L-A Radio: Charred Body Found At Mt. Wilson Fire Scene

A burned body was found in the Mt. Wilson area, but authorities could not yet confirm whether a fire still burning in the area was responsible for the death, officials said Thursday.

According to The LATimes, the body of a male was found Wednesday south of the parking lot at Mt. Wilson, and authorities have not confirmed his identity or the cause of death, said coroner's Lt. Kelly Yagerlener.

Sheriff’s detectives were called around 5 p.m. Wednesday and determined that the death was not due to a homicide, said Deputy Guillermina Saldana.

Firefighters still are trying to gain full control of a 50-acre blaze in the San Gabriel Mountains near Mt. Wilson before Santa Ana winds are expected to kick up Saturday, authorities said.

Faced with around 400 firefighters and six helicopters, the fire was 45% contained Thursday morning, said Angeles National Forest spokeswoman Seneca Smith.

Officials hope to fully contain the blaze by Saturday, when the National Weather Service predicts that moderate Santa Ana winds will move in and last through the weekend, Smith said.

More than two dozen antenna towers cluster on the peak of Mt. Wilson. Smith estimates that hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of communications equipment are at risk, including federal and county facilities used for emergency communications, commercial television facilities and radio transmitters. Damage to the communications towers could disrupt cellphones, television and radios, as well as interrupt some communications for emergency responders.

The fire, which ignited Tuesday below the Mt. Wilson Observatory parking lot, has threatened the historic observatory and more than two dozen antenna towers.


Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire, Smith said.

NAB Says Apple Deliberately Disables FM-Chip

In a new blog posting, NAB Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny attempts to set the record straight concerning Apple's refusal to voluntarily equip iPhones with FM radio reception.

Sam Matheny

Citing recent months in the Southeast U.S., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, these areas have been pummeled by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. The wildfires in California have been equally devastating. These storms and fires have wreaked havoc on communications networks and challenged public safety officials' ability to get lifeline information to affected residents.

At a time when many Americans have come to rely on their smartphones, massive cellular outages were suffered from Texas to Florida on an even greater scale than in Superstorm Sandy five years ago, and California has also suffered major outages  in key locations. In Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, it may take weeks and even months to fully restore cellular service because of the damage to the electric grid. In the wake of these storms, a passionate discussion about activating FM radio in smartphones and, specifically, Apple's  iPhone has emerged.

According to The Morning Mouth, this discussion was started by those most impacted by Irma when the South Florida Sun-Sentinel editorialized on the issue and Senator Bill Nelson (D) of Florida called for activating FM chips in smartphones. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai also issued a public statement calling for Apple to activate FM chips to promote public safety and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also weighed in with her support.

Among the details, Matheny says Apple deliberately disables FM. Apple has chosen to only use the WiFi and Bluetooth aspects of the communications module. They have admitted as much for all phones through the iPhone 6 series, at which point they claim FM capability was removed from the 7 series and 8 series. Yet, tear-down reports indicate the iPhone 8 contains the same 4357 chip family, which manufacturer Broadcom clearly states includes an integrated FM radio core.

Howard Stern Presents Jimmy Kimmel With Dirty Laundry

Howard Stern brought Jimmy Kimmel his dirty laundry, after learning David Letterman had given the ABC late-night host a box of his ties when he retired.

Stern complained he watched Kimmel “fawning all over Dave” the previous night, as Jimmy Kimmel Live broadcasts from Brooklyn this week, though he has been a bigger influence on Kimmel. “So I brought you a gift” as he dumped the bag of underwear, socks, and T-shirts on his desk.

Stern’s radio program has never been better, Kimmel insisted, and Stern agreed, calling satellite radio “liberating.”

“When I was on regular radio…sex talk and outrageousness was the thing, because you were breaking all the taboo. I got fined by the United States government, millions of dollars, for saying the word ‘penis.’ And now ‘penis’ comes out of my mouth and your mouth so easily. It was shocking back then,” Stern reminisced.


Talk turned to the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal.

“First of all when did this guy have time to make movies?” Stern wondered.”I thought movie making was hard!”

