FL Radio: Dave Dunaway Named PD For WYZB-FM

Dave Dunaway

Cumulus Media announces that it has appointed programming professional Dave Dunaway as Program Director for WYZB/NASH 105.5 FM in Fort Walton Beach/Destin, FL.

Dunaway has programmed stations in markets including: Miami, Dallas, Charlotte, Knoxville, Tallahassee, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Nashville, and Jackson, MS. He was previously with Cumulus Tallahassee for six years and was Operations Manager and Afternoon Host for Guaranty Media’s Baton Rouge Country station, WTGE/100.7 FM The Tiger for nine years.

Most recently, Dunaway was Program Director for WZZK-FM in Birmingham, AL, for Summit Media. He has experience programming multiple formats, but has specialized in Country for the last 12 years.

WYZB 105.5 FM (25 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

Pete DeSimone, Regional Vice President and Vice President/Market Manager for Cumulus Media Fort Walton Beach/Destin, said: “Real excited to have Dave join our Fort Walton Beach / Destin team. Dave is a pro and his programming acumen is exactly what the market needs to compete at a higher level.”

Hayden Green, Operations Manager, Cumulus Media Fort Walton Beach/Destin, said: “I’m excited to have Dave Dunaway join Team Cumulus in Fort Walton Beach/Destin. ‘Dr. Dave’ is a real pro who brings a lot of experience to the NASH brand. He’s got a great attitude and he’s ready to stomp the competition. Look out, Emerald Coast… the Doctor is IN!”

Dunaway said: “I’d like to thank Market Manager Pete DeSimone, OM Hayden Green, and Corporate PD Bob  Raleigh for this great opportunity. WYZB – NASH FM 105.5 is the Emerald Coast’s BEST Country station and it’s time to take it to the next level. I’m looking forward to getting back to the Panhandle. I know it well, having spent time in Tallahassee and Northwest Florida.”

Ottawa Radio: Steve Madely Retires From CRFA

Steve Madely

After 51 years in the broadcast industry, Steve Madely is calling it a day at CFRA 580 AM.

Madely announced his retirement Monday morning during his last show. The veteran broadcaster got his start in radio back in 1964 at CHWO in Oakville.

He came to CFRA in 1981, and created the popular "Madely in the Morning" in 1994.

Steve Madely is past chairman of the Canadian Press Broadcast News Advisory Committee, and a winner of the Radio Television News Director's Association's national award for excellence in reporting.

He is also a big supporter of several charitable organizations, including the Canadian Cancer Society, The University of Ottawa Heart Institute, CHEO, The Ottawa Hospital, and United Way Ottawa.

CFRA 580 AM (50 KwD, 30 KwN) Red=Local Coverage Area

"It's hard to imagine CFRA starting the day without Steve Madely as the morning show host," said Richard Gray, Vice-President and General Manager, Radio and TV, Ottawa and Pembroke.

"His passion for community has been a constant in people's lives locally, for what seems like almost forever - Steve will definitely be greatly missed."

An announcement about a permanent replacement will be made in the coming days.

Artists Cancel Tours In France, Europe

(Reuters) -- Prince has joined Irish band U2 and American group the Foo Fighters and other entertainers in cancelling concerts in France, and elsewhere in Europe, following the carnage at a Paris concert venue on Friday.

Vienna's Wiener Konzerthaus, announcing that he would not appear on Nov. 24 as planned, said on its website, "Due to the tragic events in Paris, the tour promoter has decided to postpone the upcoming European tour until further notice."

Reports published in France by Agence France Presse and on websites said Prince had also canceled two shows scheduled for early December at the Palais Garnier in Paris. His concert promoters in Paris could not be reached for comment.

Islamist militant gunmen on a rampage in the north of Paris shot dead at least 87 people at the Bataclan concert hall and killed 42 others in attacks across the French capital.

American group Eagles of Death Metal was performing at the venue and escaped unhurt but one of their merchandise sellers, Nick Alexander, was killed, as were three people who worked for Universal Music, one of the world's largest music labels.

Music Business Worldide identified the dead as:

Thomas Ayad, 34. International Product Manager for Mercury Records France (pictured, centre).

Nick Alexander, 36. Merchandise Manager for bands such as Sum 41, Panic! At The Disco, The Black Keys and Eagles Of Death Metal (pictured, bottom right).

