain,” he said. “It is everything that a journalist needs to know in terms of what makes a good story, what doesn’t, what does this story need to get verified so that it can go on air.”

In a demo for The Boston Globe, sample pitches included a surge of abandoned vehicles in Boston, a State House bill to appoint special police officers in Somerville, and an FAA ground delay at Logan Airport. Rosenberg said none are guaranteed scoops, but the goal is to surface publicly available leads so assignment editors can spend more time chasing tips.

It is unclear how many stations will buy such a product rather than build internal tools or remain wary of AI in reporting. Rosenberg said he has not found a comparable offering and hopes his nearly 22 years as a TV reporter will help shape how local newsrooms use the technology.

He joins a wave of TV journalists who have left local stations in recent years. Local television remains a leading source of local news but faces growing competition from social media, podcasts, and digital outlets. While many former colleagues moved into public relations, politics, or real estate, Rosenberg said he wants to be part of what he sees as the future of news.

R.I.P.: Mike Romigh, SW-PA Radio Personality

Mike Romigh (194?-2026)

Mike Romigh, longtime Beaver County,  PA radio host of “Live Mic,” died Saturday night after a long battle with a blood disorder, his family said Sunday morning.  Romigh had stepped away from the weekday show in September 2025 because of his health. 

Beaver County Radio General Manager Frank Sparks said the station was “absolutely devastated” by the news. “He was such an inspiration to us all and a key part of the resurgence of Beaver County Radio over the last few years,” Sparks said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Romigh family at this devastating time.”

Romigh returned to Beaver County Radio in early 2022 to host “Live Mic” weekdays from 6:30 to 9 a.m. He left in August 2024 to spend more time with family and enjoy retirement, while continuing to host “Best of Beaver County” on Thursday mornings. After the stations returned to a simulcast format in early 2025, he came back to host “Live Mic” weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon before stepping away again that September.

R.I.P.: Mike Detillier, WWL NOLA Radio Sportscaster

Mike Detillier (1961-2026)

Longtime WWL Radio football analyst Mike Detillier has died at 65, just days after learning he had terminal cancer.

WWL Radio announced his death Sunday. Detillier had planned to tell listeners about the diagnosis after Labor Day, on his 66th birthday Tuesday. He learned of the illness less than two weeks ago.

Detillier spent more than four decades on the New Orleans station as a college and professional football analyst, becoming one of the region’s best-known voices on the Saints, LSU, and the NFL draft. He was known for detailed knowledge of the game and extensive work evaluating draft prospects. His death comes as the football season begins.

The New Orleans Saints issued a statement calling him “a proud son of Louisiana,” “a gifted football analyst,” “a trusted guide through the NFL Draft,” and “an exceptional family man.”

“Beyond his incredible contributions to the game, he was above all a true gentleman and a dedicated family man,” the team said. “Saints gamedays at the Caesars Superdome, training camp practices, and press conferences simply will not be the same without his presence. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his immediate family and to the community of devoted listeners who considered him a friend over the airwaves.”

Radio History: Sep 8

➦In 1907...actor John 'Jack" Mather Born. (Died from heart attack at age 58 – August 16, 1966). He a radio and television actor, best known for playing The Cisco Kid on Mutual radio from 1947 to 1956. and for being the original voice of Wally Walrus.

➦In 1930...WBEN signed-on in Buffalo, NY.  However, its history dates to the 1920s. WBEN initially used the facility built by the Norton Laboratories organization from Boston, as part of an experiment to send voice transmissions between Niagara Falls, New York, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, as WMAK.

When WMAK was launched in 1922 it operated initially from Lockport, New York at 833 kHz. The station later moved its transmitter to North Tonawanda, New York (broadcasting at 1130 kHz there) and then landing on 900 kHz, with 1000 watts of power, as a result of General Order 40, which realigned American AM radio allocations in 1927–28. In the late 1920s WMAK was acquired by the Buffalo Broadcasting Company, based at Buffalo's Rand Building, which also controlled WGR and WKBW in Buffalo. WMAK was a charter member of the CBS Radio Network, being one of the 16 stations that aired the first CBS network program on September 18, 1927.

WMAK was closed in the spring of 1930 as federal regulators began probing concentration of media ownership in the nation's largest radio markets. Buffalo Broadcasting Company chose to retain WGR and WKBW while shutting down WMAK and another daytime-only station, WKEN in suburban Kenmore, New York.

At the same time, the Buffalo Evening News was granted a broadcast license of its own, purchased the decommissioned transmitting facility of WMAK on Shawnee Road in Martinsville (North Tonawanda, New York) and re-licensed it as WBEN.

A new studio complex was built at the Statler-Hilton Hotel in downtown Buffalo (chosen primarily for access to the live orchestra there), and served WBEN, its sister FM station and sister television station (which opened in the spring of 1948) for more than 25 years.

In 1941, the station moved to its current position on the dial, at 930 kHz, as a result of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA).

The station also relocated its transmitter to Grand Island at during this time, increasing full-time power to its current 5,000 watts. The Grand Island transmitter and two towers are still in use today.

Click Here for more WBEN History.

The Hoboken Four with Major Bowes

➦In 1935...A singing group called the Hoboken Four, one of whose members is named Frank Sinatra, made their first national appearance, performing on WOR's radio show Major Bowes Amateur Hour.