“And all these guys who do sexual harassment, they’re freaks. This big fat guy…he goes, ‘Listen, I’m going to get into the shower. I want you to watch me nude.’ There is no girl on the planet that want to see Harvey Weinstein naked.  If I’m Harvey Weinstein, I wear a burka and say, ‘Listen, you don’t have to look at me’.”

Trump: 'Fake Media Doesn't Want To Follow' Russian Uranium Deal

President Trump blasted the “Fake Media” in a tweet on Thursday for not following a story about a controversial uranium deal involving Russian bribes during the Obama administration.

Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn't want to follow!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2017

About an hour later he tweeted a report on “Fox and Friends” about the deal and links to the Clinton Foundation.

.@foxandfriends "Russia sent millions to Clinton Foundation"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 19, 2017

Russia used bribery, kickbacks and extortion to pull off a deal to get control of a large part of the US uranium supply in a deal the Obama administration signed off on in 2010, according to a report in The Hill on Tuesday.

The report said the FBI learned that Russia had compromised an American uranium trucking company and used it to kick back about $2 million to Moscow in a scheme that violated the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act.

Russian nuclear officials also routed millions of the dollars to the US intended to benefit the Clinton Foundation when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served on a government panel that signed off on the deals.

The Justice Department, under Attorney General Eric Holder, investigated but did not bring charges before the deals were made.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday said it will investigate the matter and ordered 10 federal agencies to provide information about the Russian uranium deals.

CBS News Radio Syndicates "The Takeout" Podcast

CBS News Radio announced today that it will launch nationwide “The Takeout,” a weekly, one-hour program about politics, policy and pop culture hosted by CBS News chief White House correspondent Major Garrett and CBS News political director Steve Chaggaris. The first episode will air Friday, Oct. 20.

Listeners across the country can expect context and analysis of the week’s political news in a casual format that allows for expanded conversation with a newsmaker. Each episode is recorded over a meal at a Washington, D.C. restaurant, adding flavor and texture to the program. Recent guests include Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget; Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT); Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX); Sen. Al Franken (D-MN); Carly Fiorina; Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-MD); Corey Lewandowski; and comedian Samantha Bee.

This week, Garrett and Chaggaris interview Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.

“‘The Takeout’ breaks the mold of news/talk programming,” said Craig Swagler, General Manager of CBS News Radio. “It’s a one-of-a-kind experience that gives the listener a seat at the table with two great journalists and notable guests, chewing on the latest issues of the day.”

“I open every show the same way – ‘Welcome to the very best part of my broadcast week,’” said Garrett. “‘The Takeout’ is a dream come true for me. It’s a show Steve and I created so we could listen to, learn about and travel the ideological roads of American politics. ‘The Takeout’ is a conversation, not an interrogation. And we edit nothing. Our guests never have to fidget about context. They are heard fully. We discuss news of the week and try to translate Beltway buzzwords so America can join the conversation. I never stop learning from and enjoying this humble audio odyssey.”

“Major and I are honored and excited to be taking ‘The Takeout’ to the historic and venerable CBS News Radio network, extending our conversations to new audiences,” said Chaggaris. “Our discussions take place where most Americans talk about politics: around the table, over a meal. And while we’re usually eating at a restaurant, we hope our listeners will ‘take out’ some news, knowledge and fun from our weekly interviews.”

“The Takeout” launches Friday night at 9:00 PM, CT on powerhouse KMOX-AM St. Louis, Mo. and will be heard Saturdays and Sundays on WCCO-AM Minneapolis, Minn.; WTMJ-AM Milwaukee, Wisc.; KXNT-AM Las Vegas, Nev.; WECK-AM in Buffalo, N.Y.; and WJJF-FM in Montauk, N.Y.

FCC Hits Pause On Sinclair-Tribune Merger

The FCC is pausing its review of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed merger with Tribune Media to allow more time for the filing of public comments.

The FCC is more than halfway through its 180-day timeline for review of the merger, which would create a broadcasting giant with 223 TV stations serving 108 markets, including 39 of the top 50, and to cover about 72% of U.S. households.

In a statement, the FCC’s Media Bureau said they are pausing the review for 15 days until Nov. 2. Last month, the FCC requested more information from Sinclair on how the transaction will be in the public interest, as well as other concerns, and the company responded earlier this month.

