Emmis Communications Corp. CEO Jeff Smulyan has extended his offer to take the company private, as shareholders continue to express dissatisfaction with a possible deal.
According to The Indy Star, Smulyan on Friday sent a letter to the special committee that is reviewing his offer, extending it to Sept. 30. The offer was set to expire this pastFriday.
"The special committee has requested a few more weeks to do their work," Smulyan said.
Emmis' board formed the special committee to consider Smulyan's offer. It consists of Susan Bayh, an Indianapolis business leader and wife of U.S. Senate candidate Evan Bayh, and Peter Lund, a former CEO of CBS Television. If the committee approves the offer, the deal would then be up to shareholders.
Smulyan on Aug. 18 offered $4.10 a share in a deal that would amount to about $46.5 million. This is Smulyan's third attempt to take his Indianapolis media company private.
Emmis investors have criticized the offer, arguing that Smulyan has undervalued the company. The $4.10-per-share offer was a 3.5 percent premium over the Aug. 17 closing price for Emmis' stock.
Several shareholders have told IndyStar they think the company is worth more, arguing that an up-and-coming product called NextRadio could be a huge winner for Emmis. NextRadio accesses chips in smartphones to let users listen to FM radio. The three-year-old app loses money, but shareholders say it's on the verge of dramatic growth in users and revenue.
Emmis shares closed at $4.03, down 7 cents, Friday.
Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke has recommended the bulk of claims made by Medford OR-based Talk Radio Network Enterprises against Cumulus Media be dismissed, according to a document filed Sept. 13 in U.S. District Court in Medford, on grounds that some of the local company's claims are too similar to a suit that had previously been dismissed, while other claims were found to be unsubstantiated.
According to The Mail-Tribune, The suit, filed in U.S District Court in April, alleges Talk Radio Network, which goes by the acronyms TRN and TRNE, faced anti-competitive practices by Cumulus Media following the company's 2013 acquisition of Westwood One, the company responsible for placing 90 percent of national radio advertising time. Cumulus is the second-largest owner of radio stations in the United States, with 450 stations in 90 markets throughout the country.
Clarke made his decision on grounds that allegations TRN made against Westwood One and Cumulus, such as monopolization of the advertising representative market, conspiracy to monopolize the advertising representative market and unlawful agreements in restraint of trade are too similar to a previous suit filed in U.S. District Court in central California in 2012 and dismissed in 2014.
Clarke also ruled that TRN's allegations that Cumulus and Westwood One underpaid them for advertising and placed them in "less favorable" advertising bundles sold to advertising agencies were unsubstantiated.
The suit had alleged 12 antitrust actions by Cumulus, Westwood and individuals tied to the companies, and TRN's lawyer had alleged they had been underpaid by as much as 99 percent in some cases, according to a wnd.com story linked to TRN's website.
Clarke, however, determined that the company pleaded no facts, instead relying upon "information and belief" that Westwood manipulated payments "contrary to vaguely described industry norms." TRN's complaint describes a hypothetical transaction "by way of example," which Clarke determined to be insufficient because TRN's complaint doesn't show proof that Westwood sold their advertising and didn't pay them.
Because TRN failed to identify sums, estimates or accounts, Clarke determined TRN's allegations were "too amorphous to survive even liberal pleading standards."
Clarke's recommendations will be referred to the U.S. District Judge who will rule on whether to dismiss the case.
Donald Trump has threatened to sue the New York Times.
According to The Guardian, the tweet marks Trump’s latest attack on the press although litigation is unlikely to succeed. Under the precedent set by the Supreme Court in the landmark case of New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964, any public figure suing for libel must prove a defamatory statement was made with actual malice, “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not”.
It is unclear what prompted Trump’s statement. However, the Times published a detailed investigation earlier on Saturday describing how the real estate developer had relied on nearly $900 million in taxpayer subsidies over the past four decades to build his fortune.
My lawyers want to sue the failing @nytimes so badly for irresponsible intent. I said no (for now), but they are watching. Really disgusting
The Republican nominee’s wife Melania is currently suing the Daily Mail over allegations that she was an escort in the 1990s and Trump long maintained a blacklist that banned outlets such as the Washington Post and Politico from being credentialed to report on his campaign.