Guillaume B. Decherf, 43. Journalist for celebrated French music and culture magazine, Les Inrockuptibles (pictured, top right).

Marie Mosser, 24. Digital Marketing executive at Mercury Records France (pictured, bottom left).

Manu Perez. Music industry marketing executive who worked at Universal Music France for over a decade (pictured, top left).

L-A Radio: KROQ Unveils Benefit Holiday Concert Line-Up

KROQ 106.7 FM has announced lineup for the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas Saturday, December 12th, 2015 and Sunday December 13th, 2015 at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Exclusive KROQ Street Team on-sale this Friday November 20th at 12:00PM PST. Tickets are
available online at Ticketmaster.com only.

Proceeds from the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas to benefit the following charities:

• Para Los Niño’s -  Para Los Niño’s is a non-profit family service agency designed to raise at-risk children out of poverty and into brighter futures through positive educational opportunities and support.
• Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center - Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center provides a safe after-school environment where hundreds of boys and girls in South Central Los Angeles participate intutoring, learn important social skills and are guided to succeed in school and enter college.

Tampa Radio Bubba Wants $1M Lawsuit Thrown Out

Bubba Clem

Lawyers for Tampa Bay area radio host Bubba the Love Sponge Clem have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Nielsen Audio in federal court, according to the Tampa Business Journal.

"Nielsen's complaint bites off more than it can chew," the court document, filed on Friday, states, adding that Nielsen tried to "rewrite an isolated instance of poor judgment ... into a noisy tale of pervasive fraud that has damaged an entire industry. Not so," it states.

Nielsen filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida in mid-October, seeking punitive damages for what it claims was the "willful, wanton and malicious nature" of Clem in relation to a ratings tampering incident, according to the lawsuit.

Clem publicly admitted he was "humbled and embarrassed" by the situation. Beasley Media Group, operator of WBRN 98.7 FM, at the time said it condemned Clem's actions and took "appropriate steps to ensure that such conduct does not occur in the future."

The filing on Friday said Clem's camp believes the dispute should have ended after Beasley's investigation and Clem's suspension. The filing also says Nielsen "fails to deliver" evidence of "systematic and ongoing" actions involving radio panelists, evidence of fraud and other counts in the original lawsuit.

The incident caused Nielsen to exclude WBRN from the September 2015 ratings report, and consequently from the October report as well, when Nielsen claimed it had further evidence of tampering.

DC Radio: Jack Is Back..Today On WRQX

When fans of “The Jack Diamond Show” wake up Monday, instead of it being “Oh no, it’s Monday,” it will likely be more like Christmas morning.

Patch.com reports most set their alarms for 6 a.m. to tune into 107.3-FM, so as not to miss the debut of the DC radio morning show they’ve been missing for more than two years.

When “The Jack Diamond Morning Show” was yanked from the WRQX 107.3 FM airwaves in DC after April 27, 2013, the program was replaced with a show that was the polar opposite: A non-local crew who knew next to nothing about the DC metro area and told crude jokes on the air.

CLICK HERE to listen.

After a year, the replacement, ”The Bert Show,” syndicated out of Atlanta, was dropped due to low ratings in the DC market.

Meanwhile, Diamond stayed in touch with his fans, on Facebook — they went along with him for more than two years as he posted photos of his travels, and read his news about new radio gigs in Miami, San Diego and Chicago. While they appreciated the updates, most of them wanted to know: “When are you coming back to DC radio?”

Last Wednesday morning, Diamond dropped the good news bomb on his Facebook page, that the previous team of Diamond, Jimmy Alexander and Erica Hilary would return to their previous home on 107.3-FM Monday morning at 6 a.m. It was the equivalent of “we’re getting the old band back together.”

As of Sunday, the post had 3,627 “likes,” 790 shares and 1,808 comments. One fan said what many might have been thinking: “Don’t be messing with me Jack. Are y’all really coming back home?”

Tweets by @JackDiamondShow

Miami Radio: Elvis Duran To Be Parade Grand Marshal

Elvis Duran

Syndicated Morning radio host Elvis Duran will be grand marshal of the 2016 Miami Beach Gay Pride parade, the festival committee announced over the weekend.

