November 26 Radio History

➦In 1912...CBS newsman & commentator Eric Sevareid was born in Velva, ND (Died at age 79 from stomach cancer  – July 9, 1992). He was one of a group of elite war correspondents who were hired by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and nicknamed "Murrow's Boys". Sevareid was the first to report the Fall of Paris when the city was captured by the Germans during World War II.

Eric Sevareid

Traveling into Burma during the war, his aircraft was shot down, and he was rescued from behind enemy lines by a search and rescue team that had been established for that purpose. He was the last journalist to interview Adlai Stevenson II before his death.

He followed in Murrow's footsteps as a commentator on the CBS Evening News for 12 years, for which he was recognized with Emmy and Peabody Awards.

At the age of 18, Sevareid entered journalism as a reporter for the Minneapolis Journal, while a student at the University of Minnesota in political science. He continued his studies abroad, first in London and later in Paris at the Sorbonne, where he also worked as an editor for United Press. He then became city editor of the Paris Herald Tribune. He left that post to join CBS as a foreign correspondent, based in Paris; he broadcast the fall of Paris, and followed the French government from there to Bordeaux and then Vichy, before leaving France for London and finally Washington.

Bill Baldwin

➦In 1913...actor/announcer Bill Baldwin was born in Pueblo Colorado. He became the radio and television voice of hundreds of products, and was a war correspondent for the NBC Blue network in WWII.   He served as national president of the American Federation of Radio & TV Artists (AFTRA) in the early 70’s. As an actor he appeared in a number of TV series, including ‘Hawaii Five-O,’ ‘Ironside,’ ‘The Beverly Hillbillies,’ and ‘Marcus Welby, M.D.’  He succumbed to cancer Nov. 17 1982, nine days short of his 69th birthday.

➦In 1933...singer Robert Goulet was born Stanley Applebaum  in Lawrence, Mass,  but within months his family moved to Northern Alberta.

He worked as disk jockey on Edmonton’s CKUA for two years and was a semi-finalist on CBC TV’s “Pick the Stars” in 1952.  He spent a summer at Vancouver’s Theatre Under the Stars.  In 1955 he became a regular on CBC TV’s Cross Canada Hit Parade. He was awarded a Grammy as the best new artist of 1962.  His best-selling album was the million-selling 1964 release “My Love Forgive Me,” which reached No. 5.

Goulet died awaiting a lung transplant Oct. 30 2007 at age 73.

➦In 1945...the daily radio program, “Bride and Groom”, debuted on the NBC Blue network. It is estimated that 1,000 newly-wed couples were interviewed on the program before it left the airwaves in 1950.

➦In 1962…At EMI's Abbey Road studios in London, the Beatles recorded "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why."

➦In 1969…At EMI's Abbey Road studios in London, John Lennon spent the afternoon mixing the Beatles songs "What's The New Mary Jane" and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" with the intention of releasing them as the two sides of a Plastic Ono Band single. When this plan fell through, "Number" was released as the b-side of the Beatles' "Let It Be" single making it the last song of the Fab Four that John worked on.

➦In 2003...Eddie Gallaher, 88, the veteran radio broadcaster whose reassuring baritone was familiar to generations of Washington, DC listeners, died Nov. 26 of complications from hip surgery.

Gallagher (dcrtv photo)

Gallaher's career began on WTOP-AM in 1947. He stayed on the air in one market for 53 years, working at two other stations before retiring in 2000.was the last of the low-key gentleman deejays who dominated Washington's radio scene in its heyday. When he retired from WGAY in 2000, he was the only one from that era still hosting a daily show. He survived major changes in the broadcasting industry, managing to stay on the air for 53 years despite losing vision and mobility in his final decade.

Gallaher also worked for the stations WWDC and WASH. He did Washington Redskins play-by-play and entertainment broadcasting for WTOP-TV.  Gallaher spent 21 years at WTOP, when WTOP switched to a news and talk format in 1968, Gallaher moved to WASH-FM.

His radio programs were beamed largely to the mainstream, attracting admirers of orchestrated music and of acts that included Frank Sinatra, the Mills Brothers, Patti Page and the Carpenters. In the 1950s and '60s, he was credited with helping turn records into local hits, playing songs by Percy Faith, Lawrence Welk and Ella Fitzgerald well before his rivals secured copies. He was a devoted fan of Broadway musicals.

➦In 2014…After surrendering to Toronto police, former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one of choking in a sexual assault investigation. The CBC had fired the 47-year-old broadcaster a month earlier amid sexual misconduct allegations against him and what the company termed  "graphic evidence" that he had physically injured a woman.   After a trial in February 2016, the judge acquitted Ghomeshi of all charges saying there was insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Rich Little is 83

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Impressionist Rich Little is 83. 
• Singer Tina Turner is 82. 
• Singer Jean Terrell (The Supremes) is 77. 
• Bassist John McVie of Fleetwood Mac is 76. 
• Actor Marianne Muellerleile (Film’s “Memento,” TV’s “Life With Bonnie”) is 73. 
• Actor Scott Jacoby (“That Certain Summer”) is 65. 

