Columbus Radio Group announced Thursday morning that Bobby Mitchell will join Stacy McKay as co-host of the Sunny 95 morning show.
Mitchell is set to replace Dino Tripodis, who spent the last 24 years at the station. Dino's last show aired on June 15.
“I feel like the guy who was offered a ride on a rocket ship! I don’t care where it’s going - I’m just getting on! To be a part of this heritage radio station, with its incredible staff; and to live and raise my family in Columbus, is very exciting,” Mitchell said of joining Sunny 95.
Mitchell has spent time in multiple cities including Detroit, Dallas and Miami - at stations like WHYI-FM, KPLX-FM and WOMC-FM. He and his wife have four children and says they look forward to making Columbus their home.
Mitchell makes his debut on the Sunny 95 morning show on Monday, July 2.
iHeartMedia Miami’s WZTU TÚ 94.9 FM, Donde Viven Tus Hits, announced Thursday that Walo Dávila has been named Program Director, effective July 9.
As Program Director, Dávila will work with on-air personalities and sales to oversee music programming as well as broadcast and digital operations of TÚ 94.9. He will report to Alex Tear, Regional Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Miami.
“We are thrilled to welcome Walo to our team,” said Tear. “His experience, creative energy, leadership and vast market knowledge will take iHeartMedia Miami’s TÚ 94.9 to even higher levels.”
Dávila is a 20 plus-year radio veteran who has worked in programming for radio station brands including SBS PR in Puerto Rico and Univision Radio Miami and New York. In addition, he has worked closely with talent and served as a director and coach for multiple radio and TV shows.
WZTU 94.9 F, (100 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area
“I’m thrilled to become Program Director for TÚ 94.9,”said Dávila. “It’s an opportunity to collaborate with an innovative team that is doing an excellent job in engaging the Hispanic community in South Florida. I look forward to contributing to the station’s ongoing success.”
Smart speakers—those clever devices made primarily by Amazon and Google that can listen and respond to you—are booming.
In 2017, sales of smart speakers totaled almost $4.5 billion and are forecasted to grow by 32% per year for the next five years. According to Forbes, the question is, are the devices more than this year's gadget fad or are they really useful? One thing that will make them valuable to consumers is if they help consumers shop more conveniently.
A new report by Voysis and Voicebot explores the question of how consumers are reacting to being able to shop by voice, both with smart speakers and using mobile phones’ voice capabilities.
Here are some of the findings from the report:
One in five U.S. adults have tried voice shopping and about 5% say they are using it on at least a monthly basis
More than 50% of U.S. adults that have tried voice shopping did it using their smartphone
Nearly two out of five smart speaker owners have tried voice shopping, rising from around 26% in January 2018
Smart speaker owners represent a much smaller base of total users than smartphones, but their frequency of voice shopping use is higher
16% of smart speaker owners also reported using voice shopping monthly compared to just 11.5% in January showing increased habit formation around voice shopping
Everyday household items, apparel and entertainment/music/movies represent the top three categories for voice shopping today
Apple Siri remains the most widely used voice assistant on smartphones, but Google Assistant is rapidly closing the gap
20% of smartphone owners use voice assistants monthly
The Hill is reporting MSNBC has been accused by a domestic-violence activist of "slow walking" a "highly sourced" account she provided in a taped interview with network host Joy Reid.
The accuser, Sil Lai Abrams, told Reid that hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons raped her in 1994. Abrams also accused "Extra" host A.J. Calloway of sexual assault for an incident in 2006. "Extra" airs in major markets on NBC owned-and-operated stations.
"I want people to understand how incredibly challenging this is, with a story like mine that’s highly sourced, with me doing this [advocacy] work in the public arena. And I can’t get my story out there?” Abrams told The Hollywood Reporter.
Both men have denied her allegations.
Joy Reid
Abrams, who is a National Association of Black Journalists award-winning writer based in New York, said Reid told her that she believed MSNBC was "slow walking" the story.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Abrams taped an interview with Reid in January at MSNBC's New York studio. The process, which began in December, dragged on for months, the magazine reported. Reid reportedly texted or emailed Abrams, sensing that the network was "slow walking" the story with "stupid" requests
Abrams told the magazine that Reid informed her in April that the network had stopped responding to her questions about when the segment would air.
MSNBC pushed back on that accusation in a statement on Thursday.
“When MSNBC pursues any investigative story our mission is always to be as thorough as we can, to scrutinize sources and corroborate information before we report. Anything else falls short of our journalistic standards," an NBC spokesperson said.
