Clay Travis Offers Colin Kaepernick $2M For Interview

Clay Travis has publicly offered Colin Kaepernick $2 million for a one-hour, no-questions-off-limits interview. The challenge was issued Friday on The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, first as $1 million for 30 minutes and then doubled on air. 

Travis later framed the money as going to a mutually agreed charity, not to Kaepernick personally, and ruled out groups such as Black Lives Matter. There is no public sign that Kaepernick has accepted. 

“If I could pick one person to be able to do a sit-down interview with, it would be Colin Kaepernick,” Travis said. He predicted that half an hour with him would end Kaepernick’s role as a sports-and-politics spokesman. The terms he laid out were blunt: any question he deemed fit, answers required, one hour, $2 million. He did not specify whether the interview would air on his radio show, OutKick, or another platform. 

The offer grew out of Kaepernick’s latest media tour. Promoting his memoir The Perilous Fight, the former 49ers quarterback again compared the NFL Scouting Combine to a slave auction. On Ryan Clark’s Pivot podcast, Clark asked when Kaepernick first saw the parallel. Kaepernick described being told to strip to compression shorts, called the process a “meat market,” and said he lacked that historical frame when he went through the combine in 2011. 

He has made a similar argument since the 2021 Netflix series Colin in Black & White and repeats it in the book. 

Travis and Sexton had already attacked that analogy earlier in the week. Their case is that the combine is a voluntary job interview for multimillion-dollar contracts, not bondage. Prospects choose to attend. Teams measure speed, strength and medical risk because the product is physical labor sold at the top of the market. Equating that with slavery, Travis said, is “dumb” and an insult to anyone who knows what forced labor actually was. 

Kaepernick has not answered the $2 million challenge.

Podcasts Enlarging Political Ad Spending

Political podcast advertising is growing fast enough to look like a threat to television this midterm season. It is not stealing linear TV’s money at scale. It is enlarging the market. 

Ad spending on political podcasts jumped 42 percent in the first half of 2026 after rising 36 percent in the same period a year earlier, Magellan AI estimates show. Combined, that is about a 93 percent increase over two years — far ahead of the 17.6 percent rise in the broader U.S. podcast-ad market in 2025 and the 13.9 percent increase in overall digital advertising. That growth arrives as the 2026 cycle is on track to be the most expensive midterm on record. 

AdImpact projects $11.6 billion in political advertising, including $5.6 billion for broadcast television. Connected TV and streaming are expected to take about $2.7 billion. Those television numbers have been revised upward, not down, even as video podcasts look more like TV and compete for the same attention on YouTube and other screens. The reason this is not a simple cannibalization story is how agencies pay for the inventory. Political podcast buys can be funded from audio, digital video, creator, performance-marketing and integrated-media budgets. 

Linear television sits in a different bucket. A dollar that lands on a simulcast political show is often incremental to the campaign or brand, not a reallocation of a station-group buy. That is why the rise of political podcasts is hard to read as a direct raid on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC or local broadcast news. The advertiser mix reinforces that point. 

Survey: Radio Provides Soundtrack For Holiday Season

Radio remains the top source of holiday music, especially in the car, according to a new Katz Radio Group survey that finds more than half of consumers listen to seasonal songs while driving.

Sixty-nine percent of consumers say they listen to holiday music on the radio, and 52% do so behind the wheel, making the vehicle one of the most important places where holiday listening and AM/FM radio meet. The custom December survey found AM/FM outpacing other platforms for the season’s soundtrack.

That in-car habit sits inside a broader emotional attachment to holiday music. Eighty-seven percent of consumers say they enjoy listening to it, 85% say it improves their mood, 86% say it increases their enjoyment of the season, and 87% say it makes them feel nostalgic. Seventy-six percent call it a personal or family tradition. Advertisers stand to benefit from that connection. Eighty-four percent of consumers say it is a good idea for brands to advertise during the holiday season. Katz attributes that openness to messages that fit the season’s mood and traditions rather than adding to seasonal noise — an opening radio’s captive in-car and at-home audiences are well positioned to fill.

Consumers themselves remain highly engaged with the holidays. Ninety-two percent say they enjoy the season, 85% take part in holiday-themed activities and gatherings, 87% decorate their homes, and 80% do either a lot or a moderate amount of holiday shopping. The biggest purchasing surge still runs from Thanksgiving weekend through early December.