The Miami Herald reports Duran came out as a gay man on air in 2010. Before coming out, Duran said he didn’t want his hit radio program to become “The Elvis Duran Is Gay Show,” he told GLAAD interviewer Claire Pires earlier this year. “I didn’t want it to be about me being gay, I wanted the show to be about all of us being who we were.”

Then Duran broke up with his boyfriend. “When I was out in the dating world, I thought there were some interesting stories I needed to share. That’s when I said well I need to talk about my life. That’s when I started talking about being a gay guy,” he told Pires. “I’ve never really been in the closet. I just never addressed it.”

Broadcasting live from WHTZ 100.3 FM Z100 in New York and WHYI 100.7 FM Y-100 in South Florida, “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show” consistently ranks #1 across multiple demographics and top markets, attracting a weekly listenership of more than 5.5 million fans.

Duran’s radio career has spanned 30 years and has included both host and program director duties at Philadelphia’s WIOQ and Austin’s KBTS, as well as stints at Z-93 in Atlanta and KRBE Houston. He began hosting his daily radio show on New York’s Z100 in April 1996. Since then, the show has enjoyed much success resulting in a national deal in March 2009 with the country’s leading radio syndication company, Premiere Networks, a subsidiary of iHeart Media. “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show” added more than 30 stations in the first year of syndication and today, the program can be heard in nearly 80 markets, including Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cleveland, Austin, Milwaukee, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Richmond, Rochester, Dayton, Des Moines, Spokane and Wichita.

Since its inception in 2009, Miami Beach Gay Pride has grown from a neighborhood event to an event on the global stage with celebs such as Mario Lopez as Grand Marshal in 2015, Gloria Estefan as Grand Marshal in 2014 and Adam Lambert performing in 2013.

Dem Debate On CBS Attracts 8.55M Viewers

Viewer interest in the primary debates of both parties remains higher than previous years, with the second Democratic get-together of 2015 drawing a good-for-Saturday 8.55 million viewers on CBS, according to Nielsen estimates. The first debate of the year to air on a broadcast network drew more than double what CBS typically draws on Saturday nights.

Variety reports the 8.55 million makes Saturday’s debate from Des Moines, Iowa, the lowest-rated of the six debates in recent months — and well below the 15.8 million who watched the year’s first Democratic debate of the year on CNN last month — but this was the first one to be held on a Saturday, when viewing levels are at their lowest of the week. Four years ago on the second Saturday of November, a Republican primary debate on CBS averaged 5.48 million viewers, and a mid-November Democratic debate on CNN in 2007 drew a little over 4 million.

This fall, CBS has averaged about 4.2 million viewers for its regular crime-series programming on Saturday nights. Demographic breakdowns weren’t available, but the debate figures to draw in the vicinity of a 1.8 rating in adults 18-49 and a 2.0 in adults 25-54 when final nationals are released by Nielsen on Tuesday.

In addition to the 8.55 million viewers from 9-11 p.m. ET, CBSN set viewership records for its debate coverage, drawing 1.2 million streams across connected TV devices, mobile and online platforms. CBSN also set full-day viewership records with 2.4 million total streams on Saturday.

Westwood One Presents Podcast Webinar

Pierre Bouvard

Westwood One is presenting  a “The State of American Podcasting” Webinar with Westwood One CMO Pierre Bouvard this Wednesday.

Over the past nine years podcast listeners have skyrocketed by 200% and now reach over 46 million people every month.  This Wednesday, November 18 at 2 pm ET, Westwood One is hosting a live webinar roundtable on the "The State of American Podcasting" featuring new insights and research.

Westwood One CMO Pierre Bouvard is moderating a discussion with special guests Brendan McDonald, Executive Producer and Co-Creator, WTF with Marc Maron; Stuart Last, VP, audioBoom; and Jenna Weiss-Berman, Director of Audio, Buzzfeed. Invitation with registration link below.

Your takeaways will include:

• Never-before-heard insights on the podcast consumer
• How marketers really feel about podcast advertising
• Where podcasts fit in the marketing mix
• Competitive research from podcast advertisers

Click Here to register.

Louisville Radio: Alpha Stations Rebrand For Radiothon

Alpha Media/Louisville, KY announced that they will be renaming their radio stations on November 19th and 20th in honor of local children who are fighting or have lost battles to cancer and other diseases. The stations will broadcast live from Kosair Children’s Hospital to raise funds through the Children’s Hospital Foundation.

