Sinclair Broadcast Group‘s regional sports network unit Diamond Sports Group has signed a new deal with the National Basketball Association that gives its Bally Sports networks permission to offer streaming content including live games on an authenticated and direct-to-consumer basis.
The deal covers 16 NBA teams in their local territories, reports nexttv.com.
Diamond Sports also said it made deals to raise $600 million in new capital from existing borrowers. The new funds are expected to be used to help build the DTC platform.
Sinclair has been looking to launch a direct-to-consumer service this year to bolster its RSN business, which has been under strain from cord-cutting and heavy debt.
Questions have surrounded Sinclair’s plan since Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred suggested that Sinclair did not have sufficient rights to mount a DTC service.
Sinclair in December announced a renewal of its deal with the National Hockey League, that included direct-to-consumer streaming for 12 teams.
“We are excited about our continued partnership with the NBA which allows us to bring the league’s in-demand and exciting basketball content to local fans across multiple platforms,” said Chris Ripley, Sinclair’s president and CEO. “Sinclair places the highest importance on connecting sports fans with live games and other sports content. We are looking forward to the launch of our DTC platform in 2022, ushering in a new era of local sports viewing with a more personalized and dynamic viewing experience.”
Teams included in the agreement are the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and San Antonio Spurs.
The anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot is sparking fresh conspiracy theories — about Norah O’Donnell’s anchor spot at “CBS Evening News,” reports The NY Post.
Last week, the third-place network flew “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil into Washington from New York to anchor a 9 a.m. special report on last January’s upheaval at the Capitol.
That set tongues wagging inside CBS, where some staffers said it looked like a possible tryout for O’Donnell’s job as CBS News co-president Neeraj Khemlani searches for ways to cut costs at the network.
Tony Dokoupil
\As reported by The NY Post, the 47-year-old O’Donnell, who is rumored to pull a salary in the ballpark of $8 million, has lately faced speculation that her plum job may be in jeopardy as she renegotiates her contract to anchor the third-place news broadcast.
One insider told The Post that Khemlani has spoken about the coveted anchor chair to 40-year-old Dokoupil, who earns around $2 million for co-hosting “CBS Mornings” alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson — and told him that he first needs to become “more seasoned.”
A rep for CBS News declined to comment on the chatter but pointed to O’Donnell’s ratings, which have improved although they still lag second-place NBC’s “Nightly News with Lester Holt” and first-place ABC “World News Tonight with David Muir.”
“‘Evening News’ is experiencing the tightest demo gap with NBC in 27 years,” the rep said.
But one CBS insider noted that the network can pay Dokoupil much less to be in third place. The person added that Dokoupil’s presence in DC seemed odd when O’Donnell, the network’s managing editor, is already there.
FOX News Channel’s (FNC) The Five has added Jeanine Pirro as full-time show co-host along with a rotation of Harold Ford Jr., Geraldo Rivera, and Jessica Tarlov as the co-hosts for the liberal seat, announced Suzanne Scott, CEO of FOX News Media. The moves will take place effective January 24th.
In making the announcement, Ms. Scott said, “The Five continues to be a beloved show by the American audience. Each of the co-hosts are accomplished and insightful talent with diverse opinions and terrific chemistry who will certainly help drive this ensemble program going forward.”
Pirro, Ford, Rivera and Tarlov will co-host alongside powerhouse homegrown stars Greg Gutfeld, Dana Perino and Jesse Watters.
The Five has ruled the timeslot for a decade as the number one show in both cable and all of cable news at 5 PM/ET. In the most recent 4th Quarter of 2021, The Five dominated with 3.3 million total viewers and second overall in the 25-54 demo with 481,000 — the first time ever in cable news history that a non-primetime program achieved this milestone for a full quarter. The smash hit also topped all daytime and primetime programming on CNN and MSNBC for the entire year of 2021, delivering the second largest audience in cable news with 2.9 million viewers and 423,000 in the 25-54 demo, again making it the only non-primetime show to rank among the top five programs in the genre while notching its second highest ranking in the show’s history.
Judge Pirro has substitute co-hosted The Five since 2020. She joined the network in 2006 as a legal analyst and began hosting her weekend program Justice with Judge Jeanine in 2011, which has been the top-rated program in its Saturday evening 9 PM/ET time slot throughout its 11-year run. Pirro will relinquish hosting the program effective January 22nd to meet the demands of being elevated to a live five-day a week show, and a new weekend line-up replacing both Justice and Watters’ World (vacated by Jesse Watters moving to weeknights at 7 PM/ET) will be announced at a later date. She will continue hosting Castles USA on FOX News Media’s streaming service FOX Nation, where she dives into the rich history of iconic castles all around the country.
Newly minted liberal co-host Harold Ford Jr. joined FOX News Media as a contributor in 2021 and guest co-hosted The Five throughout the last year. Ford served as a former democrat member of Congress for five terms from 1997–2007, representing Tennessee’s ninth congressional district with stints on the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services.
