A Lansing sports radio host has decided to drop a defamation lawsuit he filed last month against a Grand Rapids radio host.
Ryan Schuiling, of Lansing-based WQTX 92.1 The Team's "The Schuiling Report," had sought a temporary restraining order against Bill Simonson
In the lawsuit filed in Ingham County Circuit Court, Schuiling wanted to prevent the Grand Rapids' host from making comments or "acting in any manner" that could damage his reputation or lead to unfavorable publicity.
Schuiling declined comment Wednesday and referred questions to Jamie White, his Okemos-based attorney. "We have dismissed the lawsuit," White told the State Journal. "That matter has been resolved amicably.” White declined to provide any details about terms of the dismissal.
Bill Simonson
Simonson declined comment Wednesday. In a statement sent May 25 to the State Journal, Simonson said Schuilling's allegations were "untrue and lack merit."
The lawsuit related to a blog post entitled "Ryan Schuiling wants to infiltrate Bill Simonson's 17-year-old daughter's inner circle" on Detroit Sports Rag, a third-party website not affiliated with Simonson. The post remains on the website.
According to the civil complaint, the post makes "numerous false allegations against Mr. Schuiling, including that Mr. Schuiling attempted to orchestrate some alleged sexual interaction with Mr. Simonson's daughter,"
Simonson hosts "The Huge Show," a Grand Rapids-based program that is broadcast in 13 Michigan markets, including Lansing.
In addition to Simonson, Schuiling's lawsuit also targeted Cumulus Media and WBBL 107.3 FM, the Grand Rapids radio station where Simonson's show is based.
Rob Rogers, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s editorial cartoonist, was fired Thursday. The award-winning cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize finalist whose work was often reprinted in national publications had been with the newspaper since 1993.
Sad to report this update: Today, after 25 years as the editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was fired.
In a statement, Stephen Spolar, the Post-Gazette’s chief human resources officer, said: “The Post-Gazette does not provide details about employment matters, but in light of Mr. Rogers’ public comments today, we do want to acknowledge his long service to the newspaper and our community. Any further discussions will be conducted with Mr. Rogers as a private matter.”
In recent weeks, a number of his cartoons, including some on President Donald Trump, were killed by the paper’s editorial director, Keith Burris.
Burris said Rogers, 59, was offered a deal in which he would be an independent contractor and produce two cartoons per week for the paper’s op-ed page along with his weekly strip, “Brewed on Grant.”
“We tried hard to find a middle way, an accommodation to keep him at the paper,” said Mr. Burris.
He said he did not “suppress” Mr. Rogers’ cartoons but that Mr. Rogers was unwilling to “collaborate” with him about his work and ideas.
“We never said he should do no more Trump cartoons or do pro-Trump cartoons,” said Mr. Burris. “For an in-house staff cartoonist, editing is part of it. Rob’s view was, ‘Take it or leave it.’”
The decision not to run the cartoons was reported widely; Mr. Rogers has tweeted about it as have other journalists. Mr. Rogers also has been interviewed by CNN and other broadcast outlets about the issue, and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and other news industry publications have written about Mr. Rogers and the Post-Gazette’s decision to kill some of his cartoons.
In a statement, Mr. Rogers said, “I am incredibly proud of the 34 years I have spent drawing editorial cartoons in Pittsburgh — 25 of them at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I felt I was a valued and respected member of a quality newspaper staff. This situation changed dramatically and abruptly in recent months.”
Total estimated advertising revenue for the newspaper industry in 2017 was $16.5 billion, a 10% decrease from 2016, reports MediaPost citing a Pew Research Center analysis of Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) data.
That number is based on the Pew’s analysis of financial statements for publicly traded newspaper companies. Digital advertising accounted for 31% of newspaper advertising revenue in 2017; in 2016, it accounted for 29%.
The estimated U.S. daily newspaper circulation (print and digital combined) in 2017 was 31 million for weekday and 34 million for Sunday, down 11% and 10%, respectively, from the previous year.
However, total estimated circulation revenue was $11 billion, a 3% increase from 2016.
Monthly unique visitors (across all devices) to the top 50 U.S. daily newspapers remained flat at 11.5 million monthly unique visitors, per circulation data from comScore.
Alt-weekly newspapers have had a tough time keeping up with the changes in the industry.
Pew found average circulation for the top 20 U.S. alt-weekly newspapers is just over 55,000, a 10% decline from 2016, according to data from AAM, Verified Audit Circulation, Circulation Verification Council and independently produced reports.