Contracts with most of the biggest stars on Fox News contain something unusual: A "key man clause" giving them an escape hatch if the company's "key man," CEO Roger Ailes, exited.
In July, Ailes resigned under pressure amid sexual harassment allegations. Soon afterward, agents representing some of Fox's hosts started to take advantage of the clause.
Brian Stetler at CNNMedia reports some experts say the existence of the clauses is an example of improper corporate governance by 21st Century Fox.
"Ailes was putting his self-interest above the company and giving other people the right to escape their contracts or at least cause substantial renegotiation," said Columbia law professor John C. Coffee Jr., the author of "Gatekeepers: The Professions and Corporate Governance."
When asked about the clauses by CNNMoney, Coffee said, "It is quite an extraordinary provision. You wonder, who could have approved it?"
A spokesman for 21st Century Fox declined to comment on whether Rupert Murdoch or other top executives knew about the clauses years ago.
Ailes absolutely was the key man at Fox News. He was the founding CEO back in 1996 and ran the channel with an iron fist until the harassment scandal erupted in July.
His biggest stars with key man clauses included Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Van Susteren, and Shepherd Smith.
Conceivably any or all of them could have bailed on the network when Ailes resigned -- dealing a potentially crushing blow to Fox's high-rated programming schedule.
The clauses were also viewed, more ominously, as a way for Ailes to hurt Fox News if he were ever forced out. Read More Now
Lester Holt, Martha Raddatz, Anderson Cooper and Chris Wallace won’t have to worry about their bosses feeding them questions in their ears when they moderate the presidential debates in the coming weeks.
Accoridng to Page Six at The NY Post, The Commission on Presidential Debates sent out a message to news organizations Thursday banning moderators from wearing earpieces, Page Six has learned.
Holt’s NBC colleague Matt Lauer wore an earpiece when he interviewed presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on his Sept. 7 “Commander-in-Chief Forum,” which left many criticizing the veteran “Today” anchor’s interviewing skills and judgment.
Multiple sources told us that Lauer’s disastrous performance during his interview with Clinton was largely due to NBC News chief Andy Lack pressuring him to push her on her e-mail scandal.
Longtime Atlanta radio personality Jenn Hobby said her 11-month-old daughter is back at home after completing her second round of chemotherapy.
Last month, Hobby, a co-host on WSTR Star 94.1 FM’s "The Jeff & Jenn Show,” announced her youngest daughter, Reese, had been diagnosed with cancer after doctors discovered a plum-sized tumor in her abdomen. Reese immediately started chemotherapy at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Hobby and her husband, Grant Rivera, along with their oldest daughter, were able to take Reese home from the hospital on Monday.
Reese
“Thank you for all of your words of encouragement for Reese and our family,” Hobby said on Facebook. “Home sweet home today. Round two complete.”
Following her first found of chemotherapy, Hobby told FOX 5 her “lil angel” was responding well, and this week she told Star 94.1 listeners Reese was still bright, sunshiny and cheerful after completing her second round of treatment.
Hobby said on the air she hopes all of the updates about Reese can serve as a reminder for anyone going through a personal challenge or facing something difficult.
“Always be brave,” she said. “If this 11-month-old girl can be in the hospital, fighting and beating cancer with a smile on her face, and giggling and laughing, you can take on today. You can take on whatever hard thing that you’re doing, because she’s a baby taking this on and doing it so well.”
Co-host Jeff Dauler, who has been visiting Reese at the hospital, agreed with his close friend, encouraging listeners to always treat people with kindness.
Jerry Corbetta, the lead singer for Sugarloaf, died Friday in Denver, CO at the age of 68.
He had been suffering from Pick's Disease for a number of years, according to Vintage Vinyl News.
Corbetta was initially famous around the Denver area playing drums, first creating a stir at the age of 4. He later played USO shows with his sister Nancy and, in a band called The Corkers with his sister Barbara.