“The Commission has a strong interest in ensuring a full and complete record upon which to base its decision in this proceeding,” the Media Bureau said in a statement. “Pausing the clock will ensure that commenters have additional time to review and comment on this new information.”

Public interest groups lobbying against the deal had been urging the FCC to open a new period for public comments.

Conservatives Fear More Left-Leaning Media

The proposed AT&T merger with Time Warner has some conservatives nervous about its impact on free speech — namely theirs.

The Washington Times is reporting the prospect of another massive, left-tilting media conglomerate running both platforms and content — including Trump nemesis CNN — strikes trepidation in the hearts of right-wingers already feeling the squeeze from Google and Facebook.

Rick Manning

“I think it’s pretty dangerous given that we’re looking at CNN being part of this merger,” said Rick Manning, president of Americans for Limited Government. “Consolidating CNN with DirecTV, which is in 26 million households, combined with the other outlets that exist in the context of that merger, you’re creating a pretty massive corporate profit motive for pushing eyeballs to CNN. And CNN has really ended any credibility they have as a news agency.”

At the same time, he said he would be opposed to the deal even if it didn’t mean increasing the clout of CNN.

“I’d still be against it because I think the single greatest challenge to the First Amendment is the consolidation of media,” Mr. Manning said. “In this modern world where speech is under attack on a daily basis from the left, when you consolidate media into mass corporate entities, they decide what’s valid speech and what’s not.”

Not all conservatives would agree. Wayne Crews, vice president for policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said the right should stick to its free market guns.

“Conservatives should not be in the business of regulating the size of somebody’s microphone,” Mr. Crews said. “Conservatives are supposed to be in the business of saying, ‘Hey, especially in the internet age, everybody is a broadcaster on their own, and we can always create new microphones.’ And that’s exactly what we do.”

The Justice Department is weighing AT&T’s proposed $85.4 billion bid for Time Warner, which owns CNN, HBO and other television and media content, while AT&T has the nation’s largest pay-TV provider with DirecTV as well as mobile phone service.

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Trump: Media Out to 'Bring Down' Administration

President Donald Trump has ratcheted up his media attacks, making it crystal clear Wednesday (Oct. 18) he thinks the mainstream media are indeed enemies of the people, bent on destroying him and willing to stop at nothing.

Broadcasting&Cable reports that came in an e-mail circulating a new "Mainstream Media Accountability Survey on the news media, one of several the Trump Pence campaign fundraising committee has conducted in concert with the Republican National Committee.

"I’ve said it before and I will say it again: the Mainstream Media is out to bring down my Administration.," the President said in the e-mail. "It’s a 24/7 barrage of hit jobs, fake stories, and absolute hatred for everything we stand for as a movement. "They don’t care about the truth. They don’t care about what’s right. They only care about propping up the liberal Democrats they worship and destroying anyone who wants to put America First. There is nothing they won’t do to stop us."

The new survey focuses on four specific news outlets, CNN, NBC, co-owned MSNBC and Fox News, asking whether each can be trusted to report fairly on his presidency. The President has been highly critical of CNN and NBC News, and generally positive toward Fox.

Poll: Nearly Half Think Media Fabricate Trump Stories

Nearly half of voters, 46 percent, believe the news media fabricate news stories about President Donald Trump and his administration, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.

Just 37 percent of voters think the media do not fabricate stories, the poll shows, while the remaining 17 percent are undecided.

More than three-quarters of Republican voters, 76 percent, think the news media invent stories about Trump and his administration, compared with only 11 percent who don’t think so. Among Democrats, one-in-five think the media make up stories, but a 65 percent majority think they do not. Forty-four percent of independent voters think the media make up stories about Trump, and 31 percent think they do not.

Among the voters who strongly approve of Trump’s job performance in the poll, 85 percent believe the media fabricate stories about the president and his administration.

Trump last week accused NBC News of concocting a report that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called Trump a “moron” and threatened to resign earlier this year. (Tillerson denies he intended to quit but has not personally disavowed the “moron” allegation.) After NBC reported that Tillerson’s comments came after a meeting in which Trump suggested a broad increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, Trump called it “[p]ure fiction, made up to demean” him.