Geraldo Rivera will also serve as a rotating liberal co-host while continuing to helm COPS: All Access on FOX Nation, a behind-the-scenes look at each episode examining the risk that law enforcement officers face every day. He will also continue appearing on various programs as the correspondent-at-large.
Liberal co-host Jessica Tarlov joined the network as a contributor in 2017 and has appeared on numerous programs, including The Five after serving as a frequent guest on various FNC shows since 2014. She currently serves as the Vice President of Research and Consumer Insight for Bustle Digital Group (BDG) and will return from maternity leave to begin the co-hosting rotation in March.
A new report published by NPR is confronting the uncomfortable reality of the ongoing exodus of some of its biggest stars, all of whom happen to be people of color.
Fox News reports NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik penned a piece Wednesday addressing the "complex" race issues within the liberal radio giant following the exit of Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Noel King and Audie Cornish, all who left NPR to pursue other career ventures within the last three months.
"The hosts ... are the reason that those shows are so successful, along with all the people working so hard every day on those shows," NPR President and CEO John Lansing told Folkenflik. "Losing anybody that we see as super-valuable is always a concern."
Nancy Barnes, NPR's senior vice president for news, similarly wrote in a letter to staff on Tuesday that the recent resignations have "created a hole in the heart of the organization."
Folkenflik acknowledged the publicized uproar among colleagues, including "All Things Considered" co-host Ari Shapiro, who claimed on Twitter that NPR is "hemorrhaging hosts from marginalized backgrounds."
"Much of the commentary reflects a belief that NPR has proven incapable of doing the right thing when race is a factor and is willfully or carelessly driving away its future stars, even as it aspires to attract more Black and Latino listeners," Folkenflik wrote.
"Interviews with 12 people with direct knowledge of recent developments, including NPR hosts and executives, suggest NPR indeed struggles to retain high-profile journalists of color. Hosts have complained to the network's leadership of pay disparities along racial and gender lines. Some say the network does not keep its promises and makes contract negotiations unnecessarily contentious. And several hosts concluded they were made to be the public face of NPR but did not have the network's full support."
According to the media correspondent, NPR "has emphasized the need for diversity in its staffing, its story selection, and its audiences, and pursued initiatives to fulfill those needs" under Lansing's leadership, a mission he called the network's "North Star."
According to data shared to Folkenflik by corporate leadership, NPR had a lower turnover rate for employees of color among the entire staff during the last fiscal year and that "78% of all hires were people of color," a substantial increase from the two previous years.
The report tackled various tensions between NPR stars and management. Hosts like Shapiro and King "pitched podcasts built around their interests" but "felt stymied by NPR's programming division" according to colleagues. Others "expressed frustrations" that the news and programming sides of NPR "were not run in a more unified fashion.
iHeartMedia announced Wednesday an important next step in extending its presence into web3 and the metaverse, beginning with plans for the creation of iHeart events and experiences for listeners and music fans on Roblox, a global platform bringing millions of people together through shared experiences, and committing to launch tokenized communities for its users and creators.
iHM will also use its industry-leading consumer reach of over 90% of Americans every month and strong engagement to create the awareness and demand necessary to bring new metaverse and web3 platforms to the mass market.
“Although there are a number of great new products for the metaverse and web3 from a wide array of creators, with our unparalleled audience reach, multiple platforms, and our trusted broadcast and podcast hosts, iHeartMedia is uniquely positioned to build the consumer awareness, understanding and demand necessary for those new products and platforms from both us and others to succeed,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc. “We see this as a unique opportunity to serve our listeners’ needs, provide an important new layer of growth for the company, and help develop the advertising and consumer potential for the metaverse and web3.”
As part of this overall strategy, in 2022 iHeartMedia plans to bring immersive musical moments to the over 47M daily active users on the Roblox platform and launch its first tokenized community, building a new token that will incentivize and reward the iHeart creator community in new ways and give iHeart’s fans unique access to offerings across its multiple platforms, and a series of collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs), building on the success of its previously launched iHeartRadio Music Festival NFTs in partnership with Green NFT platform OneOf in September 2021.
“In the same way in which we believed in and committed to digital radio and podcasting – and became the strong number one in both -- we are big believers in the incredible potential of web3,” said Conal Byrne, President of the iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group. “We have already stepped into the metaverse with NFTs and have much more to come. iHeart’s place in this ecosystem -- giving fans extraordinary access to the special events and influencers we provide every day of the year -- is what we’re focused on building out as we work with key partners and develop an easy-to-use ramp to the metaverse and web3 for the mass market.”
SiriusXM Holdings Inc. announced today that its subsidiary, Sirius XM Radio Inc., has acquired Cloud Cover Media, Inc. Cloud Cover Media offers Cloud Cover Music, a music for business service, and employs business management, music programming, licensing, and software development teams. Cloud Cover Music’s easy-to-use solutions and robust tech platform allow businesses to deliver music, with customized audio messaging if desired, to create the desired atmosphere for their prospects, customers, and clients.
