iHM: Keith Hotchkiss Regional President For North Ohio

Keith Hotchkiss

iHeartMedia announced today that Keith Hotchkiss has been named Region President for North Ohio, effective immediately.

As Region President, Hotchkiss will be responsible for iHeartMedia’s business in the region, which includes the Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, Lima, Ashland, Mansfield, Marion and Defiance markets. He will report to Tom McConnell, President of the Midwest/Southeast Division for iHeartMedia.

“Keith is a natural leader and has a proven track record of success,” said McConnell. “His experience as a Market President and as a Regional Senior Vice President of Sales in iHeartMedia’s Virginia/Carolina Region, combined with his first-hand knowledge of the Northern Ohio markets makes him the perfect choice for this important role.”

Hotchkiss joins the region from iHeartMedia’s Virginia-Carolina Region, where he most recently served as Regional Senior Vice President of Sales. He began his career at iHeartMedia Cleveland, where he spent 15 years working as an Account Executive and later General Sales Manager at WMMS-FM and WAKS-FM. In 2014, Hotchkiss joined iHeartMedia Charlotte as Director of Sales and was promoted to Market President the next year. He is a graduate of Ohio University.

“My first job in radio was as an intern at WMMS-FM in Cleveland more than 20 years ago, so the Cleveland market and I have a long history,” Hotchkiss said. “I’m looking forward to serving the communities in the North Ohio region, and to working closely with our advertising partners to help grow their businesses.”

FNC Host Gets Death Threats Following Trump Criticism

Eboni K. Williams

Fox News host Sean Hannity called it a “national disgrace” that fellow Fox host Eboni K. Williams received death threats after she criticized President Trump.

The Daily Caller reports Williams harshly criticized Trump on Monday for his response to the violence in Charlottesville over the weekend, which she said was too soft on white nationalists.

Following that segment, Williams told Variety on Wednesday her inbox was inundated with death threats from people furious with her criticisms of the president. Williams said the comments included things like: “I should meet my maker soon, I shouldn’t be allowed to walk the streets of New York.”

Hannity, who is one of Trump’s strongest supporters in the media, took to Twitter to voice his anger about the death threats.

Eboni is a dear friend! This is a national disgrace that people cannot accept differences. Haters back off all of FNC supports her! https://t.co/ttPjsRJNSH

— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) August 17, 2017

The co-host addressed Trump on Monday in her “Eboni’s Docket” segment, which she writes herself, berating him for failing to specify white nationalist groups in his condemnation of the violence that occurred at Charlottesville, Va., over the weekend. She told Variety in an interview on Wednesday that her personal website, which usually receives an average of 10-15 emails after each segment, was inundated with over 150 emails, only three of which were anything other than “seething, scathing” takedowns.

“I should meet my maker soon, I shouldn’t be allowed to walk the streets of New York,” she cited as some examples of the type of comments she received. “They heard that I live in Harlem — Harlem needs to watch out.” Her book publisher became so concerned that he asked her to request additional security from Fox News, which she did — Williams is now escorted to and from the building when she arrives to work. Her book, “Pretty Powerful: Appearance, Substance, and Success,” is available next month.

Williams also cohosts a daily show with Curtis Sliwa on WABC 770 AM.

Ted Nugent Yells 'All Lives Matter'

Ted Nugent

Rocker Ted Nugent fired back at critics of President Trump who accused him of passively accepting support of white supremacists by criticizing "all sides" in the Charlottesville violence.

"All lives matter and we condemn all violence," Nugent said during an appearance on "The Fox News Specialists."

"Those are bad words? Why are those bad words - what planet are you from?" he asked.

"If you don't agree with that, you're a racist," Nugent said.

Eboni Williams disagreed, saying that it "wasn't all sides that drove a car into [victim] Heather Heyer."


Williams said suspect James Fields was a "single individual acting in the name of white nationalism."

Nugent said critics of Trump are being "gagged by political correctness" into adhering to an anti-Trump narrative.

David Webb said Heyer's death was "not attributable to Trump's words."

Katherine Timpf said that Trump "never hesitated" to name radical Islamic terrorists, but hesitated to immediately name white supremacists in Southside Virginia.

Tech Firms Isolating Hate Groups

Silicon Valley joined a swelling backlash against neo-Nazi groups in the United States on Wednesday as more technology companies removed white supremacists from their services in response to weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

According Reuters, social media networks Twitter Inc and LinkedIn, music service Spotify Ltd and security firm Cloudflare Inc were among the companies cutting off services to hate groups or removing material that they said spread hate.