Throughout his young presidency — and during his campaign, as well — Trump has attacked media organizations that air or publish coverage critical of him and people in his orbit. On Tuesday, after the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll had left the field, Trump told a radio interviewer he thought news coverage of his administration would be more favorable.

FNC's Peter Doochy Hits Nerve With John McCain

Sen. John McCain exploded on Fox News’ Peter Doocy on Wednesday for asking him if he would oppose everything that President Trump asks him to do.

Doocy asked Sen. McCain if his relationship with the president is “so frayed” that McCain would “not support anything that he comes to you and asks for?”

McCain snapped, “Why would you say something that stupid? Why would you ask something that dumb?”


“My job as a United States senator — you mean I am somehow going to behave in a way that I’m going to block everything because of some personal disagreement?” McCain said incredulously. “That’s a dumb question.”

There has been a significant amount of tension between McCain and Trump over the past few days.

L-A Radio: SoCal Says Goodbye To 'The Sound'

The countdown is on for classic rock listeners in Southern California. KSWD 100.3 FM The Sound is slated to permanently go off the air anytime in the next few weeks.

The Entercom-owned station is being sold to the Educational Media Foundation which will soon replace the music from groups like Rush, Boston and The Beatles with Christian pop songs.

Roughly 30 people work at The Sound and all will be laid off when the sale is finalized.

Long-time Los Angeles disc jockey Uncle Joe Benson said he's worried local listeners who've spent years tuning in to the classic rock station will lose a sort of radio therapy.

"You reach a certain age where the job isn't what you want, you're not driving the car you want, God only knows what's going on at home, but you got your music," Benson said. "And that's what we provide: the music, the background that's people's lives."


Personality Cynthia Fox, another seasoned LA radio veteran, said classic rock music is really taking off with younger generations who are just discovering some of the artists from the 1970s and 1980s.

Milwaukee Radio: WTMJ Shuffles Two Shows

WTMJ 620 AM has swapped its two midday talk shows, returning Jeff Wagner to his previous time slot from noon to 3 p.m. and sliding former Oak Creek Mayor Steve Scaffidi to the 8:30 a.m.-to-noon shift.

The flip-flop begins Monday. In its statement announcing the move, WTMJ said the switch "positions the conservative news analysis of Steve Scaffidi and the local, town-hall nature of Jeff Wagner’s midday program."

Wagner had been in the early afternoon shift for 18 years at WTMJ before he was moved to the morning slot vacated when talk-show host Charlie Sykes left the station at the end of 2016, after 23 years on the air.

Scaffidi joined WTMJ in February, as an early afternoon host with news executive producer Erik Bilstad. He resigned as Oak Creek's mayor to take the gig.

In a statement issued by WTMJ, director of programming and news Eric Brooks said: “Steve has grown tremendously since joining the station in early 2017. He has capitalized on his unique perspective as a former politician and community leader. His show is quickly growing, and we are excited to put him in the day part where our audience has come to expect political and issue-driven talk.”

WTMJ’s weekday lineup - Effective Monday, October 23:

5:00 a.m. Wisconsin’s Morning News with Gene Mueller
8:30 a.m. Steve Scaffidi with news anchor Erik Bilstad
12:00 p.m. Jeff Wagner
3:00 p.m. Afternoon News with John Mercure
6:00 p.m. Sports Central with Greg Matzek
9:00 p.m. Clark Howard

Report: Female Pop Stars Facing Identity Crisis

The Wall Street Journal is reporting R&B/hip-hop has surpassed rock for the first time to officially become the biggest music genre in America, according to Nielsen Music, which tracks online streams and digital and physical albums. As of Oct. 12, R&B/hip-hop has driven 24% of music consumption in 2017—more than rock’s 21% and double pop’s 12% share.

So far this year, 20 of the 25 most-streamed songs on Spotify, Apple Music and other on-demand audio services are by R&B/hip-hop acts such as Kendrick Lamar, Migos, Childish Gambino and Lil Uzi Vert, Nielsen’s data shows. Two are by male pop stars (Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars). Not one is by a female pop artist.

At the same time, a string of white A-list arena-pop stars—Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, even Taylor Swift—have stumbled over the past year amid poor reviews, underperforming singles or disappointing sales.