One day, while playing baseball, he injured his eye and decided to change from the more strenuous drums to keyboards. A number of teen bands followed, moving his interest more towards rock and roll. In the late 60's, Jerry played in a band called the Moonrakers with Bob Webber, releasing four songs on the Tower label.
Corbetta and Webber later formed a new band, Chocolate Hair, who were signed to Liberty Records. In 1969, they went into the studio to record an album which included a song called Green Eyed Lady but, before it was released, the label forced the group to change their name, feeling that Chocolate Hair could be interpreted to have racist overtones.
Sugarloaf released their self titled debut album in 1970 and Green Eyed Lady shot up to number 3 in the later half of the year. The national exposure put them on the road for extended touring with the likes of Deep Purple and The Who but they failed to score another hit with the followups not making the top 50.
In 1973, Liberty dropped all of their artists and Sugarloaf signed with Brut Records, a collaboration between Neil Bogart and Brut Fabrerge. They released their third album, I Got a Song, in 1973 but they were once again the victims of a changing music industry with Brut going out of business. Corbetta and band member Frank Slay bought the album back and went into the studio to record the song Don't Call Us, We'll Call You.
Released in 1974, Don't Call Us became a national hit, going to number 9, and the I Got a Song album was re-titled after the hit and released on Claridge Records.
The song includes the sound of a touch-tone telephone number being dialed near the beginning and ending of the song. Those numbers were an unlisted phone number at CBS Records in Manhattan ("area code 212" stated in the song) – coincidentally a public number at the White House as well (different area code). In addition, the recording includes snippets of the guitar riff of The Beatles' "I Feel Fine," Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and a line of dialogue from disc jockey Ken Griffin imitating Wolfman Jack (who would later perform the song live with the group on their Midnight Special appearance) stating the call sign of a radio station ("Stereo 92" in the nationwide release); numerous tracks of this line were cut to match local markets.
When followups didn't chart, Sugarloaf broke up.
Corbetta pursued a solo career and spent time as a member of Frankie Valli and the Seasons from 1980 to 1984. Jerry also played the oldies circuit including an attempt to resurrect Sugarloaf from 1989 to 1991.
SPINN with judges Shila Nathan (NASH FM 94.7 midday host) and Jesse Addy (NASH FM 94.7 afternoon drive host) (FAR LEFT), listener judge George Barker, Bill Evans (Senior Meteorologist WABC-TV), and Mike Allan (Assistant Program Director, NASH FM 94.7).
Cumulus Meida's WNSH Nash 94.7 FM has announced that local country duo SPINN won the NASH NEXT 2016 Country Challenge Showcase live country music talent competition held on September 14th at Hill Country Barbecue Market in New York City.
SPINN was one of eight area country artists that performed an original song in the live challenge event that is the next step to stardom for participants in Cumulus’ NASH Next 2016 national country music talent competition. The artists were selected to perform through two previous challenge rounds. The WNSH judging team, comprised of NASH FM 94.7 on-air personalities Shila Nathan and Jesse Addy, Assistant Program Director Mike Allan, Senior Meteorologist for Eyewitness News and WABC TV Channel 7 Bill Evans, and a station listener selected the area semi-finalist at the culmination of the live music competition.
SPINN, who won over the judges and crowd with their performance of “City Country” will advance as a semi-finalist to the national NASH Next 2016 video competition, held this fall. SPINN is an Alternative Country Duo made up of twin singer/songwriters Stephanie and Cheryl Lynn Spinner. Their style, which they call "City Country" is a blend of their life-long love for country music and experience growing up right outside New York City.
NASH FM 94.7 Program Director John Foxx said: “The night was really interactive and entertaining, the performances were very impressive. Our judges had a tough job and we have a super talented contestant moving on. This was a great night of music and a cool opportunity for so many talented artists in the Tri-State.”
A total of 68 NASH/Cumulus stations in 60 markets, including Dallas, New York, Atlanta, Detroit and Nashville, have conducted extensive local talent searches for the past two months, with additional national participation made possible by Cumulus’ digital properties and syndicated country shows.