Cloud Cover Music’s combination of an intuitive online platform and experienced large enterprise account team offers organizations of any size in any industry a robust selection of ad-free music for their business with full control over what their customers and employees will hear. Cloud Cover Music’s self-service solutions and dedicated staff offer a wide range of features and options that can be tailored for each business’ needs. Cloud Cover Music provides the soundtrack for a wide variety of commercial locations across the United States and Canada.
Cloud Cover Music joins SiriusXM Music for Business and Pandora for Business in SiriusXM’s commercial music portfolio. Together these services provide comprehensive and complementary offerings for businesses of all sizes.
The Cloud Cover Music team will continue to be led by Vice President and General Manager Mark Lehman.
“We are thrilled to become part of the SiriusXM family,” stated Lehman. “As one of the fastest growing music for business services, we’re proud of the track record that Cloud Cover Music has achieved with our tens of thousands of customers. We’re excited to have the brand recognition and strength of SiriusXM and Pandora behind us as we continue to focus on delivering the best music and messaging products for businesses.”
“Cloud Cover Music has built an advanced tech platform with a host of features that are very attractive to businesses who want an easy-to-install solution, want to be fully covered on licensing, and also want to be able to create a tailored soundtrack for their business,” said Joe Verbrugge, Executive Vice President, SiriusXM. “SiriusXM and Pandora have always offered a unique blend of great content and great technology. The addition of Cloud Cover Music to our commercial music portfolio is expected to help propel us forward and contribute to the growth of our business.”
Nielsen has announced that The Gauge, its monthly total TV and streaming snapshot, revealed that streaming in the U.S. reached a new all-time weekly high of over 183 billion minutes of video in December 2021, giving over-the-top platforms a record-breaking 33% share of total TV viewing during the week of Christmas.
According to The Gauge, aggregate viewing for streaming platforms surpassed the previous-high of 178 billion minutes streamed during Thanksgiving week in November 2021. Prior to that, the 160 billion minutes streamed during March 2020 was the highest total. The overall percentage share for streaming remained flat from the previous month at 28%. Cable viewing continued to account for the largest percentage as measured by The Gauge, with just over 37% total share of viewership.
The Gauge also shows that broadcast viewing dropped one share point, while the "Other" category, which includes video on-demand content, cable set top box streaming, gaming, and DVD usage, gained 1.6% share on the strength of video gaming's premiere season.
Additionally, The Gauge has now expanded the granularity of usage data, displaying an additional decimal point to better reflect and delineate month-to-month changes in viewing share.
Measuring and monitoring consumers' streaming behavior in a comparable way against linear TV usage is a critical source of information for the industry as content creators, media companies, streaming platforms, advertisers, industry groups, talent agencies and the talent themselves all seek clarity around the various video content that consumers engage with.
CUMULUS MEDIA announces that it has signed a new long-term agreement with Doug Hamand, Vice President, Programming Operations.
Doug Hamand
Hamand joined CUMULUS MEDIA in January 2016 as Vice President, Programming Operations. He was previously Senior Vice President, Programming, for iHeartMedia/Clear Channel, where he served that company in various senior programming posts, including Regional Vice President, Programming, Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL, for 21 years.
John Dimick, SVP, Programming Operations, CUMULUS MEDIA, commented: “Doug is a fierce competitor and expects the best from our content teams. His expertise and experience with multiple formats have enabled CUMULUS MEDIA to maintain its leadership position. Doug has definitely earned this new deal and many thanks for the hard work, dedication and commitment to CUMULUS MEDIA.”
Doug Hamand remarked: “Working the last five years with this team of exceptionally talented Format VP’s, alongside Brian Philips, John Dimick and Greg Frey has been rewarding! I am glad to have helped PDs and Market Managers in key Cumulus cities achieve success in ratings and revenue. I look forward to serving these markets and the industry for more years to come.”
Senate Democrats have crafted a plan to force a public debate on the voting rights legislation they have made a priority, after Republicans have for months used a filibuster to prevent debate from beginning on the Senate floor. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer outlined the workaround in memo to fellow Democrats, with the party hoping to focus public attention on the voting rights issue with the debate, after a wave of more restrictive voting laws were passed by Republican-led states since the 2020 election.
After forcefully calling on Tuesday in Atlanta for passage of the legislation, President Biden will be meeting privately with Senate Democrats today about the way ahead. But Democrats still face a Republican filibuster when it comes to actually passing the legislation. To get around that, they are eyeing changing the filibuster rules, but they will need all 50 Senate Democrats to do that, and it has been opposed by Senators Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Joe Biden’s speech on voting rights was a ‘rant’ and called it ‘incoherent, incorrect and beneath his office’ pic.twitter.com/S0ro9ca8qc
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday lashed out at Biden's speech, calling it a "rant" that was "beneath his office" and "pure demagoguery," objecting to Biden comparing those opposed to the voting legislation to segregationist George Wallace and Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy.