About 39,210 people worked as reporters, editors, photographers or film and video editors in the newspaper industry in 2017, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics data. That is down 15% from 2014.
Median wages in 2017 were about $49,000 for newspaper editors and about $34,000 for newspaper reporters.
Pew has issued an annual report on the state of the U.S. news media industry since 2004. Last year, instead of a single report, Pew produced an annual series of digestible fact sheets rolled out over a few months.
More than 400 Washington Post employees signed a petition to the publication’s owner and Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, demanding fair wages and an improvement to benefits.
According to AdWeek, The Post shared the petition and a video of the staffers talking about their grievances in a social media campaign using the hashtag #DearJeffBezos. Those who signed the petition, including editorial and support staff members, asked for “fairness” for each employee who “contributed to the company’s success,” according to the petition circulated by The Washington Post Guild.
The staff laid out a number of issues, including denying improvement to retirement benefits, offering just $10 per week in pay increases—which amount to 0.6 percent of the median salary—and requiring employees to waive their legal rights to severance payments that they called an “extreme” and “ominous” demand.
#DearJeffBezos, we workers of The Washington Post have been bargaining for a year and have little to show for it because The Post won’t meet us halfway on much of anything.
We love The Post. We know you do too. Our work has earned us more than what The Post is offering. pic.twitter.com/kPyju1ES6r
The staff laid out a number of issues, including denying improvement to retirement benefits, offering just $10 per week in pay increases—which amount to 0.6 percent of the median salary—and requiring employees to waive their legal rights to severance payments that they called an “extreme” and “ominous” demand.
Along with fireworks, pool parties, barbecues, and trips to the beach, Westwood One is celebrating Independence Day with its annual Celebrate the USA holiday music special featuring multi-platinum Warner Bros. recording artists Dan + Shay, who will host the all-star birthday party for America.
Westwood One's holiday music specials, with Country’s biggest and brightest star hosts, have become a welcome tradition with hundreds of programmers, millions of listeners, and local advertisers.
Dan + Shay will share their 4th of July memories and play some of their music in this four-hour holiday special. They will also leave you “Speechless” with great summertime music from Country stars Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Sam Hunt, Jake Owen, and many more artists, who will also share some of their favorite July 4th holiday stories.
Dan + Shay’s third album, the self-titled Dan + Shay, comes out on June 22 and features their current Top 5 single “Tequila.” The duo recently performed the global hit on the 2018 CMT Music Awards where its music video, which has accumulated over 22 million views, was awarded Duo Video of the Year.
The platinum-selling duo, performing on TODAY’s Summer Concert Series June 25, will be out on the road with Rascal Flatts for their “Back To Us” Tour through the summer. Sure to be a staple in their set are platinum-certified “19 You + Me” and gold-certified No. 1 “Nothin’ Like You,” off Where It All Began, the debut album that made them the first new country duo in Soundscan recorded history to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Albums Chart. Their follow-up Obsessed included additional No. 1 songs like platinum-certified “From the Ground Up” and gold-certified “How Not To.”
Stations can air Westwood One’s Celebrate the USA with Dan + Shay any time Saturday, June 30 through Sunday, July 8, 2018, between 6:00 am and 12 midnight. For more information, contact Country@WestwoodOne.com.
UPDATE 6/16/18: Former Honolulu sportscaster John Noland died Friday (6/15) from injuries he sustained when he was allegedly assaulted in Chinatown last weekend, his daughter Alana Noland confirmed.
Honolulu police arrested a 58-year-old man Thursday evening in connection with an assault on Noland, 60, who had been on life support.
Police said this afternoon that indications are that the fall prompted by the assault, and not the blows themselves, are to blame for critical injuries Noland sustained.
Original Posting 6/15/18...
Honolulu police have initiated an attempted murder investigation after a longtime sports broadcaster was found unresponsive with a head injury.
According to The Honolulu Star-Advertiser John Noland, 60, is on life support at The Queen’s Medical Center. He was found on the ground fronting 1161 Maunakea St. about 1:40 a.m. Saturday.
Police did not release any additional information.
Noland had been a sportscaster for KHON2 in the early 1980s and later at K5, where he had a sports show. He also was a part of the Hawaii Pacific University television broadcast team with Bob Hogue in the early 2000s. The pair covered basketball and volleyball games that aired on OC16.