• 

  Linda Davis is 59

  Actor Jamie Rose (“Falcon Crest,” “St. Elsewhere”) is 62. 
• Country singer Linda Davis is 59. 
• Actor Scott Adsit (“30 Rock”) is 56. 
• Actor Kristin Bauer (“True Blood”) is 55. 
• Actor Peter Facinelli (“Nurse Jackie”) is 48. 
• Actor Tammy Lynn Michaels (”The L Word,” “Popular”) is 47. 
• Hip-hop artist DJ Khaled is 46. 
• Actor Maia Campbell (“In the House”) is 45. 
• Country singer Joe Nichols is 45. 
• Musicians Randy and Anthony Armstrong of Red are 43. 
• Actor Jessica Bowman (“Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman”) is 41. 
• Singer Natasha Bedingfield is 40. 
• Actor Jessica Camacho (“Taken,” “The Flash”) is 39. 
• Singer-guitarist Mike Gossin of Gloriana is 37. 
• Drummer Ben Wysocki of The Fray is 37. 
• Singer Lil Fizz of B2K is 36. 
• Singer Aubrey Collins (Trick Pony) is 34. 
• Singer-actor Rita Ora is 31. 
• Actor Aubrey Peeples (“Nashville,” “Sharknado”) is 28.

Happy Thanksgiving Day 2021

Thanksgiving Day, annual national holiday in the United States celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year. Americans generally believe that their Thanksgiving is modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people, according to britannica.com. The American holiday is particularly rich in legend and symbolism, and the traditional fare of the Thanksgiving meal typically includes turkey, bread stuffing, potatoes, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. With respect to vehicular travel, the holiday is often the busiest of the year, as family members gather with one another. 

Thanksgiving Day did not become an official holiday until Northerners dominated the federal government. While sectional tensions prevailed in the mid-19th century, the editor of the popular magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sarah Josepha Hale, campaigned for a national Thanksgiving Day to promote unity. She finally won the support of President Abraham Lincoln. On October 3, 1863, during the Civil War, Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26.

The holiday was annually proclaimed by every president thereafter, and the date chosen, with few exceptions, was the last Thursday in November. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, attempted to extend the Christmas shopping season, which generally begins with the Thanksgiving holiday, and to boost the economy by moving the date back a week, to the third week in November. But not all states complied, and, after a joint resolution of Congress in 1941, Roosevelt issued a proclamation in 1942 designating the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving TV At Its Best: The WKRP Turkey Drop

Plenty of beloved TV comedies have great Thanksgiving episodes. The episode of Cheers that devolves into a food fight is an all-timer. Multiple Thanksgiving episodes of Friends are now considered holiday classics. The Simpsons’ “Bart vs. Thanksgiving” is as much of a must-watch every year, at least for me, as A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. More recent sitcoms — like The Office, Bob’s Burgers, Veep, Black-ish, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt — have delivered great hat tips to Turkey Day, too.

But, according to vulture.com, the most quintessential, uproarious Thanksgiving episode of a sitcom remains “Turkeys Away,” the WKRP in Cincinnati masterpiece of bird-dropping pandemonium that first aired in 1978. Four decades later, at least among those of a certain age or those possessing a certain amount of Thanksgiving pop-culture knowledge, it remains a touchstone. That’s partly because the jokes still hold up and partly because it ends with a perfectly quotable mic drop of a last line, spoken by the late Gordon Jump as clueless radio station manager Arthur Carlson: “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

For those who have not seen it, “Turkeys Away” starts off with a straightforward plot that careens abruptly into dark comedy. Mr. Carlson, who runs the station owned by his wealthy, domineering mother, decides he needs to get more involved in day-to-day operations and comes up with an idea for a publicity stunt that will shine more attention on WKRP, which has recently changed formats from easy listening to rock. But he keeps the details of his plan a secret from his employees, with the exception of Herb Tarlek (Frank Bonner), the skeezy ad-sales guy who becomes his right-hand man in this Thanksgiving fiasco. As his taste in leisure suits attests, Herb’s judgment is no better than Carlson’s.

In the episode’s second act, as WKRP newsman Les Nessman (Richard Sanders) broadcasts live from the Pinedale Mall, what Mr. Carlson has done becomes clear, in real time, to Les, his colleagues back at the station, and everyone watching WKRP in Cincinnati: Mr. Carlson has chosen to drop 20 live turkeys from a helicopter with a “Happy Thanksgiving from WKRP” banner attached to it, above a busy shopping center parking lot. This … does not go well.

Feeling left out by all the recent changes, Mr. Carlson decides to launch his own Thanksgiving promotion. With the aid of Herb and Les, the Big Guy turns a routine turkey give-away into a comic catastrophe.