NY Post 1/13/22
➤INFLATION UP IN DECEMBER SEVEN PERCENT FROM YEAR BEFORE: Prices in December were up seven percent from a year ago, with inflation the highest in nearly 40 years. The Labor Department data yesterday said that an inflation measure that excludes volatile food and gas prices was up 5.5 percent in December, also the highest in decades. Overall inflation rose 0.5 percent from November, which was down from 0.8 percent the previous month. Pandemic recovery economic forces, including high demand, supply chain issues, and large amounts of government aid that were dispersed, are driving inflation. It's also being seen in other countries, with the 19 European countries that use the euro seeing inflation rise five percent in December compared to a year earlier, the biggest increase on record.
At first, it didn’t even register as a threat. Then it seemed like a temporary annoyance.
Now, inflation is delivering sticker shock to Americans at the supermarket, the gas station and more.
➤HOUSE GOP LEADER MCCARTHY SAYS WON'T AGREE TO INTERVIEW WITH JAN. 6TH COMMITTEE: After the House special committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol requested an interview and records from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican said in a statement yesterday that he wouldn't cooperate, charging their investigation wasn't legitimate and accusing them of abuse of power. McCarthy had been asked to provide information about his conversations with then-President Donald Trump, quote, "before, during and after" the Capitol attack, as well as information about his communications with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the days before January 6th.
NEW: @CBSNews has learned the Red Cross is declaring a national blood crisis for the first time and tomorrow the organization will ask people to donate immediately. pic.twitter.com/o6XpeSPTps
➤71 NEW CHARGES AGAINST MAN ACCUSED OF DRIVING THROUGH CHRISTMAS PARADE: Prosecutors brought 71 new charges yesterday against a man accused of driving an SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on November 21st, killing six people and injuring dozens more. Darrell Brooks Jr. had already been charged with six counts of homicide, and the new charges include multiple counts of reckless endangerment, hit-and-run involving death, battery and bail jumping. In the criminal complaint with the new charges, prosecutors allege that Brooks crashed into people head-on, ran them over as they lay on the ground, and at one point leaned out his window to steer because someone had landed on his windshield and was blocking his view. Just before he allegedly drove through the parade, Brooks beat up the mother of child because she hadn't bailed him out of jail several days earlier after he was arrested for running her over with the same SUV, according to the complaint.
BREAKING: A federal judge in New York has denied Prince Andrew’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit from Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein. https://t.co/rv9VxLloHb
📱STUDY...PEOPLE SPEND NEARLY A THIRD OF THEIR WAKING HOURS STARING AT THEIR PHONES—AVERAGING 4.8 HOURS A DAY ON APPS: A study finds we spend way more time staring at our phones than we likely should. App Annie’s latest "State of Mobile" report has found consumers globally spent a record 3.8 trillion hours on their phones in 2021, averaging 4.8 hours a day, or nearly a third of their waking hours. App Annie notes that 2021 was “record-breaking” as consumers continue to embrace a mobile lifestyle and move away from big screens. In particular, the video sharing app TikTok saw an increase of 90 percent use globally, excluding China, compared to 2020. Another interesting find: globally, consumers spent $170 billion on apps, which is up 19 percent from 2020.
➤U-S CANCER DEATH RATE DOWN 32 PERCENT SINCE 1991: The American Cancer Society said in a report out yesterday that the cancer death rate in the U.S. fell by 32 percent between 1991 and 2019. The Cancer Society says the decline is due in part to earlier detection of lung cancer, and patients with cancer living longer after diagnosis. Also cited were more access to screening and care, declining smoking rates, and new combination therapies.
🛒U-S SHOPPERS SPENT $204 BILLION ONLINE DURING HOLIDAY PERIOD; SOLID INCREASE OVER 2020: Did you do most of your holiday shopping online in 2021? Adobe Analytics, which tracks holiday spending, reports US shoppers spent $204.5 billion between November 1st and January 1st. That’s an increase of 8.6 percent over the same period in 2020. The firm says shoppers spread out their spending over various days, rather than just doing it on special sale-designated days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and that they spent $3 billion per day for a record 38 days, compared to 25 in 2020. The report also shows online shoppers saw six billion “out of stock” messages online over the holiday period, a rise of more than 250 percent since 2019.
😴REMEMBERING FACES AND NAMES CAN BE IMPROVED DURING SLEEP: If you’re great at remembering faces, but not names, you might want to try learning them in your sleep. Northwestern University researchers found people’s name recall improved significantly when memories of newly learned face-name associations were reactivated while they were napping. The key to this improvement was uninterrupted deep sleep. The study’s senior author, Ken Paller, adds, “This new line of research will let us address many interesting questions—like whether sleep disruption is always harmful or whether it could be used to weaken unwanted memories. At any rate, we are increasingly finding good reasons to value high-quality sleep.”