Spending plans are substantial. The most common expected outlay is $400 to $599, cited by 18% of respondents. Another 12% plan to spend $1,000 to $1,499, and 10% expect to spend $1,500 or more.

ESPN Adds Taylor MacGegor Fulltime

Taylor MacGregor

Taylor McGregor is leaving Marquee Sports Network for a full-time role at ESPN, the Chicago Cubs reporter after working her final Cubs game last week.

McGregor has split time between Marquee and national ESPN assignments since 2020. She posted a three-page statement on social media explaining the move and thanking colleagues at the Cubs’ regional network. During the broadcast, she joined play-by-play announcer Jon “Boog” Sciambi and analyst Jim Deshaies in the booth and called her tenure “the ride of a lifetime.”

At ESPN, McGregor has worked primarily as a college football reporter. She recently drew national attention for covering a power outage that delayed the SMU-Florida State Labor Day game. She was also a recent guest on the “Sports Media Watch Podcast.”

Before Marquee and ESPN, McGregor reported on Colorado Rockies telecasts for AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.

Marquee is keeping the rest of its Cubs broadcast team. In addition to Sciambi and Deshaies, that group includes Cole Wright, Elise Menaker and Alex Cohen. The Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro and Robert Channick reported that those contracts have been extended through the 2028 season.

Illinois R&R Hall Inducts WXRT's Terri Hemmert

WXRT's Terri Hemmert

The Illinois Rock & Roll Hall of Fame held its fifth annual induction ceremony Sunday in Chicago for the first time, moving from Joliet to the Harris Theater in Millennium Park. The event honors artists, labels, stations and DJs with Illinois roots, including Survivor, American Breed, Curtis Mayfield, classic-rock station WDRV-FM 97.1 and longtime WXRT-FM 93.1 personality Terri Hemmert. 

Hemmert, 78, is the radio centerpiece of this year’s class. An Ohio native, she began overnights at WXRT in 1973 and became Chicago’s first woman in rock morning drive. She has spent more than 50 years on the air championing the Beatles, the blues and local acts. She says she got into radio “to meet the Beatles,” later interviewing Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. 

In the 1970s she slipped Cheap Trick onto overnight playlists; the Rockford band entered the Hall in its inaugural 2021 class. “We broke bands like Cheap Trick, for example,” she said.

She joined a line of Chicago radio names already in the Hall: Larry Lujack, John Records Landecker, recently retired Bob Stroud and WGN-AM 720 morning host Bob Sirott, a 2023 inductee who was emcee Sunday. “I think they did that so I’d be sure to say yes when they ask me to emcee this every year,” Sirott said. He started as a rock DJ at WLS-AM 890 in the 1970s.

R.I.P.: Peter Byrne, Lead Of Naked Eyes and Songwriter

Peter Byrne, the lead singer and co-founder of the 1980s synth-pop duo Naked Eyes, died Sept. 14 in Los Angeles after a brief illness. He was 74. The band announced his death on its website, saying Byrne died “peacefully.” A cause was not disclosed. 

A private family service is planned. Byrne was the voice of one of MTV’s signature British-invasion hits: Naked Eyes’ sleek 1983 cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Always Something There to Remind Me,” which reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. That same year, the original Byrne-Fisher song “Promises, Promises” climbed to No. 11. 

Two more singles — “When the Lights Go Out” (No. 37 in 1983) and “(What) in the Name of Love” (No. 39 in 1984) — also reached the Hot 100’s Top 40, making the duo a fixture of early-’80s American radio and video even as they never scored a comparable hit at home in Britain. Naked Eyes formed in 1982, when Byrne and keyboardist Rob Fisher — college friends from Bath who had already played together in the short-lived new wave group Neon — decided they preferred writing and recording to running a full band. 

After Naked Eyes’ brief commercial peak, Byrne sang backing vocals on Stevie Wonder’s 1985 No. 1 hit “Part-Time Lover” and later wrote for film and television, including the 1993 Olsen twins song “I Am the Cute One.” Fisher died in 1999 at 42 after cancer surgery. 