The fundraiser helps the hospital purchase new technology and equipment, expand patient care programs and develop life-saving research. The event is held in partnership with the Children’s Miracle Network.

The following Alpha Media stations will be renamed during the two-day event:

• 99.7 WDJX will become 99.7 DREW-FM in honor of Andrew Holland, a Radiothon legend and close friend of 99.7 who passed away in August. Andrew fought cancer throughout his teens and served as an inspiration through his positive attitude.
• 102.3 The Max to 102.3 ADDIE-FM in honor of 4-year-old Addie Roberts. Addie was diagnosed with leukemia at age 2. After two years of chemo, she will have her last treatment just before Christmas.
• Magic 101.3 to MAXWELL 101.3 in honor of 9-year-old Maxwell Johnson. Maxwell has a mild form of sickle cell anemia and was born three months premature. He spent two months in the neonatal intensive care unit at Kosair Children’s Hospital.
• B96.5 to JERRON 96.5 in honor of Jerron Harrison, who was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis at 6 weeks old. The illness did extensive damage to the growth plates in his legs, causing them not to grow. Jerron has had more than 30 limb-lengthening surgeries throughout his life.
• OldSchool 105.1 to GABRIELLE 105.1 in honor of Gabrielle Runyon, an eighth-grader at Noe Middle School. Gabrielle has spinal muscular atrophy and has undergone multiple spine surgeries at Kosair Children’s Hospital.

During the radiothon, personalities from the stations will interview families and children who received care at Kosair Children’s Hospital. The broadcast, which has raised more than $1.5 million to date, is one of the largest radiothons in the country.

Individuals and businesses can donate by calling the Kentuckiana McDonald’s Phone Bank at (877) 335-5437. They also are invited to stop by the hospital or visit each station’s website during the two-day event.

Alpha Media WDJX Program Director, Otis Maher commented on the announcement, “Coming up on the 7th year of the Alpha Louisville cluster making miracles happen with Kosair Children’s Hospital Radiothon, we wanted to make it bigger than ever! In August we lost a young man who was a major part in the Radiothon every year named Drew. It only made sense to completely change our name/brand, in honor of him, to 99.7 Drew-FM and really let the true spirit of the two days shine, through his name and personality that we all remember so well.”

November 16 Radio History

Mary Margaret McBride

In 1899...Mary Margaret McBride was born in Paris Missouri. She started an advice program on WOR radio in 1934, and took it national with first CBS in 1937, NBC in 1941, ABC in 1950,and back to NBC 1954-60.  Along the way she mixed in her own unique style interviews with figures well known in arts, entertainment and politics.

She died Apr 7, 1976 at age 76.


In 1904...Fleming patents thermionic tube (diode tube)


In 1940...In Atlanta, the "hillbilly music" show "The WSB Barn Dance" began its 9½-year run.

In 1959...Harry Harrison debuted on WMCA, New York. Here's Harry on WMCA from 1965...





In 1963...The touch-tone telephone was introduced


In 1967...Jonathan Schwartz starts at WNEW 102.7 FM NYC


In 1979...Paul McCartney released the holiday single "Wonderful Christmastime." Because he wrote, published, and played all the instruments on this recording, McCartney's royalties add up. Including royalties from cover versions, it is estimated that Paul McCartney makes $400,000 per year from this song, which puts its cumulative earnings in excess of $16 million.





In 2012…Radio personality (WBZ-Boston, WKBW-Buffalo, WBEN-Buffalo)/program director Jefferson Kaye, for many years the voice of NFL Films, died of cancer at 75.

Born Martin Krimski, Kaye served in the US Air Force during the Korean War and was stationed in Morocco where he met his bride. Jeff began his broadcast career in Providence, RI and then moved on to WBZ Radio in Boston. From there he went to WKBW Radio in Buffalo and then became the morning man on WBEN Radio. After leaving Buffalo, Jeff began his Emmy winning career with NFL Films.

For more on Kaye: Click Here.



In 2012…Radio/television personality (WWJ-Radio, WWJ-TV) Sonny Eliot, a broadcaster in Detroit for 63 years and one of the first TV weathermen to combine meteorology and humor, died at age 91.