Earlier in the week, Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc and GoDaddy Inc also took steps to block hate groups.

The wave of internet crackdowns against white nationalists and neo-Nazis reflected a rapidly changing mindset among Silicon Valley firms on how far they are willing to go to police hate speech.

Tech companies have taken down violent propaganda from Islamic State and other militant groups, in part in response to government pressure. But most internet companies have traditionally tried to steer clear of making judgments about content except in cases of illegal activity.

Cloudflare, which protects some 6 million websites from denial-of-service attacks and hacking, on Wednesday afternoon dropped coverage of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer.  Cloudflare is well-known for defending even the most distasteful websites, and services like it are essential to the functioning of websites.

Meanwhile, Spotify says it has removed an array of white-supremacist acts from its streaming service that had been flagged as racist "hate bands" by the Southern Poverty Law Center three years ago.

A Spotify spokeswoman told Billboard in a statement that while the music in its catalog comes from hundreds of thousands of record companies and aggregators all over the world, and those are "at first hand responsible" for the content they deliver, "illegal content or material that favors hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like is not tolerated by us."

"Spotify takes immediate action to remove any such material as soon as it has been brought to our attention. We are glad to have been alerted to this content - and have already removed many of the bands identified today, whilst urgently reviewing the remainder," she said in the statement.

NEPA Radio: DJ Resigns Amid 'Alt-Right' Uproar

Dave Reilly

WHLM 930 AM Bloomsburg Radio DJ David Reilly has resigned from the radio station run by his parents in response to angry protests and an advertiser exodus over his involvement in Saturday’s deadly protest-turned-riot in Charlottesville, Va.

In a letter of resignation posted Wednesday evening on the WHLM website, the young Reilly said he was quitting “out of charity towards the community, and especially towards my parents, Nancy and Joe Reilly.”

A day earlier, David had been suspended without pay pending “a full internal investigation regarding allegations brought against” him, according to Joe Reilly, David’s father, an on-air personality and the public face of the station.

David’s critics alleged that his coverage of the Charlottesville gathering, which included an interview with one of the organizers, was sympathetic to the white-power marchers and amounted to promotion of their point of view. In addition to his now former positions as a deejay and new media director at WHLM, David Reilly posted video and commentary online as Dave Reilly Media.

Bloomsburg Stand Against Hate, a Facebook page created this week by critics of David Reilly and WHLM, claimed yesterday that the advertiser exodus now numbers 36 businesses and organizations, listed on the group’s page.

Members of the group, which has some 350 followers, say they’ve been contacting businesses that advertise with WHLM, urging them to cut ties.

“This isn’t over, folks. We need an actual apology,” Bloomsburg Stand Against Hate announced Wednesday after learning of David’s resignation.

“We need an actual apology and a concerted effort from Joe Reilly to tone down his daily hateful rhetoric.” The elder Reilly hosts the morning show on the station, which simulcasts on three FM translators in Bloomsburg, Berwick and Danville, PA.

After two nights of demonstrations in front of the station’s East Main Street studio in Bloomsburg, there was no evidence of a protest Wednesday evening.

Portland OR Radio: Dino Costa OUT At KXTG

Dino Costa

Alpha Media and its station KXTG 750 AM / 102.9 FM The Game have made the decision to cut ties with radio host Dino Costa.

The move comes a day after the Portland Timbers distanced themselves from 750/102.9 The Game, their radio partner, due to the "offensive and insensitive views and opinions" expressed on The Dino Costa Show.

Costa was hired earlier this year and his controversial show since June. During his two months at the radio station, Costa threatened to bring a straight pride flag to a Timbers game, said women couldn't successfully host radio shows and advocated for running over supporters of Black Lives Matter, if they blocked traffic.

Alpha Media released a statement Wednesday saying, "After further review, Alpha Media has decided to cut ties with Dino Costa. Additional information is not available at this time."

As of Wednesday afternoon, Costa's information had been scrubbed from the 750/102.9 The Game website and the Twitter account for his show had been deleted.

Memphis Radio: Dani Burns Named OM For Cumulus

Dani Burns

Cumulus Media has announced that it has promoted Danni Bruns, a native Memphian and 21-year industry veteran, to the newly created position of Operations Manager for Cumulus Media-Memphis’ four-station cluster.