Influential Radio Legend Rosalie Trombley Dead At 82

Rosalie Trombley (1938-2021)

Legendary CKLW 800 AM music director Rosalie Trombley, the “girl with the golden ears” whom Bob Seger immortalized in song as one of the few female record executives in the 1960s, died Tuesday, her family announced in a release.

The Detroit News reports no cause of death was released, but Trombley, 82, had been ailing from dementia and out of the public eye for some time.

“She was absolutely the most important person in Detroit in the music business, in that time,” said Tom Weschler, a former road manager for Seger and concert photographer. “J. P. McCarthy was big, Purtan was big, but in terms of getting music played, Rosalie was bigger.”

Born in Leamington, Ontario, in 1938, she grew up listening to the first generation of rock ‘n’ roll on CKLW.

In 1963, she got a job working the switchboard at the Windsor radio station, typical of the kind of jobs women had to take in the 1960’s.

 By 1968, Rosalie, a single mother of three, was CKLW’s music librarian. In that job she was responsible for reading the trades and researching to see what the station might want to play. She was so adept at it, she was almost immediately promoted to her boss’ job as music director.

Rosalie never took credit personally, but acts who give her credit for breaking them include Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Gordon Lightfoot, Aerosmith, the Guess Who (and later, Bachman-Turner-Overdrive). Elton John credits her for forcing his record company to release “Benny and the Jets” as a single.

Her most important research tool was the phone. She had a posse of Detroit R&B disc jockeys and music directors on speed dial, and also kept up with what was being played in the Detroit clubs.

She had such a good ear for what Detroit R&B stations were playing, that acts such as the Parliaments (later, Parliament-Funkadelic) and the Detroit Emeralds hit bigger than they would have, once CKLW was beaming their records out on its enormous 50,000 watt signal, heard in some 38 states, with a weekly cumulative audience in North America of over 3 million listeners.

“She could hear a hit a mile away,” said her son, Tim Trombley, when he accepted the Walt Grealis Achievement Award on her behalf at Canada’s 2016 Juno Awards. He continued: “Most major market stations played it safe and only played the proven national hits. Mom was different. She used her golden ears and instincts to identify, take chances and lead the way for an array of then-unproven artists.”

Producer Bob Ezrin always credited Trombley for hearing “I’m Eighteen” by Alice Cooper as a hit, and playing it before anyone did. It was Cooper’s breakthrough hit.

Rosalie Trombley was the most influential radio station music director of all time. Here's a look at her legacy and some of the songs she helped discover. https://t.co/6G48tABZQp

— Sean Ross (@RossOnRadio) November 24, 2021

Not all the records Trombley helped break would be considered cool today. “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast” by Wayne Newton and “You Light Up My Life” by Debby Boone also hit big thanks in part to heavy CKLW airplay. But at the end of the day, all Trombley cared about was, did the listening audience like it and want to hear it?

📻Click Here To Read More About Rosalie Trombley.

As television's popularity boomed, CKLW, like many other stations, coped with the changes by replacing the dying network radio fare with locally-based disc-jockey shows. Throughout most of the 1950s and into the mid-1960s, CKLW was basically a "variety" radio station which filled in the cracks between full-service features with pop music played by announcers like Bud Davies, Ron Knowles (who had a rock-and-roll show on AM 800 as early as 1957), and Joe Van. For a few years in the early 1960s, CKLW also featured a country music program in the evenings called Sounds Like Nashville. This ended in 1963 when WEXL 1340 became Detroit's first 24-hour country station.

After RKO General took over the station and its FM sister in 1963, CKLW began to shed the variety-format approach and, as "Radio Eight-Oh", began focusing more aggressively on playing contemporary hits and issuing a record survey. Davies, Knowles, Dave Shafer, Tom Clay, Tom Shannon, Larry Morrow (as "Duke Windsor"), Terry Knight, and Don Zee were among the "Radio Eight-Oh" personalities during this time. The station did well thanks to its huge signal, and beat the local competition in Cleveland, Ohio, though in the local Detroit ratings CKLW still lagged well behind competing hit outlet WKNR.

However, on April 4, 1967, CKLW got a drastic makeover with Bill Drake's "Boss Radio" format, programmed locally by Paul Drew. Initially known as "Radio 8" with PAMS jingles, within a few months the station's final transformation into "The Big 8," with new jingles sung by the Johnny Mann Singers, was complete, and the station was on a rapid ratings upswing. In July 1967, CKLW claimed the number one spot in the Detroit ratings for the first time, and WKNR was left in the dust.

November 25 Radio History

Norman Tokar

➦In 1919...Writer, producer Norman Tokar born (Died from a heart attack at age 59 – April 6, 1979). He directed many of the early episodes of Leave it to Beaver, and found his greatest success directing over a dozen films for Walt Disney Productions, spanning the 1950s to the 1970s.