Novak Djokovic has been included in the Australian Open draw and is slated to play fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic as Australia's government nears a decision on whether to deport the men’s tennis No. 1 player. https://t.co/4hLtcKOHKP
🎾AS DJOKOVIC CONTINUES TO WAIT ON VISA DECISION, HE'S INCLUDED IN AUSTRALIAN OPEN DRAW: The Australian Open included Novak Djokovic in the draw for the Grand Slam tennis tournament Thursday, with the top seed set to play fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic, who's ranked Number 78, in the opening round next week. That came as Djokovic continues to wait on the immigration minister's decision on whether to again revoke his visa in the ongoing controversy over his claimed medical exemption to Australia's strict Covid vaccination requirements because he tested positive for Covid last month and is recovered. After his visa was canceled when he arrived in Australia last week when his vaccination exemption was rejected, a judge reinstated it Monday on procedural grounds. However, the immigration minister could revoke it again.
🏒MARCHAND GETS HAT TRICK IN BRUINS 5-1 WIN OVER CANADIENS: Brad Marchand scored his fifth career hat trick last night in the Boston Bruins 5-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens. Marchand scored twice 15 seconds apart in the first period and then added a short-handed goal in the second. The teams were originally supposed to play in Montreal last night and in Boston on March 12th, but the Bruins home game was moved up to last night instead, in hopes that Canada's capacity restrictions due to Covid will be eased by March.
🏀ESPN: TRAIL BLAZERS STAR LILLARD TO HAVE SURGERY FOR ABDOMINAL INJURY: Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard is planning to have surgery for a lingering abdominal injury, ESPN reported yesterday. Lillard, who last played on December 31st, would be out at least six to eight weeks. According to ESPN, a final decision is expected after consultations with doctors this week. Lillard aggravated the injury while playing for the U.S. team at the Tokyo Olympics last summer, and has been dealing with the problem throughout the season.
⚾PITCHER JON LESTER RETIRING: Pitcher Jon Lester announced his retirement yesterday after 16 years, during which he won three World Series, two with the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and 2013, and one with the Chicago Cubs in 2016. The 38-year-old spent most of his career with those two teams. Lester told ESPN, "It’s getting harder for me physically. . . . I don’t want someone else telling me I can’t do this anymore. I want to be able to hand my jersey over and say, 'Thank you, it’s been fun.'" He ends with a 200-117 record and a 3.66 ERA.
🏈NFL RATINGS UP 10 PERCENT OVER LAST YEAR: The NFL's regular-season ratings were up 10 percent over last season, reaching their highest level since 2015. The 272 regular-season games -- which included the debut of an additional week -- averaged 17.1 million viewers across TV and digital platforms. It had been expected that ratings would rise, after a 2020-21 season that was played in the middle of the pandemic, with many empty and reduced-capacity stadiums and people's changed viewing habits, and also partly played during the 2020 election campaign, when many people were watching cable news.
After 30 years in sports talk radio, WPEN 97.5 The Fanatic afternoon drive host Mike Missanelli has no plans to abandon his microphone any time soon.
The Phbilly Business Journal reports he is, however, looking to explore other interests. Hence, the launch of Mike Miss Ventures, a collection of side projects with a focus on his passion for cooking.
“Everyone’s got their own podcast, focused on creating their own brand,” Missanelli said in an interview Wednesday as he prepared for his show, which is also televised on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
“We talk a lot about a lot of non-sports stuff on the air. We actually tried to do something with cooking on the air but it’s hard because we are half on television and half on radio and the radio listeners can’t see what we’re doing.”
Missanelli said his latest venture, “The Every Day Cook” show, will kick off with a live airing on Jan. 18 on celebrity video-sharing platform Cameo, with hopes that it can morph into a regular show. Sports talk radio has a largely male audience and Missanelli believes many men are reluctant to cook.
“So I want to show them they can make a nice meal for themselves,” Missanelli said. “They have all the ingredients they need at home.”
Missanelli said his interest in cooking began as a child, when he learned at the feet of his Italian grandmothers, often serving as a helper. The passion stayed with him his entire life.
A few years back, Missanelli spent a week in Tuscany enrolled in a cooking school run by a celebrity chef from Manhattan. He said he went by himself and was in a class with 12 Americans, most being women. He learned the art of making fresh pastas, kneading it for a half hour to prepare. Back home, a food processor helps speed up that process, but the results are the same.
“You can do so much with it,” Missanelli said. “Red sauce, white wine sauce, brown butter.”
On the upcoming “The Every Day Cook” show, Missanelli will show viewers how to make a chili dish for the coming weekend’s football games. There is also a complementary cooking blog.