The winner of this four-month-long national competition, announced by country legend Reba McEntire, will receive a record deal with Big Machine Label Group, home to such superstars as Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw, as well as substantial exposure, commensurate with a major label release, on Cumulus radio stations nationwide. While television boasts several talent competitions, no other contest -- on any platform -- has ever offered its winners a similar opportunity for coveted radio play, which is the most effective medium to cultivate an artist and propel a major music career.
Finalists, and the 2016 winner, will be selected by a panel of country luminaries, including Scott Borchetta, founder, president and CEO of Big Machine Label Group, the world’s #1 independent record label, Kix Brooks, half of Brooks & Dunn, one of country music’s most successful duos of all time, Jay DeMarcus of chart-toppers Rascal Flatts, and Danielle Bradbery, Season 4 Winner of The Voice, joined by a Cumulus listener.
Nielsen Entertainment has announced that Haley Jones has joined their music commercial team as Director of Radio. Haley will focus on the BDSradio business, helping radio clients leverage Nielsen’s music data and insights as well as contributing to the overall Nielsen Music research strategy.
Haley previously served as Program Director at Emmis Triple A KGSR-FM Austin, TX. Her passion for radio started at her high school station in the San Francisco Bay Area and she’s spent the last 20 years programming at legendary stations like KFOG, The Sound in Los Angeles and KPRI in San Diego before moving to Austin.
"We're very excited to have Haley on board," said Stephanie Friedman, VP of Radio. "Our clients will love her enthusiasm, industry expertise and recent experience in the (radio) trenches."
Indianapolis television icon and children’s show host Bob Glaze, also known as “Cowboy Bob”, has died.
He was 73-years-of-age, according to WIBC 93.1 FM.
Children across Indianapolis and central Indiana grew up watching Cowboy Bob on WTTV Channel 4. Bob started hosting “Chuckwagon Theater” on Jan. 7, 1970 and would show cartoons during the noon hour. Later, his show was renamed “Cowboy Bob's Corral” and was moved to mornings. Cowboy Bob would introduce kids to his dog Tumbleweed, and characters including a puppet named Sourdough the Singing Biscuit. His show included Bugs Bunny and Popeye cartoons, but Bob was the main attraction on the show as kids welcomed the friendly, young cowboy into their living rooms. The program ran on WTTV for 19 years.
Glaze was born on Dec. 1, 1942 in Guymon, Oklahoma. He moved to Indiana in 1955 to attend Culver Military Academy as a high school student and went on to attend Indiana University in Bloomington. Glaze moved to Chicago and started working at WBBM radio as part of several live music programs on the station. Glaze also toured the country and performed as the opening act for several musicians including Connie Stevens, Hoyt Axton and the Chad Mitchell Trio.
He later returned to Bloomington and started working in 1966 as a camera operator for WTTV on Bob Cook's RFD-4 and The Bernie Nicolei Breakfast Show where he also appeared on camera.
One of the final honors during Glaze’s career was an induction into the Indiana Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame in Nov. 2014.
In 1921..WBZ radio, which now broadcasts at 1030 kHz AM and is the oldest surviving commercial radio station in New England, began broadcasting from Springfield, MA.
The station has long been one of the highest-rated stations in the Boston area, and covers much of the eastern United States and Canada at night with its 50,000-watt clear-channel signal from its transmitter location in Hull, Massachusetts, which has been used by the station since 1940. The transmitter is a two tower directional array where each tower is 160 meters (520 ft) tall. The signal is intentionally directionalized from their coastal location for maximum power transmitted into the continental United States, giving WBZ outstanding multi-state coverage after sunset.
WBZ's initial license, for operation in Springfield, was issued by the Department of Commerce to the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company on September 15, 1921; it was the first license to specify broadcasts on 360 meters (833 kilohertz), and was subsequently deemed to be the first license for a commercial broadcast station. However, other stations, such as WWJ in Detroit, 1XE/WGI in Medford Hillside, and sister station KDKA in Pittsburgh, were already broadcasting under different license classifications.
Original Studio on Page Blvd.