After a career as an actor on Broadway in the early 1940s, Tokar moved into radio, most notably The Aldrich Family, where he played Henry Aldrich's friend Willie at the microphone and wrote several episodes as well. Tokar then went into television direction on such sitcoms as The Bob Cummings Show and The Donna Reed Show, and the drama Naked City.

In the early 1960s, Tokar’s success working with the juvenile actors on 93 episodes of the TV sitcom Leave it to Beaver encouraged Walt Disney to hire him to direct family features for his studio, which frequently used children in key roles.

WJAX mics at March 1936 news event.
Future FL Gov. Warren Fuller is third person from the right

➦In 1925...City of Jacksonville FL launched a broadcast station. The city appropriated $19,960 to put the station on the air and operate it through 1926. The station manager/engineer, John T. Hopkins was paid $250 a month and his assistant, James Brock made $165. The station, WJAX, made its first broadcast on Thanksgiving 1925 operating on 890 Kc. with 1000 watts using an antenna wire strung between two large tapered towers. WJAX shifted to 880 Kc. in 1928 and 900 Kc. in 1930.(Jacksonville radio historian Billy Williams).   Today, the station is WFXJ, branded as Sports Radio 930 AM and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.

➦In 1944...The FBI in Peace & War began a 14-year run on CBS Radio. 

➦In 1949..."Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" first appeared on the hit music charts. The song was written by Johnny Marks based on the 1939 story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer published by the Montgomery Ward Company.

In 1939 Marks's brother-in-law, Robert L. May, created the character Rudolph as an assignment for Montgomery Ward and Marks decided to adapt the story of Rudolph into a song.

The song was first sung by crooner Harry Brannon on New York City radio in early November 1949, before Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 in the U.S. charts during Christmas 1949. The song was suggested as a "B" side for a record Autry was making. Autry rejected the song. His wife convinced him to use it.

Autry's version of the song also holds the distinction of being the only chart-topping hit to fall completely off the chart after reaching No. 1. The official date of its No. 1 status was for the week ending January 7, 1950, making it the first No. 1 song of the 1950s.

Autry‘s rendition is the most popular, 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold.

➦In 1960...CBS radio axed five daytime serials from the airwaves, including The Second Mrs. Burton (after 14 years), Whispering Streets, Young Dr Malone & Right to Happiness (both after 21 years) and Ma Perkins (after 27 wonderful years.)

NY Times 11/26/60

In 1940, the high point for radio soap operas, there were as many as 45 on the air each day

➦In 1960...“Amos ‘n’ Andy” as played for over 30 years by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, made their last broadcast on the CBS Radio Network. It aired as a daily serial from 1928 until 1943, as a weekly situation comedy from 1943 until 1955, and as a nightly disc-jockey program from 1954 until 1960.

Show from 1941...

➦In 1968...The Beatles double White album was released in the US. Featuring ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, ‘Dear Prudence’, ‘Helter Skelter’, ‘Blackbird’ ‘Back In The USSR’ and George Harrisons ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. The album spent 101 weeks on the Billboard chart peaking at No.1.

➦In 1998...Comedian/actor Flip Wilson succumbed to liver cancer at age 64.  He was featured in TV’s Laugh In, and starred in his own two series, The Flip Wilson Show & Charlie and Company.

Amy Grant is 61

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Kathryn Crosby is 88. 
• Singer Bob Lind is 79. 
• Actor-game show host Ben Stein is 77. 
• Actor John Larroquette is 74. 
• “Dancing With The Stars” judge Bruno Tonioli is 66. 
• Singer Amy Grant is 61. 
• Singer Mark Lanegan (Queens of the Stone Age and Screaming Trees) is 57. 
• Drummer Scott Mercado (Candlebox) is 57. 
• Singer Tim Armstrong of Rancid is 56. 
• Actor Steve Harris (“Friday Night Lights,” ″The Practice”) is 56. 

• 

  C.Applegate is 50

  Actor Billy Burke (“Twilight” films) is 55. 
• Singer Stacy Lattisaw is 55. 
• Guitarist Rodney Sheppard of Sugar Ray is 55. 
• Rapper-producer Erick Sermon (EPMD) is 53. 
• Actor Jill Hennessy (“Crossing Jordan”) is 52. 
• Actor Christina Applegate is 50. 
• Actor Eddie Steeples (“My Name Is Earl”) is 48. 
• Actor Kristian Nairn (“Game of Thrones”) is 46. 
• Actor Jill Flint (“The Good Wife,” “Royal Pains”) is 44. 
• Actor Jerry Ferrara (“Entourage”) is 42. 
• Actor Valerie Azlynn (“Sullivan and Son”) is 41. 
• Actor Katie Cassidy (“Arrow,” new “Melrose Place”) is 35. 
• Actor Stephanie Hsu (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) is 31. 
• Contemporary Christian singer Jamie Grace is 30.

R.I.P.: Rosalie Trombley, CKLW's Girl With The Golden Ear

It is with heavy hearts that the family of  Rosalie Trombley, a pioneer in Canadian radio broadcasting, announces her peaceful passing on November 23. She was 82.