In radio, his career included stints at KUMU and K-108, as well as a morning show on KGU radio with Mike Buck.
His daughter Alana Noland described her father as a man with a big heart who loves music, basketball and spending time with his family and friends. She recalled that when she was out with him, people often would stop by, introduce themselves and chat with him.
She said her father was attempting to return to radio and get his show back up and running. “He just loves being a sportscaster,” she said during a phone interview from Washington state.
Bob Hogue, commissioner of the PacWest Conference and former KHON2 sportscaster, has known Noland for at least 30 years, when Hogue first started working at the television station.
Hogue said he turned numb when he heard about Noland’s condition. “We’re all praying for him and hoping he would recover.”
➦In 1910...composer/conductor David Rose was born in London.
His most famous compositions were “The Stripper,” “Holiday for Strings,” and “Calypso Melody.” He also wrote music for the television series Little House on the Prairie, Bonanza & more than 20 others. In addition, Rose was musical director for the Red Skelton Show, first on radio, & then during its 21-year-run on the CBS and NBC TV networks.
He died Aug 23, 1990 at age 80.
Leon Payne
➦In 1917...blind country musician/songwriter Leon Payne was born in Alba Texas. He is perhaps best known for his hits “I Love You Because,” and “You’ve Still Got A Place In My Heart,” as well as two of his songs recorded by Hank Williams Sr.; “Lost Highway,” and “They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me.” He was performing on KWET Palestine Texas from 1935, and played with Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys in 1938. Forming his own group in 1949, he appeared on the Louisiana Hayride radio show & later the Grand Ole Opry.
He died following a heart attack Sep 11, 1969 at age 52. ➦In 1923...award-winning jazz pianist Erroll Garner was born in Pittsburgh. Although he could not read music his distinctive and melodic style brought him both popular acclaim and the admiration of peers. He began his professional career at age 7 on KDKA Radio. His most memorable composition, “Misty” (lyrics added by Johnny Burke) was a pop hit for five different artists between 1959 and 1975.
He died Jan 2 1977 at age 53.
➦In 1936...Al Jolson and his Nova Scotia-born wife Ruby Keeler starred in ‘Burlesque’ on the Lux Radio Theatre on CBS. It was just the third Lux drama from Hollywood; for the first two seasons the show had aired from New York on NBC Blue.
➦In 1945...NBC Blue Network becomes the American Broadcasting Company.
The company’s history traces to 1926, when the Radio Corporation of America (now RCA Corporation) and two other firms founded the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to operate a nationwide radio broadcasting network.
NBC expanded so rapidly that by 1927 it found itself with an excess of affiliates in the same cities, so it split its programming into two separate networks, called the Red and the Blue networks.
After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declared in 1941 that no company could own more than one radio network, NBC in 1943 sold the less-lucrative Blue Network to Edward J. Noble, the millionaire maker of Life Savers candy, who initially renamed it the American Broadcasting System before settling on the name the American Broadcasting Company, Inc. (ABC).
1947 Advertisement
ABC was the smallest of the major radio networks and distinguished itself by hiring popular singer Bing Crosby to perform on a weekly variety series. As a precondition for his employment, Crosby required that he be allowed to prerecord the program for later broadcast; as a result, ABC became a pioneer in the field of magnetic recording.
➦In 1963...Jan & Dean's "Surf City" was released to radio.
➦In 1966...Capitol released the Beatles' newest US album, a compilation of sorts entitled Yesterday and Today, featuring a bizarre cover by arty photographer Robert Whitaker where the group, dressed in butcher smocks, is surrounded by decapitated baby dolls and raw meat.
The ensuing outrage forces the label to rush-release a new version with the group sitting in and around a large steamer trunk. Despite popular rumor, the photo has never been proven as a statement by the group on Vietnam or Capitol's practice of "butchering" their UK albums for US releases; Whitaker alone remains responsible for the idea, which at least one Beatle later described as "gross" and "stupid." Capitol merely stuck the new "trunk cover" over the original, and therefore, steamed "Butcher Covers" of the album are among the most popular collectibles in existence.
➦In 1968...Sandy Beach did his last show on WDRC, Hartford, Connecticut before moving to WKBW, Buffalo, New York. Today, Beach does the 9a-12n show on N/T WBEN 930 AM.
Sandy Beach
Sandy Beach is a WKBW Radio legend and one of the most recognized names in Buffalo Radio history. Throughtout his career he has worked in Buffalo, Hartford, Dallas, San Francisco, and Milwaukee as an on-air talent.