In her new role, Bruns will oversee operations for KIX-106/WGKX-FM, 98.1 Rock The Max/WXMX-FM, 103.5 WRBO, and 98.9 The Vibe/WKIM-FM. She will continue to serve as Program Director of 98.1 The Max and will also continue to co-host 98.1 The Max’s Afternoon Drive show, “Danni and The Jar” with on-air partner Chris Jarman.

Bruns began her radio career while in college as an intern for a local station, then went on to co-host the morning show at Country station 98.1 WTXT in Tuscaloosa, AL, followed by time on-air at Q107.5/WHBQ-FM in Memphis. She joined 98.1 The Max in 2007 and has continued to develop her programming and on-air skills while leading 98.1 The Max to total domination in Memphis ratings as Program Director.

Morgan Bohannon, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus Media-Memphis said: “Danni is a solid leader and a bright, talented programmer with infectious energy. I’m excited to be working with her on a daily basis in this new capacity. She understands our market and I’m highly confident she will lead our programming team to achieve our goals and serve our community with excellence.”

Bruns said: "I want to thank Morgan Bohannon, John Dimick and Mike McVay, who really made this new opportunity a reality simply because they believed in me. My mission will always be to allow our all-star staff the freedom and direction that generates our incredible reputation in the marketplace. If you play the Cumulus-Memphis record backward, you'll hear our people are the secret to our success."

ESPN Apologizes For 'Offensive Optics'

Screenshot

ESPN has issued an apology after it aired a live version of a fantasy football auction in which the auctioneer held up placards featuring the faces of NFL players, some of whom were African-American.

The “bidders” were mostly white men.

“Auction drafts are a common part of fantasy football, and ESPN’s segments replicated an auction draft with a diverse slate of top professional football players,” according to the statement. “Without that context, we understand the optics could be portrayed as offensive, and we apologize.”


One of the players who was up for “sale” in the auction was New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who expressed his displeasure on Twitter.

The auction came after deadly fights broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a white supremacist rally to protest the removal of a confederate statue. While some viewers came to the defense of ESPN by explaining how the auction is a traditional part of fantasy football, other athletes weighed in on the tone deaf segment.

SiriusXM Adds, Shuffles Channel Line-Up

SiriusXM announced Wednesday that it will expand its extensive and industry-leading lineup of commercial-free music channels with the launch of two channels: Turbo and PopRocks. These full-time music channels will launch on August 17 on SiriusXM's satellite platform available to more than 32 million subscribers.

First incubated online on SiriusXM's streaming platform, Turbo and newcomer PopRocks will be curated by SiriusXM's critically acclaimed music programming team.

• Turbo (channel 41) showcases hard rock from the 1990s and early 2000s from artists such as Linkin Park , Korn, Papa Roach, Godsmack, System Of A Down, Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Limp Bizkit and Disturbed. 
• PopRocks (channel 17) will present pop rock from the '90s and 2000s, including The Killers, Coldplay, Sheryl Crow , Goo Goo Dolls, Train, No Doubt and Matchbox 20.

SiriusXM continues to incubate new music channels on its online streaming platform, including The Emo Project (emo, screamo and pop punk) and Indie 1.0 (first generation of Indie Rock), which launches online on August 17.

"Our diverse lineup of commercial-free music channels continues to evolve to match the ever-changing tastes of our subscribers. We received tremendous feedback about our Turbo channel when it was available online and we are thrilled to introduce PopRocks to SiriusXM listeners across North America ," said Steve Blatter , Senior Vice President and General Manager, Music Programming, SiriusXM.

SiriusXM recently announced that its 200+ channels are now also available for streaming to SiriusXM subscribers nationwide with Amazon Alexa. Go to www.SiriusXM.com/AmazonAlexa to learn more.

Nielsen To Measure eSports

Nielsen today announced the launch of Nielsen Esports, a new business vertical focused on competitive gaming that will leverage the company’s expertise and leadership in media consumption and valuation. Nielsen Esports will provide sponsorship valuation, fan insights, custom industry research and consulting services to rights holders, media platforms and brands around the world that are moving this fast-growing market forward.

Esports has experienced massive global growth over the past few years with major investment from blue chip sponsors, game publishers and media companies, as well as sports leagues and teams. The esports fan base is also rapidly expanding with nearly one in three fans beginning to follow esports just within the past year, according to new Nielsen Esports research.