Trombley began her career at the AM Top 40 powerhouse, CKLW – The BIG 8 in Windsor, Ontario as a switchboard operator, but before long her talented ear for discovering hit songs made her one of the most influential individuals in radio history. Although CKLW was based in Windsor, it programmed for the Detroit market and the station’s 50,000-watt signal reached across North America.

Known as “the girl with the golden ear” due to her keen ability to choose hit songs and create music programming that appealed to wide-ranging audiences, Trombley’s tenure as a music director and one of the few female executives in radio at the time lasted over twenty years.

Rosalie Trombley - 1973

Recording artists, both established and aspiring, visited Trombley to promote their latest single releases. Artists she is credited with breaking onto the Top 40 CHR charts are: The Guess Who, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Anka, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Bob Seger, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Andy Kim, The O’Jays, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament–Funkadelic, Queen, Aerosmith and more. In addition, Bob Seger immortalized Rosalie in his 1973 song “Rosalie” from his Back in '72 album.

In 2016, Trombley was honored with the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at the 45th annual JUNO Awards, the first woman to receive the honor. An annual “Rosalie Award” is presented in her name to women trailblazers in radio during Canadian Music Week. Beyond her many achievements, Trombley will also be remembered for her passion for music, her support for talented artists and her unwavering integrity.

“Mom possessed an innate sense for music and could hear a hit from a mile away” said her son, Tim Trombley. “But more than that, she had the ability to connect with music from a multitude of artists across many genres. Although we are heartbroken, we are comforted by the fact that her legacy and her influence will live on”.

Trombley will be greatly missed by many and is survived by her three children, Timothy (Renée), Todd, and Diane (David) and by her grandson, Robert.

TV Ratings: 5M+ Persons Watched Carlson's Rittenhouse Interview

Tucker Carlson reached 5.05 million viewers for his Kyle Rittenhouse interview on Monday, the Fox News Channel opinion host’s largest audience since the night of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Rittenhouse was acquitted on murder charges last week and Carlson was given the chance for the post-trial interview because of the support he had shown him, according to the 18-year-old’s family.

Carlson has averaged 3.16 million viewers on a typical night this year, reports The Associated Press citing Nielsen data.

ABC News and Diane Sawyer had strong ratings for her Friday night interview with members of a California family held captive for many years by their parents. That “20/20” episode reached more than 7.4 million viewers

Fox broadcasting was the top-rated network in prime time last week, averaging 5.4 million viewers. NBC had 4.8 million, CBS had 4.5 million, ABC had 4.1 million, Univision had 1.5 million, Telemundo had 1 million and Ion Television had 880,000.

📺TV's Top 20 Prime Time Shows (Total Viewers):

1. NFL Football: Pittsburgh at L.A. Chargers, NBC, 14.55 million.

2. NFL Football: New England at Atlanta, Fox, 13.52 million.

3. “The OT,” Fox, 11.6 million.

4. “NFL Pregame,” NBC, 11.2 million.

5. NFL Football: L.A. Rams at San Francisco, ESPN, 10.7 million.

6. “NFL Pregame,” Fox, 8.59 million.

7. “Football Night in America, Part 3,” NBC, 8.54 million.

8. “FBI,” CBS, 7.61 million.

9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 7.58 million.

10. “Yellowstone,” Paramount, 7.42 million.

11. “20/20,” ABC, 7.41 million.

12. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 6.95 million.

13. “The Voice” (Tuesday), NBC, 6.78 million.

14. “The Equalizer,” CBS, 6.59 million.

15. “The Voice” (Monday), NBC, 6.56 million.

16. “FBI: International,” CBS, 5.96 million.

17. “Blue Bloods,” CBS, 5.79 million.

18. “Survivor,” CBS, 5.77 million.

19. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 5.64 million.

20. “NFL Pregame,” ESPN, 5.5 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race with an average of 8.3 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 7.2 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.4 million.

Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable news channel in prime time, averaging 2.89 million viewers. ESPN had 2.31 million, Hallmark had 1.58 million, MSNBC had 1.18 million and HGTV had 893,000.

Graphics courtesy of RoadMN

On the programming front, The Five earned the status as the most-watched show on cable news for the second consecutive week, averaging 3.89 million viewers and 687,000 adults 25-54 for the week of Nov. 15. Tucker Carlson Tonight remained No. 2 in average total viewers (3.82 million) and finished No. 1 on cable news among adults 25-54 (728,000). Hannity finished third in average total viewers (3.345 million) followed by Special Report with Bret Baier (3.09 million), and Fox News Primetime (2.81 million) rounding out the top 5 in average total viewers. 

Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

TV Newser reports Fox News had the 10 most-watched cable news shows last week, and the top 15 among adults 25-54. MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show fell from No. 7 to No. 11 on cable news in average total viewers (2.06 million). MSNBC’s powerhouse program actually posted week-to-week growth in total viewers, but Fox News programming gained even more viewers from the prior week.

