R.I.P.: Lloyd Moss Former WQXR, NYC Broadcaster

Lloyd Moss

Lloyd Moss, a classical-music radio announcer who amused listeners with cheeky humor, died on Saturday in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.

He was 86.  The NY Times reports the cause was Parkinson’s disease.

Mr. Moss had long made listeners of WQXR chuckle during such staples of drive-time radio as traffic reports — after one that said “traffic in both lanes on the bridge is suspended,” he ad-libbed, “Come to think of it, so is the bridge.”

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Orlando Radio: WOCL Surges To Claim Top Spot In July PPMs

CBS Radio’s classic hits WOCL Sunny 105.9 FM is the new ratings king moving 6.3-7.2. Summertime is good to Sunny as it reached #1 last August.

Cox Media’ Urban AC Star 94.5 FM is #2 basically remaining flat 6.9-6.8. Cluster-mate country WWKA K92 went 7.3-6.6, good for #3.

CCM+E’s Spanish tropical “Rumba 100” WRUM Rumba 100.3 FM  is #4 moving 5.9-6.2.

Cox Media N/T WDBO-News 96.5 FM surged  4.3-5.8 for the fifth spot. The station provided live gave-lt-o-gavel coverage of the George Zimmerman trial during the rating period.

Cume leader: Hot AC WOMX Mix 105.1 FM 513,100 listeners. Clear Channel CHR WXXL 106.7 FM is #2 in cume with 505,700…WOCL is #3 with 437,100.

Interesting to note the reported total share for AM stations in Orlando is a mere 2.6:    Talker WFLF 540 AM 1.2...ESPN Sports WDBO 580 AM 0.9 aand Fox Sports WYGM 740 AM scored a 0.5.

For More Arbitron July PPMs Ratings, Click Here.

Philly Radio: Randy Michaels Sells WWIQ

And many market watchers are surprised at who's buying. Afterall, many thought CBS Radio wanted an FM outlet for its KYW.

Merlin Media’s WWIQ 106.9 FM has been sold to Education Media Foundation (EMF) is a non-profit broadcaster of contemporary Christian music and programming, with 700 radio stations and the top ranked K-LOVE.

WWIQ was another effort by Merlin magician Randy Michaels to own stations in major markets.  His stations in New York City and chiago have already been sold, after short-lived news formats.  It was just 18 months ago, Merlin paid Harold Camping’s Family Radio $22.5 million for Christian WKDN, Camden. There are reports this deal is around $19 million.

The Camden-licensed station has had more downs than ups in the two years since Merlin Media bought  and transformed it to a news and information outlet, according to philly.com.

At first there were grumblings the station would go gunning for CBS Radio outlets in the market.  First, it was newser KYW 1060 AM, then The Big Talker WPHT 1210 AM.  In the most recent July PPMs, WWIQ scored a flat 2.1 -- 2.1 share 6+.

Lots to talk about at the Radio discussions message board, Click Here.

The sale, pending FCC approval, mean talkers Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity  will be searching for new outlets.

The City of Brotherly Love can expect EMF’s non-commercial, contemporary Christian  K-Love format to air on 106.9 FM after the closing.  The format currently airs on Class A WKVP 89.5 FM.

Harrisburg Radio: Ex-Con to Audition for Gig

Bruce Bond

But this is no orderinary ex-convict.  This is Central PA. radio legend Bruce Bond, who  hosted Top 40 WNNK-104.1 FM's daily "The Bruce Bond Late Afternoon Show" from 3-7 p.m. from 1995 until 2002

Bruce Bond is auditioning to host WHP 580 AM’s afternoon talk show.

He isn't alone either. The AM radio station is in the midst of a search for a replacement for Bob Durgin, who retired on Aug. 2. Candidates for the position have been auditioning on-air since Aug. 5 in the afternoon show's time slot of 3-6 p.m.

Newman

Newman of Newman and Nancy on sister-station WRBT BOB 94.9 FM fame is auditioning Thursday. Bond will have the Friday audition spot.  The auditions will continue into the next week and will include Matt Meyer of sister-station WRVV The River 97.3.

As for what the station's looking for, PD RJ Harris says "We are not looking for someone with fill-in-the-blank political beliefs or lifestyle beliefs. We're looking for a show that's compelling and entertaining and will keep people listening."

And according to pennlive.com, that's where Bond could shine. A figure of fascination for many in the midstate, Bond made national headlines when he was indicted in 2008 for charges of forgery, attempted grand larceny and identity theft. There were 65 counts total levied against him for the $4.3 million forged-check scheme involving accomplices in Nigeria and Europe.