Recently

Byrne kept working. He released the solo album The Real Illusion in 2001, then revived Naked Eyes as a recording and touring project, issuing the covers set Fumbling With the Covers in 2007 and the original album Disguise the Limit in 2021. A remastered edition of the group’s U.S. debut arrived in 2025. He continued performing into his 70s, including on 1980s package tours. 

Byrne is survived by his siblings Eileen, Sandy, Carol and Steve; his three children, Merlin, Dylan and Chloe; and his former wife, Elena Karina Byrne. The family asked that those wishing to pay respects support his music.

R.I.P.: Angela Stribling, Longtime R/TV Jazz Host

WHUR 96.3 FM is mourning the loss of longtime broadcaster, singer, television host and beloved member of the WHUR family, Angela Stribling, whose warm, soothing voice became part of the soundtrack of Washington-area radio for decades.

This statement was released Sunday morning from her husband Ken Washington, Ph.D. “It is with broken heart that I share that my beloved wife, Angela Marie Stribling passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, September 26, after a courageous two-year battle with brain cancer. Her sister Darlene and I were by her side.” Dr. Washington went on to say “A Celebration of Life” for Angela will be held in Washington, D.C. A date and venue will be announced.

For generations of WHUR listeners, Angela Stribling was more than a radio personality. She was a familiar voice, a trusted presence and a gentle spirit whose warmth came through whether she was behind a microphone, on television or performing on stage.

Angela became an important part of the legacy of WHUR’s Original Quiet Storm, the groundbreaking format that began at Howard University in 1976 with the late Melvin Lindsey. Stribling became the first woman to host the Original Quiet Storm, carrying forward a tradition that has become an enduring part of Black radio and Washington’s cultural history.

Her relationship with the Quiet Storm was particularly meaningful. Stribling and Lindsey were close friends and professional collaborators. The two hosted BET’s Screen Scene together and also co-hosted On Time on Baltimore’s WJZ-TV. Their friendship and shared history became part of the story of the Quiet Storm itself.

But Angela’s career extended far beyond radio.

Radio History: Sep 28

➦In 1901...William S. Paley, the chief executive, who built Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States, was born.

Will Paley

In 1927, Paley's father, brother-in-law and some business partners bought a struggling Philadelphia-based radio network of 16 station called the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System. Samuel Paley's intention was to use his acquisition as an advertising medium for promoting the family's cigar business, which included the La Palina brand. Within a year, under William's leadership, cigar sales had more than doubled, and, in 1928, the Paley family secured majority ownership of the network from their partners. Within a decade, William S. Paley had expanded the network to 114 affiliate stations.

Paley quickly grasped the earnings potential of radio and recognized that good programming was the key to selling advertising time and, in turn, bringing in profits to the network and to affiliate owners. Before Paley, most businessmen viewed stations as stand-alone local outlets or, in other words, as the broadcast equivalent of local newspapers. Individual stations originally bought programming from the network and, thus, were considered the network's clients.

Paley changed broadcasting's business model not only by developing successful and lucrative broadcast programming but also by viewing the advertisers as the most significant element of the broadcasting equation. Paley provided network programming to affiliate stations at a nominal cost, thereby ensuring the widest possible distribution for both the programming and the advertising. Affiliates were required to carry programming offered by the network for part of the broadcast day, receiving a portion of the network's fees from advertising revenue. At other times in the broadcast day, affiliates were free to offer local programming and sell advertising time locally.

During his prime, Paley was described as having an uncanny sense for popular taste and exploiting that insight to build the CBS network. As war clouds darkened over Europe in the late 1930s, Paley recognized Americans' desire for news coverage of the coming war and built the CBS news division into a dominant force just as he had previously built the network's entertainment division.

During World War II, Paley served in the psychological warfare branch in the Office of War Information, under General Dwight Eisenhower, and held the rank of colonel. It was while based in London, England, during the war when Paley came to know and befriend Edward R. Murrow, CBS's head of European news. In 1946, Paley promoted Frank Stanton to president of CBS. CBS expanded into TV and rode the post-World War II boom to surpass NBC, which had dominated radio.

➦In 1919...Doris Singleton born (Died at age 92 – June 26, 2012). She began her career in show business as a vocalist in the late 1930s with Art Jarrett's orchestra. Her distinctive low, lyrical voice made her a favorite in the radio industry.