The Comcast-owned network was accused in 2017 of not publishing an investigative piece by reporter Ronan Farrow about Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's alleged rape and criminal sex acts.
Time magazine has named Parkland student leaders among the 25 most influential people on the Internet or “the loudest and fiercest voices for gun control.” They join other online influencers, including performers Rihanna and Kanye West and news aggregator Matt Drudge of “The Drudge Report.” Also named are Kylie Jenner and Busy Philipps, plus President Donald Trump, who has 53 million Twitter followers.
The magazine highlighted five of the more visible members of the #NeverAgain movement from Parkland. They are Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Alex Wind, Jaclyn Corin and Cameron Kasky. They are a mix of recent graduates and current students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where 17 students and faculty members were killed Feb. 14.
Time noted how the group of five and their activist classmates used social media to fire up people to attend the “March for our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C. in March.
The magazine sized up contenders for its annual list by looking at their global impact on social media and their overall ability to drive news.
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has approved S. 2823, the Music Modernization Act (MMA), unanimously by voice vote.
The bill was amended to include increased oversight and ensure greater transparency in the operation of the Mechanical Licensing Collective. Amendments were accepted to promote communication between the Dept. of Justice and Congress regarding any future changes to the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees, as well as to educate copyright owners and songwriters as to the unclaimed royalties process that will be carried out by the new collective.
Senators voted unanimously in favor of the legislation, which now may be considered by the full Senate for passage. If passed by the full Senate, teh House of Representatives will need to accept the Senate version before sending to the President for signature. The House previously passed its version of the MMA unanimously.
Gordon Smith
NAB President/CEO Gordon Smith said, "NAB strongly supports the Music Modernization Act, and applauds the efforts of Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein and Hatch, Whitehouse and their cosponsors on this bill. this balanced legislation provides much-needed reforms to the music licensing market to the benefit of songwriters, legacy recording artists, producers, digital streaming services and music users. In particular, NAB applauds the inclusion of language in today's managers' amendment that ensures enhanced congressional oversight of the DOJ's announced review of the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees.
"The framework provided by these decrees is essential to a functioning music marketplace and they were comprehensively reviewed just two years ago with the DOJ concluding that their continued existence is squarely in the public interest. Any action to terminate these decrees must be preceded by Congressional action to ensure that songwriters, licensees, and consumers will not be harmed. NAB looks forward to working with all Senators as the Music Modernization Act moves forward and urges its swift passage.”
Some Rite Aid stores in California have taken to blasting Barry Manilow tunes as part of a plan to make loiterers scramble.
Employees told the Wall Street Journal that the drugstore chain has been testing the tactic of playing songs by the 75-year-old crooner outside their stores — over and over, loudly — to deter panhandlers and vagrants.
But the plan has also left neighbors mystified, The NY Post reports.
“I thought some older man had died and left a Barry’s Most Depressing Hits CD on repeat,” said Lisa Masters, a professional drummer in Long Beach who couldn’t open her windows without hearing “Mandy” blaring.
“I felt trapped in an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone,’” she said.
When she called Rite Aid, she said an employee explained that the Manilow technique had worked at other locations and was now working in Long Beach.
“His attitude was, ‘Would we rather have panhandlers or Manilow?’” Masters said.
A Rite Aid spokeswoman told the paper that customers were finding it difficult to enter some of their stores because of loiterers, so the chain started employing a couple of deterrents — including Barry Manilow.
“We are in the early stages of exploring this approach and have not made any decision about the potential rollout of this to additional stores,” she said.
Richard "Box" Bachschmidt, former radio personality for WCOO 105.5 The Bridge and recent entrepreneur of podcast "Box in the Morning," has been reported missing.
The last time he was seen was Tuesday, June 26. Since then, he has missed recording his podcast as well as other professional engagements.
A missing persons report has been filed, and anyone who has any information on 42-year-old Bachschmidt's whereabouts is asked to call the Charleston County Sheriff's Office at 843-202-1700, reports The Post&Courier.
According to friend and local musician Tyler Boone, Bachschmidt hasn't been answering his phone, which has been on and off, with it going straight to voicemail as of the last 24 hours.
When Boone last saw Bachschmidt, he says he "wasn't in the best spirit." Boone adds that Bachschmidt has been open about his struggle with depression, but that this behavior is not like him.
Cumulus Media announces that West Michigan radio legend and longtime on-air host of Grand Rapids’ heritage Classic Rock station 97 LAV-FM, Ed Buchanan, died Thursday in Grand Rapids, MI.