NYTimes Hit With Extended Ban on Project Veritas Coverage

A New York trial judge on Tuesday extended a ban keeping the New York Times from publishing some materials concerning the conservative activist group Project Veritas, a restriction the newspaper said violated decades of First Amendment protections.

Reuters reports Justice Charles Wood of the Westchester County Supreme Court said his temporary ban imposed on Nov. 18 will run at least until Dec. 1, a deadline for Project Veritas to respond in writing to the Times' bid to end it.

The judge granted the extension at a 1-3/4-hour hearing in White Plains, which was part of a defamation lawsuit that Project Veritas filed against the Times last year.

Project Veritas, led by James O'Keefe, has used what critics view as deceptive tactics to expose what it describes as liberal media bias.

It has objected to a Nov. 11 Times article that drew from memos from a Project Veritas lawyer, and purported to reveal how the group worked with its lawyers to "gauge how far its deceptive reporting practices can go before running afoul of federal laws."

Wood said as the hearing began that the case involved a clash between two "bedrock principles" of law: "freedom of the speech and freedom of the press, and attorney-client privilege."

Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said the newspaper was disappointed but will press its First Amendment concerns. "No libel plaintiffs should be permitted to use their litigation as a tool to silence press coverage about them," she said.

Project Veritas and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The group had been suing over a Sept. 2020 Times article describing a video it released that alleged voter fraud connected to the campaign of U.S. congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat.

Dean Baquet, the Times' executive editor, has said Wood's Nov. 18 order set a "dangerous precedent," while the newspaper has said courts might find prior restraints acceptable only "rarely," such as to protect national security.

Joel Kurtzberg, a lawyer for the Times, told Wood a longer ban would have broad, negative ramifications for journalists.

"What Project Veritas is seeking here is not about the continued use of information within this litigation, but limiting what journalists report and do outside this litigation," Kurtzberg said.

Libby Locke, a lawyer for Project Veritas, countered that the Times' use of memos by the group's lawyer Benjamin Barr "compromises the uninhibited, robust communication between a client and lawyer."

Hot 100: Taylor Unseats Don McLean With Longest Song

Don McLean had a very good, long run at the top of the charts with his iconic 1971 music history stemwinder “American Pie,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 and set a record for the longest song (8:42) to hold the top spot for nearly a half-century. That epic run ended this week when Taylor Swift added yet another honor to her already hefty list of accomplishments when the 10:13 long “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” officially became the longest No. 1 hit of all time.

McLean was gracious about handing over the long-held record, telling Billboard in a statement that it was well-earned. “There is something to be said for a great song that has staying power,” says McLean. 

Let’s face it, nobody ever wants to lose that #1 spot, but if I had to lose it to somebody, I sure am glad it was another great singer/songwriter such as Taylor. Congratulations @taylorswift13! https://t.co/m01wlAVzyo

— Don McLean (@donmclean) November 23, 2021

“‘American Pie’ remained on top for 50 years and now Taylor Swift has unseated such a historic piece of artistry. Let’s face it, nobody ever wants to lose that #1 spot, but if I had to lose it to somebody, I sure am glad it was another great singer/songwriter such as Taylor.”

*FERAL SCREECH* https://t.co/YYhcecLUfm

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 22, 2021

Billboard's Hot 100

It’s a big week for Swift, with the super-sized “All Too Well” hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the accompanying re-worked Red (Taylor’s Version) album concurrently launching at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

R.I.P.: Doug Hill, Beloved Washington D-C Meteorologist

Doug Hill (1950-2021)

For 33 years, Washington meteorologist Doug Hill stepped in front of the green screen to help viewers plan around the weather, guiding them through days of sunshine, rain and seemingly never-ending snow, including during storms with names like Snowpocalypse and Snowmageddon.

With his silver hair, baritone voice and unflappable demeanor, he was a soothing fixture of CBS affiliate WUSA Channel 9 and of WJLA ABC7, where he served as chief meteorologist before retiring in 2017. He also appeared regularly on WTOP-FM, sometimes calling in while he was driving to provide live weather updates. 

Hill was so devoted to the job — and so enamored with the weather, even if he never really loved the cold — that despite having the flu during the Snowzilla blizzard of 2016, when one to three feet fell across the region, “he was on for like 12 hours straight,” said Alex Liggitt, the weekend morning meteorologist at ABC7.

The Washington Post reports Hill was 71 when he died Nov. 22 at his home in Leland, N.C. His daughter, Maggie Hill, confirmed the death but did not cite a cause.

Hill developed a profound interest in both meteorology and Christianity — “I got fed science from my father and the Bible from my mother,” he said — and worked in recent years at a Christian radio station, WGTS-FM. Decades earlier, its music had offered him solace after the death of his 3-year-old son, Michael, from a heart attack, which Hill called “the worst” moment of his life.