“There’s a high demand for reliable, independent measurement of value in esports,” said Howard Appelbaum, President, Nielsen Entertainment. “We’re excited to enhance our client offerings and provide the industry with solutions that will help guide and optimize investment decisions in this exciting, growing space.”

Recognizing the need for consistent sponsorship valuation in esports, Nielsen developed Esport24, a syndicated sponsorship tracking service for esports tournaments. The service measures brand exposure in esports tournaments representing a variety of titles, event formats and geographic locations based on the same methodology that allows traditional sports rights holders and brands to quantify value and benchmark performance.

Las Vegas Radio: CBS Rescinds Ban On Local NHL Team

CBS Radio Las Vegas has backed down from its intention to ignore the Golden Knights NHL team in their inaugural NHL season, according to The Washington Post.

In April, the Vegas Golden Knights announced their games would be aired locally on radio stations owned by Lotus Communications, namely its Fox Sports Radio affiliate that has signals on both the AM and FM. According to the Review-Journal, Lotus beat out bids from CBS Radio Las Vegas and Beasley Broadcasting for the right to air the NHL expansion team’s games and related radio content such as pregame and postgame shows.

Last week CBS Radio Las Vegas Operations Manager J.B. King sent out an email to all CBS Radio Las Vegas employees, telling them that, in their world, the Golden Knights do not exist.

The eMail:

"Just wanted to pass along this info….a decision has been made that effective immediately, there are to be no further mentions of the Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey team on any CBS/LV radio stations or any of our social media platforms. This includes, but not limited to, on sale ticket mentions, player/coaches interviews, plugging locals to sing national anthem, TV broadcast schedule, etc. It is now the responsibility of the Golden Knights’ chosen radio partner to help accomplish their goals, not ours. We are asking you to include ‘show’ pages, as well. We need to show a united front on this issue. If you have anything already planned around the team, please cancel. If you have any ‘best of’ bits around the team, please do not air and find another piece of content. 

I am out of the office this week, but will answer any questions next week when I return. For any immediate questions, please see Tony. 

Thanks, Have a great week.
JB"

But now, according to a statement by  CBS Radio Las Vegas general manager Tony Perlongo, that position has changed:

“With six radio stations in Las Vegas we have always prided ourselves on informing, educating and entertaining listeners and supporting the local communities we serve. However, we missed the mark in an internal email that instructed our stations to no longer report on certain aspects of the Golden Knights, the city’s first and only major league sports team. 

This was an error in judgment on our part and we deeply regret it. 

We will of course cover the team, first and foremost on Sports Radio 1140 and on our music and news/talk stations as it makes sense for those formats and audiences. We apologize to the Golden Knights, their fans and our listeners and look forward to rooting the team on when the puck drops in a few weeks.”​

D/FW Radio: KESN, Mavericks Extend Broadcast Deal

Cumulus Media has announced that it has entered into a new agreement with the Dallas Mavericks extending its long-term broadcast partnership through the 2022-2023 Season. Cumulus Sports/Talk radio station KESN ESPN 103.3 FM has been the exclusive radio broadcast home for Mavericks coverage since 2001.

ESPN 103.3 FM will continue to provide play-by-play of Dallas Mavericks games from popular Dallas sports announcer Chuck Cooperstein. In addition, Mike Peasley hosts Dallas Mavericks Insider before every Mavericks game and also hosts the official Mavs Postgame Show. Cumulus Media broadcast studios are located next door to the American Airlines Center, home of Dallas Mavericks’ games, which provides enhanced access to the team and its players and is reflected in the outstanding comprehensive and behind-the-scenes coverage of the Mavs by ESPN 103.3 FM.

Mark Cuban, Owner of the Dallas Mavericks, said: “We are excited to continue our partnership with Cumulus and ESPN radio. Chuck Cooperstein and Brad Davis have become part of the lives of Mavs fans and a tradition that will continue for years to come.”

Mary Berner, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cumulus Media, said: “The Dallas Mavericks are a storied franchise and we are honored to continue this long relationship with Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks.”

Podcasts: When and Where People Are Listening

You might think Virginians would listen to news and politics podcasts the most, but that honor goes to New Jerseyans. And while Texans are all business, Pennsylvanians are all about their pop culture.