He was also program director for NBC and Capital Cities/ABC. His most recent success has been the #1 PM Drive personality on Newsradio 930 WBEN.
Sandy is a three time nominee for Billboard Magazine Personality of the Year. In May of 2003, Sandy was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
➦In 2014...Iconicradio personality (American Top 40)/cartoon voicist Casey Kasem died of complications from Lewy body dementia at the age of 82. His remains were laid to rest six months later in Oslo, Norway. (See original posting: Click Here)
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, has scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing June 20 on the nomination of Geoffrey Starks to succeed Democrat Mignon Clyburn on the FCC, according to Multichannel News.
Clyburn left last week after the President signaled he was nominating Starks. Clyburn could have stayed until the end of the year or until Starks was confirmed, but had signaled in April that she was exiting.
Starks has been assistant bureau chief in the FCC's Enforcement Bureau, which is not a typical launching pad for a commission seat, like, say, a Hill communications counsel would be, though the most recent Republican addition, Brendan Carr, came directly from the FCC as well.
Starks has an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a law degree from Yale. He also founded a community bank.
His Obama-era government service includes serving under Attorney General Eric Holder at Justice as the lead on financial and healthcare fraud.
The Federal Communications Commission’s chairman is said to be planning a vote next month on limits to how many TV stations a company can own, rules he has said are too restrictive and that could factor into Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.’s planned purchase of Tribune Media Co.
According to Bloomberg, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is poised to schedule a July 12 vote on altering rules that cap broadcasters’ reach at 39 percent of the national audience, according to two people briefed on the plan, who who spoke on condition of anonymity because the proposal hasn’t been made public.
A vote next month could head off a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Washington that is considering a challenge to part of the existing rules. The case threatens to push Sinclair over the existing national ownership cap if it buys Tribune.
Proposals from Pai, an appointee of President Donald Trump, are all but certain to pass with votes from the Republican majority he leads. Pai hasn’t publicly recommended a new limit and details of his proposal could not be learned.
Sinclair told the FCC its proposal to buy Tribune’s 42 stations and sell others would leave it reaching almost 59 percent of the national audience. That share shrinks to less than 38 percent when counting just half the audience for some stations, as the FCC now allows, using a counting methodology that is under court challenge, Sinclair said in a filing.
The acquisition would leave Sinclair with more than 200 stations and give the Maryland-based broadcaster known for its conservative views a national presence, with stations in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles.
The agency in December asked whether to retain or change the national limit, and the discounted audience-counting, without saying how it wanted to rule. Pai, a skeptic of media ownership rules, has long called for raising the national cap, for instance in 2013 saying that step is “long overdue.” The agenda for the July 12 meeting is to be made public on June 21, and Pai’s under no obligation to include the national cap.
ANCO Media Group has announced that J-P, former co-host of the popular WPOW 96.5 FM Power Morning Show, has a new radio home in South Florida.
Beginning Monday, he will be hosting “The JP Morning Show” on dance and electronic music formatted WZFL 93.5 FM Revolution. He will co-host the show with Lady Gigi from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays.
“I’m excited to be back on the South Florida airwaves where I grew up and started my radio career,” said the Miami native, whose real name is Yojhans Perez.
JP said the new show will be “local local local with amazing prank calls which I will be doing personally with a mix of news segments and features.”
The Sun-Sentinel reports JP had worked at Power 96.5 with Lucy Lopez during the morning shift since November 2016 and helped lead the station among listeners ages 18-49 in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market. The pair were known for their Spanglish banter and takes on South Florida pop culture news.
WZFL 93.5 FM (50 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area
In January, he departed the station, which is now owned by Entercom Communications Corp. DJ Zog, known for his dance mixes on the station and at local events, became the co-host there with Lopez for the morning drive.
During his 40-year career, Meltzer was best known for calling the city’s Big 5 games, which he helped turn into a local institution.
“The excitement of the Big 5 games at the Palestra was an experience that will never happen again,” Meltzer said in a 2011 interview. “The Palestra was Boston Garden. The Palestra was Wrigley Field. The Palestra was Fenway Park.”
Meltzer began his broadcasting career in Philadelphia in 1966 at WPHL-17, where he covered the Sixers. He also made stops at KYW-TV 3, NBC10 and Comcast SportsNet, from which he retired in 2003.