For some viewers, his own broadcasts were a balm of sorts, even if they were usually limited to discussions of precipitation totals or high and low temperatures. He said that he fielded calls from viewers each day, including parents who asked him to help their children with science homework, and at least one woman who wanted to ask about a mysterious object she saw in the night sky. (It was probably Venus, he told her.)

Consensus Forecast: Radio Revenue To Increase 6 to 8 Percent

As the end of 2021 nears, the CUMULUS MEDIA | Westwood One Audio Active Group assessed leading revenue forecasts and key trends to watch for in the coming year.

Here are the key takeaways:

• 2022 revenue forecast roundup: AM/FM radio growth consensus +6% to +8%; Podcasts to the moon
• Speaking at last week’s Radio Ink Forecast 2022 conference, Mark Gray, CEO of Katz Media Group, said national spot radio revenues are expected to grow +5% to +6%, not counting digital and political. Gray notes that since the pandemic, every quarter has seen improvement. 2022 national AM/FM radio revenues are expected to come in at 88% to 89% of 2019 levels. Gray says political could top $300M for AM/FM radio in 2022.
• Speaking at the same conference, Doug Ray, Chief Product Officer at dentsu international, the major media agency, estimates +10% increases for audio in 2022 with most of the growth coming from streaming and podcasts.
• PQ Media says, “Total audio ad spend, of which over the air accounts for 70%, is not expected to reach the pre-pandemic 2019 level until 2023.”
• 
  Ad spend is projected to increase +6% in 2022 as “demand is returning to radio” coming off +25% growth in 2021, according to MAGNA. “The economy is very strong right now and we see every vertical increasing spending.” Most workers resuming commuting, a full year of high vaccination rates, and growth of new verticals such a sports betting are other drivers.
• BIA/Kelsey Vice President and Chief Economist Mark Fratrik says AM/FM radio advertising revenue in 2022 will grow +8% and hit $13.4 billion. $11.5 billion will be from over the air and $1.9 billion will be from digital.
• Daniel Day, Equity Research Analyst, Media & Communications at B. Riley Securities, predicts sequential improvement in spot radio revenue along with “robust digital growth, and an improved outlook for political ad spending.” Day says 2022 will be buoyed by “especially strong” political ad spending and increases in broadcast political estimates to 90% of 2020 levels. Growing political ad revenue in even years is “a structural trend rather than a one-time boost.”
• eMarketer calls for +11% growth in digital audio in 2022 and +6% growth for AM/FM radio.
• IAB/PwC forecasts podcast advertising to grow +31% from $1.3 billion in 2021 to $1.7 billion in 2022.
• The “big ten” advertising categories that represent 60% of local AM/FM radio revenue

Of the 44 local advertising categories tracked by Miller Kaplan, ten generate 60% of station revenues:

• Auto dealers/manufacturers/rentals
• Professional services
• Healthcare
• Charitable/religious/non-profit/government agencies
• Financial services
• Casinos/lotteries
• Insurance companies
• Communications/cellular/public utilities
• Television/networks/cable providers
• Home improvement

Compared to 2019 spend levels, five of the ten categories have already recovered or are close to recovering (professional services, financial services, casino/lottery, insurance, and charitable/government). Sports betting (part of casinos/lottery) has shown considerable growth for AM/FM radio. The five categories to watch for 2022 improvement are auto, TV/cable, healthcare, home improvement, and communications/cellular.

Sinclair's RSNs Could Shift to Streaming Model

While regional sports networks face an uncertain future due to cord-cutting, Bally’s chair Soo Kim told Front Office Sports he sees ample present and future value in them.

Bally’s bought the naming rights to 21 regional sports networks owned by Sinclair in November 2020 in a 10-year, $85 million deal.

Sinclair is seeking to bundle those RSNs into a streaming service, which it told potential investors could attract 4.4 million subscribers and bring in $2 billion annually.

This would be an attractive proposition for Bally’s because it would allow the company to integrate watching and gaming into a single screen.

“You can create a very different kind of experience of how sports are consumed,” Kim said. “It could potentially be a lot more interactive, a lot more engaging, and we think that’s where the future of sports is going to go.”

In the meantime, the RSNs provide brand exposure for Bally’s. “Last year, there were something like 4 billion impressions of the words ‘Bally Sports,’” he added.

Report: Amazon Bids for 49% Stake in NFL Media

Amazon is continuing its effort to expand its portfolio of NFL content. According to a report by Front Office Sports, the tech giant is the frontrunner to buy a minority stake in the NFL’s various media properties. The company is currently the frontrunner to get up to a 49% stake in NFL Network, RedZone, and NFL.com, according to the report.

The deal hasn’t been finalized yet as the league and Amazon are still ironing out the details and other groups may try to outbid Amazon. According to the Front Office Report, it might take months for it to be finalized if there are any snags in the deal.