Buchanan, 69, known on air as “Uncle Buck”, joined WLAV 96.9 FM in 1974 and was “founding father” of its current Classic Rock brand. Most recently, Buchanan hosted LAV’s “Uncle Buck’s Basement” Sundays from 7-9am, and was co-host of LAV’s “The Tony Gates Morning Show with Michelle McKormick and Uncle Buck” weekdays from 5-10am. Buchanan celebrated his 50th year in West Michigan broadcasting in 2017.
Buchanan was born and raised in Grand Rapids, and was bitten by the radio bug in the mid-1950’s during the Top 40 era of WLAV and WMAX radio. After graduating from Grand Rapids Catholic Central in 1966, he attended Ferris State University where he got start in radio on the campus station.
In the summer of 1967, Buchanan got his first job at Grand Rapids station WMAX 1480. Between 1967 and 1990, he worked as morning show host, on-air personality and program director in multiple formats at heritage West Michigan stations including: WERX, WGRD-FM, WAFT-AM, WFFX-FM, WMUS-FM and most significantly, at WLAV-FM, which he joined in 1974, later leaving in the early 80’s and returning in 1995.
Buchanan was the first to start a “Progressive Rock” show at WXTO-FM (which later became WGRD) and brought “Outlaw Country” to WCUZ-FM with resounding success. In 1974, he hired current WLAV morning host Tony Gates and the two were reunited in 1995 when Gates reciprocally hired Buchanan back to WLAV as on-air host of middays. He went on to co-host the WLAV morning show in 2006 with Kevin Matthews, took a hiatus to focus on his “free form” weekend program on WLAV and then returned to mornings in 2011 as co-host of “The Tony Gates Morning Show with Michelle McKormick and Uncle Buck”.
Outside of his successful radio career, Buchanan taught broadcasting at Grand Valley State University in the mid 70’s, was a local filmmaker and performer with Firesign Theatre and the Grand Rapids Radio Players, and owned Rooby Records; producing and pressing records for local musicians from 1982-1992.
Jeff Cartwright, Vice President/Market Manager, Cumulus Media-Grand Rapids, said: “Ed’s sudden passing is difficult news today for all who knew and loved him. He was a true giant of radio and will be profoundly missed. In West Michigan, this is the equivalent of one of the Beatles passing, as Ed celebrated his 50th anniversary of broadcasting last year and has been a monumental presence in our community, where he lived his entire life. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Ed’s family at this sad time as we honor his memory and remember his lasting contributions to our community and to radio.”
➦In 1901...radio actor/writer/director Ed Gardner was born in Astoria, New York. He began his career in advertising, but found fame on radio with the comedic weekly half-hour Duffy’s Tavern, portraying the wisecracking, malaprop-prone barkeep/manager Archie. The successful radio program, his creation, aired on CBS from 1941 to 1942, on the NBC Blue Network from 1942 to 1944 and NBC from 1944 to 1952. His liver gave out Aug. 17 1963 and he died at age 62.
➦In 1932...the second daytime serial on network radio made its debut on the NBC Blue network, Vic and Sade. Radio’s first daytime drama was Clara Lu and Em, which premiered on NBC in 1931.
During its 14-year run on radio, Vic and Sade became one of the most popular series of its kind, earning critical and popular success: according to Time, Vic and Sade had 7,000,000 devoted listeners in 1943. For the majority of its span on the air, Vic and Sade was heard in 15-minute episodes without a continuing storyline. The central characters, known as "radio's home folks", were accountant Victor Rodney Gook (Art Van Harvey), his wife Sade (Bernardine Flynn) and their adopted son Rush (Bill Idelson). The three lived on Virginia Avenue in "the small house halfway up in the next block."
Unlike any other soap, Vic & Sade was a slight concoction with very humurous overtones written by Paul Rhymer. A natural predecessor of Seinfeld, this was the original show about nothing much. Pictured are Vic, Sade & adopted son Rush. (Art Van Harvey, Bernadette Flynn, and Billy Idelson.) ➦In 1947..."Strike It Rich" made its debut on CBS Radio with Todd Russell as the host. Warren Hull took over host duties a few years later.
➦In 1951...Bill Stern did his last 15-minute program of sports features for NBC radio. Stern had been with NBC for 14 years. He later moved to ABC and Mutual to finish out a colorful sportscasting career.
Bill Stern
Born in Rochester, New York, Stern began doing radio play-by-play commentary in 1925, when he was hired by a local station, WHAM, to cover football games. Shortly after that, he enrolled at Pennsylvania Military College, graduating in 1930.
NBC hired him in 1937 to host The Colgate Sports Newsreel as well as Friday night boxing on radio. Stern was also one of the first televised boxing commentators.