AdWeek reports Acast, a podcast streaming platform and distributor, has discovered some new insights about podcast listeners like the genres people listen to most frequently in the states that do the most listening.

In June, Acast measured more than 14 million listens in the U.S., including both streams and downloads, which creates a more accurate number for its marketing partners.

“Downloads can be a vanity metric,” said Oskar Serrander, Acast’s general manager in the U.S. “If we’re trying to monetize this medium, we have to show what we’re actually selling.”

Based in Europe and seeing robust growth in the U.S., Acast was one of the first distributors to monetize podcasts and utilize machine learning to suggest new shows to listeners.

“People are listening to more shows on a monthly basis than ever before,” Serrander said, “and because of that, we’re excited to see a mix of popular genres.”

Podcasts about business appeared in the 10 states that Acast found to have the highest number of podcast listens. California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia were the states with the most listens, while Illinois, Washington, Florida, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania round out the top 10. Acast didn’t find any one genre leading the pack, but business and society and culture podcasts appeared in nine of the top 10.

Beasley Partners With SonicAi For Smart Speaker Support

Beasley Media Group has  announced the company is making it easier for listeners to play its radio stations’ streams and access on-demand content at home and at-work with innovative multi-command skills for Amazon Echo smart speaker systems.

SonicAi, the partnership between mobile developer jācapps and Amplifi Media, is designing these skills in collaboration with the Beasley’s programming team. These skills represent more than just a way to play the station stream, highlighting specific station features. They will be heard across most of Beasley Media Group’s 63 stations over the upcoming months.

Beasley Media Group has enjoyed recent success with the launch of the Amazon Echo technology at WMMR-FM in Philadelphia, providing voice access to station content when Echo users simply say, “Alexa, open MMR”. After a welcome from station morning team Preston and Steve, users can listen to the station live, hear that day’s Preston and Steve podcast, or the popular “Bizarre Files” segment with just a simple voice command.

“Alexa and the Echo device have taken off quickly, providing a huge opportunity for radio to get back into the audience’s home listening environment,” said Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs. “Our latest Tech survey shows that 11% of those surveyed already have an Amazon Echo or another smart speaker device in their home – and it’s growing.”

Amplifi Media’s Steve Goldstein noted, “SonicAi is thrilled to start right at the top with Beasley Media Group Vice President of Programming Justin Chase, Executive Vice President of Digital Steve Meyers, Vice President of Digital Operations Kimberly Sonneborn, Vice President of Programming Buzz Knight and their incredible talent in creating a multi-level listener experience that goes beyond the stream. Our focus is audience retention and creating more listening occasions.”

“Innovation in the smart speaker device space is critical for Beasley and our industry as a whole,” said Meyers. “I’m excited to be partnering with SonicAi to extend the reach of our brands across the company and open up new opportunities in this space.”

“Beasley is a company that ‘gets it’ when it comes to digital,” stated jācapps Chief Operating Officer Bob Kernen.

WAY Media Names John Scaggs New CEO

John Scaggs

WAY Media has announced that John Scaggs is the compnay's new Chief Executive Officer.

He succeeds Bob Augsburg, who founded the organization 30 years ago with his wife Felice, is retiring. Augsburg said, “John is perfectly suited to take over the reins of WAY Media. He has served the Ministry so well over many years as a board member as well as a strategic sounding board and prayer support to me. I couldn’t be happier with this decision.”

Scaggs commented, “Since hearing about a cutting-edge experiment in Fort Myers, FL in 1987, I have been fascinated with WAY Media. As a young man still in college, I flew down over a weekend to see WAY-FM’s operation firsthand. Serving as a board member since 1998 is the longest unexpected job interview I’ve ever heard of!” Scaggs went on, “I have continued to play my part, never expecting to actually move from avocation to vocation for the ministry”.

In addition to his early career as a station manager at KGNZ in Abilene, Scaggs has held various roles in leadership, including Administrative Vice President of Engineering at Morningstar Radio Network (which became Salem Music Networks), and various technical sales roles for Wegener, Wide Orbit, Dalet, Harmonic, and most recently, as a Vice President at Encoding.com.

WAY-FM and WAY Media Network Services reach into nearly 100 communities on FM signals in 26 states. WAY-FM owns and operates stations in many top 100 markets including Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Portland, Nashville, West Palm Beach, Louisville, Ft. Myers and Huntsville.