There is also the hopeful relaunch of "PhillyPheud" game show, a take on "Family Feud" that includes Missanelli as the host and local celebrities and sports fans as contestants. The show, which aired on NBC Sports Philadelphia, has been put on hold during the Covid-19 pandemic. Plans to relaunch it in the first quarter of this year were stalled by the recent emergence of the omicron variant of the virus.
Missanelli just signed a contract extension — he wouldn’t say for how long — at Beasley Broadcast Group's 97.5 The Fanatic, where he has hosted his popular afternoon drive show for the past 12 years. So the formal launch of Mike Miss Ventures is not a signal that he is planning to retire.
“I expect to stay for a good long time,” Missanelli said. “As long as I still enjoy it and the show is doing well, I don’t see a reason to stop.”
Sun & Fun Media, a leading network radio company offering radio stations a unique suite of products and services designed to increase sales, improve ratings, and reduce expenses for 100% barter, announces that it will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2022. Sun & Fun Media was founded in 1996 by Rob Koblasz, Chief Executive Officer. The company now serves over 1400 stations across the U.S in nearly all 50 states.
Sun & Fun Media is the radio industry’s go-to supplier of virtually all products and services needed by radio stations for barter, including vacations, incentives, gift cards, vehicle wraps, branded station merchandise, and bill pay for NTR events, television and billboard advertising for stations, research, consultants, transmitters and other equipment, software and more. The company has even paid electric bills on barter, as well as worked with large radio groups to cover costs for corporate managerial meetings and office holiday parties.
Rick Parrish, President, SummitMedia Omaha, commented: “Sun & Fun Media is a terrific company to work with to find incentives for your sales team or vacations and trips for on-air giveaways. They’re always easy to work with and you’ll always get great service from them.”
Rob Koblasz, Chief Executive Officer, Sun & Fun Media and Key Networks, said: “Over the last 25 years, Sun & Fun Media has built a dream team of former radio GM’s and network executives who deliver big for our clients time and time again. Our team has an extensive radio background. We understand the needs of stations and the challenges they face, and we’re able to provide turnkey solutions to improve their top line revenue and reduce their expenses.”
Koblasz added: “We are proud to have set the standard as a barter partner to radio stations across the country. We thank our team members for their outstanding service and commitment to our customers, and our loyal customers who continue to grow with us.”
While overall album sales have gradually declined in the United States over the past decade as music consumption shifted to streaming services, vinyl LPs have gained popularity as a physical token in the digital age. Between 2007 and 2021, album sales dropped from 501 million to 109 million according to MRC Data. LP sales, meanwhile climbed from 2.5 million to 41.7 million, making vinyl the big winner of the streaming age (next to streaming services obviously).
As the following chart shows, CD sales in particular have dropped precipitously over the past decade, while the age of digital albums was cut short by the advent of streaming services. Interestingly, LP sales surpassed both CD and digital album sales last year, making vinyl records the most popular format outside of streaming services.
While the album has been losing relevance in recent years as streaming services pushed playlist-based listening, some music fans still value the work that some artists put into creating a coherent piece of art. Looking at album sales, it seems like there is significant overlap between album buyers and vinyl aficionados. Without saying that one is better than the other, listening to a vinyl album is the three-course meal to streaming’s snackable two-minute tracks. There’s a time and a place for both.
Ronnie Spector 1964, with Estelle Bennett, Nedra Talley
Ronnie Spector, the lead singer of the Ronettes, the 1960s vocal trio that gave a passionate, bad-girl edge to pop’s girl-group sound with hits like “Be My Baby” and “Baby, I Love You,” died on Wednesday. She was 78, reports The NYTimes.
She died after “a brief battle with cancer,” according to a statement from her family, which gave no further details.
With high-piled hair, tight outfits and seductive looks, the three young women of the Ronettes — Ronnie, born Veronica Bennett; her sister, Estelle; and their cousin Nedra Talley — transformed the virginal model that had defined female pop groups since the 1940s.
The Ronettes racked up a string of hits through 1965, including “The Best Part of Breakin’ Up” and “Walking in the Rain,” and for a time they were ubiquitous stars. They were part of the Beatles’ 1966 American tour, and Estelle Bennett, Spector’s older sister, dated both George Harrison and Mick Jagger.
The Ronettes disbanded in 1967, and Spector married producer Phil Spector the next year. In her memoir, she wrote that he had essentially held her prisoner during their relationship, surrounding her with guard dogs and taking away her shoes, among other erratic and psychologically abusive behavior.
“I’d get drunk so I could go to rehab, just to get out of the house,” Ms. Spector told The New York Times in a 2000 interview.
In the late 1980s, the Ronettes sued Mr. Spector for royalties, arguing that they had been paid less than $15,000 when they signed with Mr. Spector’s Philles Records in 1963 and that they never saw another payment. The court battle would last 15 years.