He broadcast the first televised sporting event, the second game of a baseball doubleheader between Princeton and Columbia at Columbia's Baker Field on May 17, 1939. On September 30, he called the first televised football game.
During his most successful years, Stern engaged in a fierce rivalry with Ted Husing of the CBS Radio Network. They competed not only for broadcast position during sports and news events, but also for the rights to cover the events themselves. They both served for many years as their networks' sports directors as well as being on-air stars.
Some observers consider Stern's style a blueprint in the 1940s for the style of Paul Harvey, ABC Entertainment Network social commentator, who adapted both Stern's newscasting (transforming his Reel One to Page One) and his stories about the famous and odd (to Rest Of The Story), although Stern made no effort to authenticate his stories and, in later years, introduced that segment of his show by saying that they "might be actual, may be mythical, but definitely interesting." Harvey, on the other hand, said he told only stories he had authenticated in some way.
➦➦In 1951…The radio sitcom, "The Life of Riley," starring William Bendix as Chester A. Riley, ended after a 10-year run. The TV version of the show ran for for a total of six years between 1949 and 1958, with Jackie Gleason as Riley in the first year and Bendix in the title role from 1953 to 1958.
➦In 1959...DJ turned "American Bandstand" host, Dick Clark, announced he was going to join with Irvin Feld for a number of "Dick Clark Caravans" to be staged in various cities highlighting pop stars.
➦In 1974...Wolfman Jack did last show at WNBC 660 AM
➦In 1978...Radio Personality and Hogan's Heroes TV star Bob Crane died in a still unsolved murder. He was 49.
In 1950, Crane started his broadcasting career at WLEA in Hornell, New York. He soon moved to WBIS in Bristol, Connecticut, followed by WICC in Bridgeport, Connecticut. This was a 1,000-watt operation with a signal covering the northeastern portion of the New York metropolitan area where he remained until 1956.
At that time CBS radio network executives plucked Crane out partly to help stop his huge popularity from affecting the suburban ratings of their New York flagship WCBS 880 AM, and partly to re-energize their flagging West Coast flagship KNX in Los Angeles. Crane moved his family to California to host the morning show at KNX 1070 AM. He filled the broadcast with sly wit, drumming, and guests such as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope. It quickly became the number-one rated morning show with adult listeners in the Los Angeles area, with Crane known as "The King of the Los Angeles Airwaves."
Crane, Valdis
Crane's acting ambitions led to his subbing for Johnny Carson on the daytime game show Who Do You Trust? and appearances on The Twilight Zone, Channing, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and General Electric Theater. When Carl Reiner appeared on his show, Crane persuaded him to book him for a guest shot on The Dick Van Dyke Show, where he was noticed by Donna Reed, who suggested him for the role of neighbor Dr. Dave Kelsey in her sitcom from 1963 through 1965.
In 1965, Crane was offered the starring role in a television comedy pilot about a German P.O.W. camp. Hogan's Heroes became a hit and finished in the Top Ten in its first year on the air. The series lasted six seasons, and Crane was nominated for an Emmy Award twice, in 1966 and 1967. During its run, he met Patricia Olson, who played Hilda under the stage name Sigrid Valdis. He divorced his wife of twenty years and married Olson on the set of the show in 1970.
Trivia: It's Bob Crane playing the drums on Hogan's Heroes theme song.
Ron Lundy, Joe McCoy
➦In 1981...Joe McCoy became the Program Director at WCBS 101.1 FM, New York.
When Joe McCoy took over as program director in 1981, WCBS-FM began to gradually shift its focus to the 1964–1969 era, but would also feature a more pre-1964 oldies than most other such stations. The station continued to also feature hits of the 1970s and some hits of the 1980s while cutting future gold selections to one per hour.
Also in the 1980s, after WABC and later WNBC abandoned music in favor of talk, WCBS-FM began employing many disc jockeys who were widely known on other New York City stations, most notably Musicradio WABC alumni Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, Chuck Leonard and Harry Harrison, as well as Dan Daniels and Jack Spector.
➦In 1998...George Harrison announced he was undergoing treatment for cancer caused by smoking. The ex-Beatle said he’d been given a clean bill of health and wryly added “I’m not going to die on you folks just yet.” Cancer eventually did claim Harrison three years later.
“I feel like the guy who was offered a ride on a rocket ship! I don’t care where it’s going - I’m just getting on! To be a part of this heritage radio station, with its incredible staff; and to live and raise my family in Columbus, is very exciting,” Mitchell said of joining Sunny 95.