During his career, Meltzer covered the Eagles, Temple Owls and Phillies. He also commuted from Philadelphia to Buffalo to call Bills games in the 1970s on WKBW alongside Rick Azar and Ed Rutkowski.
Meltzer was given the Board of Governors’ Award by the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at the local Emmy Awards in 2010. He’s also a member of the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Big 5 Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame and Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame.
Nielsen on Wednesday 6/13/18 released the a third batch of May 2018 PPMs results. The markets included the following markets: 22 Portland OR 24 Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill NC
26 San Antonio 27 Sacramento 28 Pittsburgh 29 Salt Lake City-Ogden-Provo UT 30 Las Vegas 31 Orlando 32 Cincinnati 34 Cleveland 35 Kansas City 36 Columbus, OH Click Here to view Topline numbers for subscribing Nielsen stations.
Comcast Corp. made an unsolicited offer to buy most of 21st Century Fox Inc. for roughly $65 billion, kicking off a bidding war with Walt Disney Co. as the two media titans jockey for position in a business undergoing tumultuous change.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Comcast on Wednesday bid $35 a share in cash for the assets, which range from a storied Hollywood studio and international pay-TV distribution to cable networks and a stake in streaming company Hulu. That is a premium of nearly 20% to Disney’s all-stock offer for the same set of assets.
Neither bid includes Fox News, Fox Sports 1 or the Fox broadcast network and its TV stations, which will be spun off into a new company.
Fox confirmed it received Comcast’s offer and said it would “carefully review and consider” the proposal. Disney had no immediate comment on the offer.
Disney is lining up financing in the event it chooses to counter Comcast’s offer with new terms that include cash, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Tuesday's AT&T ruling emboldened Comcast to relaunch its bid for Fox with an offer that isn’t much higher than what it had earlier proposed. Comcast had offered an all-stock deal valued at $34.41 a share as of November, according to a Fox regulatory filing in April and a person familiar with the matter at the time.
Disney’s deal, reached in December, valued the Fox assets at $29.54 a share based on the last trading day before it was announced. The bid is now worth $29.18 as of Wednesday’s close.
It is now up to Fox to determine whether it wants to present the proposed Comcast deal to its shareholders. If it does, Disney has the right to counter with a new offer.
Fox has set a July 10 meeting for shareholders to vote on the sale to Disney, but that meeting could be postponed.
CNN host Wolf Blitzer said on behalf of the media "we love the American people" on Wednesday in response to President Donald Trump's latest broadside against the profession, reports The Free Beacon.
Apparently angered by the media's coverage of his nuclear summit with North Korea, Trump tweeted Wednesday that the "fake news" press was "our country's biggest enemy."
So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN. They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have “begged” for this deal-looked like war would break out. Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!
CNN analyst David Gregory attacked Trump for being unoriginal, saying all politicians don't like the press.
"Everybody's always criticizing us and not happy with our coverage, whether it was President Clinton or President Bush or President—they're all criticized," Blitzer said.
Blitzer went on to say a lot of Trump's supporters believed the charge, which was "a really, really awful situation."
"We are not the enemy of the American people. We love the American people," he said.
Trump has made attacking the press a hallmark of his presidency, often referring to stories he characterizes as inaccurate or unfair as "fake news."
Two of the most visible members of the Trump administration are planning their departures, the latest sign of upheaval in a White House marked by turmoil.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders and principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah are both heading for the exits, according to CBS News citing sources inside the White House and close to the administration. Sanders, who has become a confidante of President Trump since the departure of former communications director Hope Hicks, has told friends that she plans to leave the administration at the end of the year.
Shah is also considering his exit, but he has not yet settled on an exact date. Neither Sanders nor Shah responded to repeated requests for comment before this story was published. When reached Wednesday evening, both declined to comment on the record, and Sanders tweeted:
Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my future? I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a story about my “plans to leave the WH” without even talking to me. I love my job and am honored to work for @POTUS
Several other lower-level positions in the communications department left vacant in recent weeks are likely to remain unfilled, with more departures expected in the coming weeks, according to a former official.
Numerous staffers have left the White House over the last several months, some voluntarily and others having been forced out. Those departures include Hicks; Jared Kushner's top communications aide, Josh Raffel; homeland security adviser Tom Bossert; National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton; Trump personal aide John McEntee; director of White House message strategy Cliff Simms; communications aide Steven Cheung; congressional communications director Kaelan Dorr; assistant press secretary Natalie Strom; and deputy director of media affairs Tyler Ross.