The station's original transmitter and studios were located at the Westinghouse factory on Page Boulevard in East Springfield. However, WBZ's inaugural program, on September 19, 1921, was a remote broadcast from the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield.
The original format was general entertainment and information, which included live music (often classical music and opera), sports, farm reports, special events, and public affairs programming. Despite WBZ being housed in Springfield, it somewhat difficult to attract top-flight artists to the station, leading Westinghouse to open a studio at the Hotel Brunswick in Boston on February 24, 1924. WBZ also expanded its news programming via a partnership with the Boston Herald and Traveler. It also carried a considerable amount of sports broadcasts, including Boston Bruins hockey, Boston Braves baseball, and Harvard Crimson football.
Circa 1932
Because of its comparatively wide reach, the station often referred to itself as "WBZ, New England" as opposed to associating itself solely with Springfield or Boston. However, even after several power boosts (the station broadcast at a power of 100 watts in 1921, but was using 2,000 watts in April 1925, the station still had some trouble reaching Boston, leading Westinghouse to sign on WBZA, a 250-watt station at 1240 kHz, on August 20, 1925. Efforts were soon made to operate WBZA as a synchronous repeater of WBZ, by then at 900 kHz; this process was difficult, as the two transmitters often interfered with each other even in Boston, and WBZA went back and forth between the two frequencies for nearly a year before finally going to full-time synchronous operation in June 1926.
WBZ also continued to boost the power of its primary East Springfield transmitter; it was granted permission to operate with 5,000 watts on March 31, 1926, and by 1927 it was operating with 15,000 watts. Meanwhile, a combination of WBZ's growth and continued difficulties with the WBZA signal led the station to move its Boston studio to the Statler Hotel (now the Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers) on June 1, 1927 and activate a new WBZA transmitter on June 9. The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) moved WBZ and WBZA to 990 kHz on November 11, 1928.
Amidst the technical changes, WBZ also began engaging in network activities. By 1925, it often shared programs with WJZ in New York City (which Westinghouse had also started in 1921, but sold to the Radio Corporation of America two years later), and a WBZ special commemorating the 150th anniversary of Paul Revere's "Midnight Ride" was also fed to WRC in Washington, D.C. and WGY in Schenectady, New York. This paved the way for the station to become a charter affiliate of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) on November 15, 1926, carrying the WJZ-originated NBC Blue Network beginning on January 1, 1927.
In 1932...the soap opera “Just Plain Bill” was first heard as an early evening quarter-hour on a regional CBS network from Chicago.
It was “The real life story of people just like people we all know.” Stories centred around the town barber (just plain) Bill Davidson and his daughter, Nancy, who lived in (just plain) Hartville. The broadcast moved to New York at the end of the year, and to NBC daytime in 1935, where it continued daily for another 20 years.
In 1955...Bill Cullen starts at WRCA 660 AM.
Bill Cullen
Cullen's broadcasting career began in Pittsburgh at WWSW radio, where he worked as a disc jockey and play-by-play announcer or color commentator for Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Hornets games. In 1943, Cullen left WWSW to briefly work at rival station KDKA before leaving Pittsburgh a year later to try his luck in New York. A week after arriving in New York he was hired as a staff announcer at CBS. To supplement his then-meager income, he became a freelance joke writer for some of the top radio stars of the day including Arthur Godfrey, Danny Kaye, and Jack Benny; he also worked as a staff writer for the Easy Aces radio show.
His first venture into game shows was in 1945 when he was hired as announcer for a radio quiz called Give And Take. Between 1946 and 1953 he also worked as announcer for various other local and network shows, including the radio version of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman's first game show, Winner Take All, hosted by Ward Wilson; Cullen took over as host four months later when Wilson left.
After a brief stint at WNEW in 1951 he later hosted a popular morning show at WRCA radio from 1955 to 1961. His last regular radio job was as one of the hosts of NBC Radio's Monitor from 1971 to 1973.
In 1970...Ed Baer does last show at WMCA 570 AM NYC.
Aircheck from 1964 (note: Video Slate in incorrect..the year is 1964)