During the trial, Ms. Spector said that her husband had stifled her singing career and threatened her into signing a 1974 divorce settlement that forfeited all future record profits. “He told me, ‘I’ll kill you,’ and said, ‘I’ll have a hit man kill you,’” she testified.
The group won an award of $2.6 million in 2000, but the decision was overturned on appeal two years later, and their families later said they wound up earning substantially less.
Veronica Yvette Bennett was born in New York on Aug. 10, 1943, and grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.
By her teens she was singing with her sister and cousin, inspired by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Estelle, who had a job at Macy’s and attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, helped devise the group’s look of beehive hair, tight dresses and heavy makeup.
Throughout the 1970s, in an attempt to rebuild her career without her ex-husband, Spector collaborated with Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen. But she didn’t find major success again until 1986, when her duet with Eddie Money, “Take Me Home Tonight,” reached No. 4 on the Billboard singles chart and earned a Grammy nomination.
Spector later released music as a solo artist, including for the underground independent label Kill Rock Stars, and staged a biographical one-woman show, “Beyond the Beehive,” in 2012.
Rosa Lee Hawkins of the Dixie Cups has died of complications from surgery less than a year after sharing her story in "Chapel of Love," a memoir named in honor of the New Orleans vocal group's chart-topping breakthrough.
Hawkins died in Tampa on Tuesday, Jan. 11. She was 76, reports AZCentral.com.
Hawkins was fresh out of high school when the Dixie Cups displaced the Beatles' "Love Me Do" at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 with "Chapel of Love," a starry-eyed Brill Building classic captured at their first recording date.
That million-selling breakthrough spent three weeks at No. 1 in June of 1964, the first of three hit singles for the group, which also featured Hawkins' older sister Barbara Ann and cousin Joan Marie Johnson.
"She was a very strong woman," Barbara Hawkins said.
'Chapel of Love' was a heartbreaking memoir
The Dixie Cups' success came at a price, as Rosa revealed in heartbreaking and at times harrowing detail in the memoir she wrote with Phoenix journalist Steve Bergsman, whose other books include "I Put a Spell on You: The Bizarre Life of Screamin' Jay Hawkins" and "The Death of Johnny Ace."
The Dixie Cups were subject to a pattern of abuse and exploitation, both financially and in Rosa's case, sexually, at the hands of a much older manager.
➦In 1905..."Scientific America" published an advertisement for the "Telimco", a device guaranteed to received signals for as far as one mile. It cost $7.50.
The Telimco system included a battery-operated spark transmitter, shown on the left, plus a tapping-coherer receiver, also battery operated, shown on the right. (The use of a spark transmitter and tapping-coherer receiver meant it could only be used to send and receive telegraphic dots-and-dashes, and not full audio.) This small ad--which measured just 2-1/4 inches wide by 1-1/8 inches high (60 by 28 millimeters)--appeared on the back pages of the magazine, mixed in with the advertisements for sundry offering by numerous other small firms. It is generally believed that this was the first-ever advertisement run by a company selling complete radio systems to the general public.
The Telimco brand name was a contraction of The Electro Importing Co. In addition to Telimco Wireless Telegraph Outfits, you could also buy Telimco Experimental X-Ray Outfits, Telimco-meters, Telimphones, etc.
➦In 1910...Opera was first aired during an experimental broadcast, courtesy of the New York Metropolitan Opera.
The first public radio broadcast consisted of performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. Riccardo Martin performed as Turridu, Emmy Destinn as Santuzza, and Enrico Caruso as Canio. The conductor was Egisto Tango. This wireless radio transmission event of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso of a concert from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City is regarded as the birth of public radio broadcasting.
The New York Times reported on January 14, 1910,
"Opera broadcast in part from the stage of the New York City Metropolitan Opera Company was heard on January 13, 1910, when Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn sang arias from Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, which were "trapped and magnified by the dictograph directly from the stage and borne by wireless Hertzian waves over the turbulent waters of the sea to transcontinental and coastwise ships and over the mountainous peaks and undulating valleys of the country." The microphone was connected by telephone wire to the laboratory of Dr. Lee De Forest. ”
The few radio receivers able to pick up this first-ever "outside broadcast" were those at the De Forest Radio Laboratory, on board ships in New York Harbor, in large hotels on Times Square and at New York city locations where members of the press were stationed at receiving sets. Public receivers with earphones had been set up in several well-advertised locations throughout New York City. There were members of the press stationed at various receiving sets throughout the city and the general public was invited to listen to the broadcast.
The experiment was considered mostly unsuccessful. The microphones of the day were of poor quality and couldn't pick up most of the singing done on stage. Only off-stage singers singing directly into a microphone could be heard clearly. The New York Times reported the next day that static and interference kept the homeless song waves from finding themselves.