It’s a real shift going on with pop music—we’re showing that hip-hop is pop music,” says Andre Torres, vice president of urban catalog at Universal Music Enterprises, a division of Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music company. He says female pop artists who “are unsure about who they are and who they want to be” are finding it harder to navigate today’s pop landscape.

Hit machines Katy Perry and Lady Gaga—who together have produced 12 chart-topping songs in the past decade—have both failed to deliver a No. 1 song with their new albums.

Five of the 10 songs to hit No. 1 on the singles chart this year have been rap, the most ever, Billboard notes. The other five include one R&B, one Latin and two male pop songs. The only female pop single to hit No. 1 was Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Meanwhile, R&B/hip-hop artists like Drake, Rihanna and Beyoncé have more easily crossed over into pop in the past decade and now dominate mainstream culture. The expanding genre is squeezing traditional white female pop stars off the stage. “With young streaming subscribers bypassing female pop acts in favor of hip-hop and R&B, A&R execs are combing SoundCloud looking for the next Drake or Kendrick, rather than the next Taylor,” says Craig Marks, editorial director at Townsquare Media , which owns over 300 U.S. radio stations.

Historically, the core of the traditional pop-diva audience has been teen girls. Yet several experts say these same fans aren’t as interested in the staged artificial personas of many pop stars such as Lady Gaga. They are now interested in hip-hop where lyrics are often more direct and true to life.

Nielsen: NFL Ratings Down 7.5% Through Week 6

Although the numbers have improved somewhat since Nielsen’s week three prognosis for NFL ratings, the audience metric firm says that ratings are still down from the 2016 season.

According FierceCable, The firm says that an average of 15 million people are watching games through the first six weeks this year, down 7.5% from the average 16.2 million people that watched through week 6 last season. Those numbers represent an improvement over Nielsen’s analysis after three weeks into the season, when it said viewership was down 11%.

However, Monday Night Football on ESPN is averaging 11.2 million viewers, up 6% from where it was after week 6 of last season.

When the 2017-2018 NFL season opened with slightly lower viewership, coverage of Hurricane Irma was cited as a possible reason for the ratings erosion, much like the 2016 presidential election affected NFL viewership.

Regardless of the reason for the viewership struggles with the NFL, analysts are warning investors that earnings season for NFL broadcast partners including CBS could be impacted. Analyst firm Credit Suisse in particular thinks that CBS could see a downturn in advertising revenue.

The firm recently warned that 21st Century Fox could be in line for some financial fallout due to the NFL’s ratings.

Streaming Is Bright Spot For Viewing NFL

Ratings for the NFL this year haven’t exactly rebounded from last season’s 8% dip through the first several weeks of the season. according to USAToday.

While the audience size has continued on a downward trend, there has been one bright spot: Streaming. While it makes up less than 5% of the audience for NFL games, the number of people streaming games has seen a roughly 25% gain over the same time period last season, according to information provided by NBC, Fox, CBS and ESPN.

“What we have seen is that the walls between (broadcast) TV and digital TV are breaking down,” Campbell Foster, director of product marketing at Adobe Primetime, a division of Adobe that provides analytics to broadcasters, told USAToday Sports. “It will become a meaningless distinction.”

Adobe is the leading provider of the authentication service used by broadcasters. To use many streaming apps provided by broadcasters, you’re required to enter your cable or satellite account. Adobe partnered with The Diffusion Group to study the trends in sports streaming, the results of which were provided to USAToday Sports.

The survey polled 2,000 U.S. consumers in July on their viewing habits to stream sports on any screen-- such as phones, computers and tablets-- as well as on their television via streaming devices like Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Roku and video game consoles.

The NFL had the most enthusiastic fan base as the the survey found that 48% of the respondents ranked themselves at a 9 or 10. (The 10-point scale started at 1 as “definitely not a fan” to a 10, “a super fan.”)

While broadcast ratings continue to lag, there appears to be no letup in streaming for NFL games. Each TV partner offers apps and, in some cases, their own streaming TV options that don’t require cable or satellite subscriptions.

“Ratings are down, yes,” said Michael Greeson, director of research for The Diffusion Group. “Declines in legacy broadcast television has been too often tied to Nielsen’s ratings, which don’t take into account the viewing of connected devices used by people to watch live sports.”