“As the whole world of communications and digital media changes, we want to find a partner who can further help us maximize the reach and potential the NFL assets represent,” New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, chair of the NFL’s media committee, said in an interview with Wall Street Journal.

Earlier this year, Amazon acquired the rights to Thursday Night Football making it the NFL’s first digital platform to exclusively broadcast games beginning in 2022 with the deal running through the 2023 season. The tech giant is also in consideration for obtaining the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket.

Cord Cutter News reports Amazon is looking to become a serious contender in the world of streaming live sports by expanding its NFL partnership. If Amazon can become a minority owner in the various NFL media properties then they may add some innovations to those properties. Earlier this season, Amazon allowed Prime Video subscribers to interact in fan polling via their X-Ray feature during TNF games which is something the company will expand in the future.

False Media Reporting Leads To Corrections, Mockery

The persistent media falsehood that Kyle Rittenhouse was armed with an AR-15 style rifle when he "crossed state lines" before his deadly encounters in Kenosha, Wis., has led to multiple corrections and considerable mockery as the reckoning over misleading coverage of the trial continues, reports Fox News.

What Insider called "perhaps the most persistent myth" around the case was peddled repeatedly in liberal media outlets, in print and on television, before and even during the trial. It was established through testimony and police records that the rifle Rittenhouse used in the shootings of three people, two fatal, was already stored in Kenosha. Several of his family members lived in Kenosha, and the AR-15 style rifle was bought for Rittenhouse by his friend Dominick Black and stored at his house.

The oft-used media line that he traveled across "state lines" gave off the impression he was an outsider who traveled from afar, when in reality he traveled less than a half hour to Kenosha from his town Antioch, Ill., just south of the state border.

Following Rittenhouse's acquittal on all charges after he claimed self-defense in the case, CBS News correspondent Mark Strassman reported on Sunday's "Face The Nation" that "Rittenhouse drove in from Illinois armed for battle," leading the outlet to issue a correction and apology for its language.

He was hardly alone, though, with dozens of pundits repeating the phrase ad nauseam in the lead-up to and indeed during the case.

Ana Kasparian of the far-left Young Turks blasted Rittenhouse for having "crossed state lines with an illegal gun" earlier this month before correcting herself on a later show, saying it was important to have the "facts."

"The 17-year-old vigilante, arguably a domestic terrorist, picked up a rifle, drove to a different state to shoot people," MSNBC's John Heilemann said last year.

"Not only was he not standing his ground, he wasn’t even standing in his own state," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said on Nov. 1. "He crossed state lines with an AR-15, threw himself in the middle of all this and started shooting people."

"In Wisconsin you have Rittenhouse, a White teenager who crossed state lines with an AR-15-style rifle. Killed two men and wounded another and was told by police to go home," left-wing CNN anchor Don Lemon said on Nov. 16.

"Now if you recall, the teenager drove from his home in Illinois across state lines armed with a semiautomatic rifle to the site of the protests where he shot and killed two men and wounded another," MSNBC anchor Ayman Mohyeldin said last month

ABC's Joy Behar made two false assertions on Nov. 11, saying Rittenhouse "goes across state lines with an AR-15, with his mother." His mother did not drive him to Wisconsin, an assertion also incorrectly made by CNN's Bakari Sellers. Behar corrected the remark about his mother a few minutes later but not about the rifle.

The examples are nearly endless. "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg, legal analyst Areva Martin, MSNBC's Dean Obeidallah, and MSNBC legal analyst Maya Wiley also made the false claim.

The day after the verdicts, the New York Times' Glenn Thrush quoted a gun control proponent fretting that Rittenhouse could "grab an assault weapon, travel across state lines" and kill people without consequences.

"Only in America can a 17-year-old grab an assault weapon, travel across state lines, provoke a fight, kill two people and injure another and pay no consequences," he told Thrush, with no text indicating what he said was wrong. Thrush did not respond to a request for comment on whether he would update the piece.

Requests for comment from Fox News Digital to CNN, MSNBC, ABC, Peacock, Gothamist, and writers at Glamour, Esquire, and Deadspin went unreturned.

Gen Z Prefers People For Product Information

Older generations rely more heavily on family, friends, and TV ads to learn about new products. Personal recommendations are the most powerful purchase drivers for Gen Z as well, but social media—which includes ads, videos, and online influencers—is increasingly important to product discovery, according to eMarketer.

Gen Z taps a wider array of online and offline sources—including ratings and reviews, social media, online influencers, and in-person experiences.

Gen Z makes little distinction between online, mobile, and offline sources and zigzags effortlessly among them to find information.

In June 2021, half of US Gen Z internet users agreed that social networks were important information sources for shopping decisions.

US Internet Users Who Agree Social Media Networks Are Important Information Sources for Shopping Decisions, by Generation, June 2021 (% of respondents in each group)

In another June 2021 survey, 65% of Gen Z adult respondents said friend and family recommendations were the two most trusted sources for product recommendations.