Doris Singleton

Singleton worked in New York during World War II both as a guest star and in regular roles on numerous hit radio shows, including The Whistler and The Alan Young Show, on which she played Young's girlfriend, Betty Dittenfeffer. She played Ruth Henshaw on the radio version of December Bride.

During a guest appearance on the radio show My Favorite Husband in 1948 she met Lucille Ball and began their long professional relationship. She had a recurring role in I Love Lucy playing Carolyn Appleby in ten episodes between 1953 and 1957. In 1953, she made her television debut as Gloria Harper in the episode "Jungle Devil" on the series, The Adventures of Superman.

Singleton also appeared on numerous other television shows including Richard Diamond, Private Detective, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Pete and Gladys, Hazel, The Real McCoys, The Twilight Zone, The Munsters, The Fugitive, Dynasty, Phyllis, Family Affair, Hogan's Heroes, State Trooper, Gunsmoke, and Frontier Doctor.

Singleton played the sympathetic neighbor, Susie, to Annie Fargé's scatterbrained character "Angel Smith" in the CBS sitcom, Angel from 1960 to 1961. Singleton also appeared in All in the Family as Edith's hotel roommate, Lydia Stonehurst, in the 1971 episode "Edith has Jury Duty". She also appeared in two Perry Mason episodes, titled "The Crooked Candle" and "The Purple Woman".

She guest-starred on My Three Sons, playing two different characters who had recurring roles throughout the long run of the show. At the time of her death in June 2012, Singleton was the last surviving major recurring adult cast member from the "Lucy" shows.

➦In 1919...Thomas Dudley Harmon born (Died at age 70 – March 15, 1990). He was a football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster.

Tom Harmon

Harmon grew up in Gary, Indiana, and played college football at the halfback position for the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940. He led the nation in scoring and was a consensus All-American in both 1939 and 1940 and won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and the Associated Press Athlete of the Year award in 1940. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.

During World War II, Harmon served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces. In April 1943, he was the sole survivor of the crash of a bomber he piloted in South America en route to North Africa. Six months later, while flying a P-38 Lightning, he was shot down in a dogfight with Japanese Zeros near Kiukiang in China.

After the war, Harmon played two seasons of professional football for the Los Angeles Rams and had the longest run from scrimmage during the 1946 NFL season.

After retiring as a player in 1947, Harmon returned to his career as a sports broadcaster, becoming one of the first and most successful athletes to make the transition from player to broadcaster. During the 1948 season, he broadcast Rams' games for KFI radio in Los Angeles. In the late 1940s, he was the play-by-play announcer for NBC on the first television broadcast of a Rose Bowl Game. From around 1950 to 1962, Harmon worked as a sportscaster for the CBS network. He also handled the nightly sport report on KTLA television in Los Angeles from 1958 to 1964.

In 1962, Harmon joined the sports staff of the ABC radio network. He developed a concept for a 10-minute daily sports program. He hired the crew, purchased the equipment, found sponsors, and then sold the program to ABC. His 10-minute broadcasts became a staple of the ABC radio network. By 1965, his company, Tom Harmon Sports, was generating annual gross revenue of $1 million and had six full-time employees.

He also worked as the play-by-play announcer for UCLA Bruins football games on KTLA during the 1960s and 1970s. In his later years, he was the host of Raider Playbook on KNBC in Los Angeles and also handled play-by-play responsibility for Los Angeles Raiders' preseason games.

➦In 1936...Bachelor's Children was a domestic daytime drama radio broadcast which originated on Chicago's WGN in 1935-36, it debuted on this date on CBS Radio Networ. Later it aired on NBC Radio until September 27, 1946.

It followed the daily travails of two friends, Dr. Bob Graham and Sam Ryder, and the two women they loved. When Dr. Bob was a young man doing military service, his sergeant took care of him during a difficult time. Years later, the sergeant's dying request was that Bob become guardian of his two young daughters. Dr. Bob fell in love with Ruth Ann and Sam with her twin sister, Janet.

Rudy Vallee

➦In 1939...The Fleischmann Hour with Rudy Vallee, came to the end of its ten-year run on NBC Radio Network.

➦In 1963..."She Loves You" by the Beatles was first played in NYC by disc-jockey, "Murray The K", on 1010 WINS. It is believed that this was the first time a Beatles song has been played anywhere in the United States. The response was tepid.