Matt Meyer

Found guilty, Bond was sentenced to a minimum of 2 1/3 years to maximum of 7 years in prison. He was released on parole on April 29, 2010 for merit. His parole was discharged two years later.

Harris predicts Bond's criminal past will come up during his on-air audition. "I have to think that it will come up and I have to believe that Bruce is ready to talk about it," he said.

As for negative audience reaction to bringing on Bond, Harris is prepared. "He paid his dues. I know it sounds cliche, but it's true," Harris said. "The thing we have to remember about Bruce Bond is that he had some of the biggest rating shares, if not the biggest, of anyone ever on the air in Harrisburg. So we believe that he deserves, at least, a look."

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D/FW Radio: Cumulus, Disney Do LMA Deal For KESN

And it could mean major signal upgrade for The Ticket.

Cumulus Media, which owns and operates KTCK 1310 AM TheTicket, has reportedly agreed to operate under an LMA (but not purchase) KESN-103.3FM ESPN Radio in Dallas and will run both stations.

The end of the September is the target date for The Ticket to assume control of ESPN 103.3 FM.

According to star-telegram.com, ESPN's radio personnel will relocate from Irving to downtown Dallas at Victory Park, where The Ticket currently operates.

ESPN’s Traug Keller was the ESPN senior vice president said ESPN-FM will continue to air “Mike & Mike” in morning drive and Colin Cowherd’s “The Herd” show as well as ESPN event programming, according to Barry Horn at The Dallas Morning News.

Those programs sell lots of national advertising. The Dallas-Fort Worth area is the fifth-largest radio market in the country behind New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco.

The station also will remain the radio home of the Rangers and Mavericks. Local programming, which includes Randy Galloway and other shows such as Durret and Fitzsimmons, is not certain.

Cumulus has aired Ticket programming on weak-signaled KTDK-FM 104.1, but the sale of the station is pending.  KTDK has 6200 watts. KESN has 98,000 watts.

KESN 103.3 FM 60dBu Coverage Area

According to Mac Engel at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, there is a good chance Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket will relocate the majority of its programming to the 103.3 FM signal.

Cumulus owns eight radio stations in Dallas-Fort Worth.

It was not disclosed who will maintain the ESPN Dallas/Fort Worth website, which currently sports the ESPN template.

Sulzberger Sez NY Times Not For Sale

Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

The New York Times is not for sale, the paper's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., says.

"Will our family seek to sell the Times? The answer to that is no," said Sulzberger, who is also chairman of The New York Times Co., in a statement to employees Wednesday night.

"The Times is not for sale, and the Trustees of the Ochs-Sulzberger Trust and the rest of the family are united in our commitment to work together with the Company's Board, senior management and employees to lead The New York Times forward into our global and digital future," he said in the statement, which the Times provided USAToday.

In the wake of Monday's purchase of The Washington Post by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos — and the New York Times Co.'s sale of The Boston Globe to Boston Red Sox owner John Henry — media watchers been speculating on which major paper would be the next on the block. "There has been much speculation and understandable concern about what this could mean for us," Sulzberger said in the statement.

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15-Year-Old Son Of CNN Prez Resigns From Advisory Board

Andrew, Jeff Zucker

Andrew Zucker, the 15-year-old son of Jeff Zucker, president of CNN, resigned on Wednesday from a board that advises an Internet start-up founded by Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark.

The resignation came after The New York Times published an article detailing Mr. Booker’s involvement in the company, Waywire, a site whose goal includes making it easier to collect, curate and share videos from the Web.

Booker obtained money from influential investors — including Oprah Winfrey and Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman — and tapped the expertise of technology moguls and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

Booker, who founded the company with two partners, recently revealed in a financial disclosure statement that his stake in the company was worth between $1 million and $5 million.

In addition to being given a seat on an advisory board, Andrew Zucker received stock options from Mr. Booker’s fledgling company.

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CableTV Customers Cutting Their Cords in Droves

Pay-TV providers lost substantial numbers of video customers in Q2, and tempers are flaring in the industry over who is most to blame for the rising costs that are driving some subscribers to "cut the cord."

And Shalini Ramachandran of marketwatch.com explains.

FL Radio: Genesis Inks Deal With Sports Talker Jay Mariotti

Jay Marotti

Controversial Chicago sports personality Jay Mariotti is touting his return to radio.