➦In 1913...producer/host Ralph Edwards was born near Merino Colorado. Best known as producer/host of TV’s This is Your Life, he came to prominence as the host of radio’s zany Truth or Consequences, a game show which ran for 38 years on radio & TV. As producer he brought to the airwaves TV’s The People’s Court, still on the air 25 years later. He died of congestive heart failure Nov. 25 1997 at age 84.
➦In 1918...actor Steve Dunne was born in Northampton Mass. He succeeded Howard Duff on radio as the star of The Adventures of Sam Spade. On TV he starred in the series Professional Father & The Brothers Brannigan, and appeared repeatedly on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Brady Bunch, The Millionaire & Lux Video Theatre. He died Sept. 2 1977 at age 59.
➦In 1922...WHA 970 AM in Madison, Wisconsin began broadcasting.
WHA's history dates back to 1914 when Professor Edward Bennett started using the call sign 9XM. A year later, the call sign was transferred to the University of Wisconsin and used for many experiments in the physics department. Professor Earle M. Terry managed many of these tests, and he eventually decided that the station should start making regular weather broadcasts. From December 4, 1916 onward, the station transmitted regular reports in Morse code.
While most early radio stations in the United States were shut down when the country entered World War I, 9XM's early transmissions were considered important enough to continue, spending much of the war broadcasting weather information to ships sailing on the Great Lakes.
Regularly scheduled audio broadcasts began in February 1920. A six-day-per-week schedule began on January 3, 1921, notable for the introduction of the first radio broadcast of a weather forecast. The station received its WHA call sign on January 13, 1922.
➦In 1928… Ernst F. W. Alexanderson gave the first public demonstration of television at Schenectady NY, using a perforated scanning disk and high-frequency neon lamps.The first public demonstration of television was given by Ernst F. W. Alexanderson.
➦In 1934...a comedy-variety hit of early radio The Al Pearce Show debuted on NBC Blue, after 5 successful years on KFRC San Francisco.
➦In 1958...St. Louis radio station KWK (now KXFN 1380 AM) declared Rock n’ Roll dead. After giving their rock records a final play, the station staff broke them
➦In 1962..singer Chubby Checker set a record, literally, with the hit, “The Twist”. The song reached the #1 position for an unprecedented second time — within two years. “The Twist” was also number one on September 26, 1960.
➦In 1970....RCA's David Sarnoff retired at the age of 79, and died the following year, aged 80.
➦In 1980...Andre Kostelanetz, the Russian-born arranger & orchestra leader who had his own CBS radio show in the 1930’s, and went on to pioneer the era of easy listening music, Andre Kostelanetz died in Haiti at age 78.
➦In 2006...Bob Grant did last long-form form talk show at WOR 710 AM, NYC.
➦In 2011...the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council banned Dire Straits ‘85 hit “Money For Nothing” because a homophobic epithet in the song is no longer acceptable. “The panel concluded that, like other racially driven words in the English language, ‘faggot’ is one that, even if entirely or marginally accepted in earlier days, is no longer so,” said CBSC chair Ron Cohen in an official statement. Many Canadian stations ignored the ban.
➦In 2012…Former Radio, TV newsman Richard Threlkeld was killed in a car accident at age 74. He one of the last US journalists to leave Saigon at the end of the Viet Nam War in 1975.
➦In 2016…Sportscaster Jim Simpson, whose career spanned the early 1950’s to the early 1990’s, whose smooth delivery on a wide variety of events was part of NBC Sports for 15 years before he was hired in 1979 as ESPN’s first play-by-play voice, died at age 88.
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Traci Bingham is 54
Actor Frances Sternhagen is 92.
Actor Charlie Brill is 84.
Actor Billy Gray (“Father Knows Best”) is 84.
Actor Richard Moll (“Night Court”) is 79.
Guitarist Trevor Rabin of Yes is 68.
Drummer Fred White of Earth, Wind and Fire is 67.
Actor Kevin Anderson (“Nothing Sacred”) is 62.
Actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep,” ″Seinfeld”) is 61.
Singer Graham “Suggs” McPherson of Madness is 61.
Country singer Trace Adkins is 60.
Actor Penelope Ann Miller is 58.
Actor Patrick Dempsey is 56.
Actor Suzanne Cryer (“Silicon Valley,” ″Two Guys and a Girl”) is 55.
Actor Traci Bingham (“Baywatch”) is 54.
Actor Keith Coogan (“Adventures in Babysitting”) is 52.
Writer-Producer Shonda Rhimes (“Scandal,” ″Grey’s Anatomy,” ″Private Practice ”) is 52.
Actor Nicole Eggert (“Baywatch,” ″Charles in Charge”) is 50.
Actor Ross McCall (“White Collar,” “Band of Brothers”) is 46.
Actor Michael Pena (“American Hustle”) is 46.
Actor Orlando Bloom is 45.
“Good Morning America” meteorologist Ginger Zee is 41.
Actor Beau Mirchoff (“Good Trouble,” “Desperate Housewives”) is 33.