Jay Mariotti was a controversial columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times starting in 1991. According to Chicagoland Radio & Media, he not only made a habit of angering readers, along with sports and media figures, but his own co-workers, as well. He abruptly quit the Sun-Times in 2008, for the most part resulting in cheers from both the public and former work associates.

In 2004, Mariotti hosted a Chicago radio show on WMVP-AM. He was released after only ten months after he would not stop verbally attacking Jerry Reinsdorf, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Bulls and those associated with those teams. WMVP-AM was the flagship radio station of both the White Sox & Bulls at that time. Station management asked Mariotti to tone down his inflammatory remarks. He refused, causing the station to part ways with him.

Mariotti joined AOL as a writer for Fanzone in January 2009 and worked as a regular commentator on ESPN's "Around The Horn." Both ESPN and AOL's Fanhouse.com parted ways with the outspoken Mariotti after a series of embarrassing incidents began in 2010. He has since been unemployed.

Those embarrassing incidents included multiple arrests and charges of various felonies and misdemeanors all stemming from his being witnessed repeatedly being involved with domestic abuse against a now-former girlfriend.  Mariotti continues to publicly profess his innocence. He claims all witnesses are wrong and that the ex-girlfriend was just after his money.

Wednesday, Mariotti launched his own website, MariottiShow.com and he announced that beginning this coming Monday, August 12th, he will begin his own weekday Internet radio show, "The Jay Mariotti Show," which will stream on his website from 11:00am-2:00pm (Central time).

Additionally, Jay Mariotti has inked a deal with the Largo, Florida-based Genesis Communications II, Inc. That company, which owns radio stations across the state of Florida, will air Mariotti's new show on four stations: WHBO-AM (Tampa), WHOO-AM (Orlando), WGGG-AM (Gainesville), and WMOP-AM (Ocala).

Mariotti claims it is a multi-year deal with Genesis Communications, who also will operate his website.

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Report: Ex-Pilot Said To Be Source of Fake Pilot Names

Several minutes before the moment the fake names of the Asiana Airlines pilots aired prematurely on KTVU News, a veteran staffer-- awarding winning TV News journalist, Roland De Wolk, (one of the four fired at the station over the incident), passed the names over to newsroom staffers whose duty was to make sure the names were authentic, according to a broadcast source close to the station. One of those staffers included the Managing Editor, according to Rich Lieberman’s 415 Blog.

According to Lieberman’s story… 

"You better check these, (names), out", said De Wolk after he passed the names over to newsroom personnel.  KTVU's Managing Editor, Michelle Toy, who saw the list and whose duty, (among normal news procedures), was to read the names out loud, phonetically, raised the issue that the names sounded suspicious. Told that they were confirmed by an NTSB official, (later to be known as an intern), OKed the list.  Toy, who is of Asian descent, was not one of the four staffers let go by KTVU and its corporate owner, Cox Media. 

Another individual close to De Wolk said that the source that provided the fake pilot's names was an ex-pilot who had worked with KTVU in the past and was considered to be trustworthy. 

At least 4-5 people saw the list of names, including anchor, Tori Campbell, who read them on the air on KTVU's Noon Newscast, Friday, July 12th.

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D/FW Radio: Kidd Kraddick’s Death Compared To 9/11

Dale Hansen

Never one to tread lightly – even on the topic of death – WFAA's Dale Hansen behaved as only Dale Hansen does in his coverage of the death of David "Kidd" Kraddick, who died on July 27 in New Orleans.

On the August 5 edition of WFAA-TV's nightly news show, Dale Hansen hosted an interview with the crew of Kidd Kraddick in The Morning, which is broadcast around the country and locally on KHKS 106 KissFM. Although Kraddick was host, the rest of the crew has decided to go on with the show.

When he asked what Kraddick's death means in dollar signs, and when he compared Kraddick's passing to 9/11.

According to culturemap.com, the money comment came up, awkwardly, as he introduced the segment with crew members Big Al, J-Si, Kellie Rasberry and Jenna.

"I played golf with Kidd Kraddick (and a lot of poker too)," Hansen said. "It seems like everything I ever did with him cost me money. But Kraddick's death could be costing a lot of people a lot of money."

His next trip down the rabbit hole was his evocation of the images of 9/11.

"After 9/11, every comedian, the Lenos and the Lettermans, felt like it was awkward to laugh again," Hansen said. "This morning, when you're trying to do the show without Kidd Kraddick, was it awkward to laugh again?"

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