Stocks have thus far thrived in the era of President Trump, but one sector is lagging: entertainment media, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In the first half of 2017, the S&P 500 is up 8.2 percent, but five of the seven media conglomerates are underperforming that benchmark. In fact, of the 50 media companies tracked by THR, 30 have either fallen or have advanced less than the broader markets.
Even though he acknowledges that the election of Trump “has not been a catalyst for media stocks,” Amobi says it is “counter-intuitive,” because the president is rolling back regulations and is friendly toward mergers and acquisitions, thus there’s potential for the sector.
Some of the carnage in the first half of the year can be attributed to television, with several cable and broadcast networks struggling with poorly rated shows amid competition from Netflix and Amazon.com and soon from Facebook and others. Hence, some of the more pure-play TV companies are suffering, like Discovery Communications (down 6 percent) and AMC Entertainment (up just 2 percent).
As for the conglomerates, here’s how they have fared: 21st Century Fox (up 2 percent); CBS (down 1 percent); Viacom (down 3 percent); Walt Disney (up 2 percent); Time Warner (up 5 percent); Comcast (up 13 percent); Sony (up 36 percent).
(Reuters) -- Paul McCartney has reached a confidential settlement of his lawsuit against Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC in which he sought to reclaim copyrights to songs by the Beatles.
The accord disclosed on Thursday in filings with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan ends the 75-year-old McCartney's pre-emptive effort to ensure that the copyrights, once owned by Michael Jackson, would go to him starting in October 2018.
U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos signed an order dismissing the case, but agreed to revisit it if a dispute arose.
The dismissal request had been made by Michael Jacobs, a lawyer for McCartney, on behalf of the singer and Sony/ATV.
It is unclear how the accord affects McCartney's copyright claims. The singer's representatives could not immediately be reached on Friday for comment.
McCartney had sued on Jan. 18 for a declaration that he could reclaim more than 260 copyrights, including for songs credited to him and John Lennon such as "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude."
The registrations at issue also covered "Maybe I'm Amazed" and several other songs McCartney recorded as a solo artist.
They even covered such titles as "Scrambled Egg," which is close to the working lyric "Scrambled Eggs" that McCartney once used for the song that became "Yesterday."
McCartney had been outbid by Jackson in 1985 for the Beatles' song rights, which were later rolled into Sony/ATV, a joint venture with Sony Corp.
The pop star's estate sold its stake in that venture to Sony for $750 million last year.
McCartney sued 1-1/2 months after a British court said the pop group Duran Duran could not reclaim rights to their songs, in its case against Sony/ATV's Gloucester Place Music unit.
Changes made in 1976 to U.S. copyright law let authors like McCartney reclaim song rights after periods of time elapsed.
In his lawsuit, McCartney said he could begin exercising his rights on Beatles songs, starting with "Love Me Do," on Oct. 5, 2018.
The case is McCartney v Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-00363.
If Annie Lennox plays her cards right, she could have a successful music career.
According to CBS News, the former Eurythmics singer -- who has won four Grammys, an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her music -- posted an unsolicited letter she received from a radio station employee in Los Angeles who clearly had never heard of her.
Lennox posted the letter -- with certain information blacked out -- to her Facebook page, along with the joking comment, "I think I'm in with a chance ??!!!"
The station's new music coordinator, Kylie, wrote that she "came across Lennox's music online" and "really like what I heard." Kylie then asked Lennox to send over an MP3 of her new single, which she'll share with the station's program director.
"I only ask because we are connected to an artist development firm that can also get you onto 150 radio stations worldwide and provide support for press, video, retail, and licensing," Kylie continued. "The best part is, if they really like your music, they'll cover all of the marketing expenses."
➦In 1897…Three years after the first issue of Billboard Advertising was published, the publication was renamed The Billboard.
➦In 1907...pioneer sportscaster Bill Stern was born in Rochester NY. From his first football game over WHAM in his home town, his flair for the dramatic was present in all his work, including the Colgate Sports Newsreel & the Gillette Friday Night Fights on NBC Radio. Later he joined ABC, and was the announcer on the first televised boxing match. He died after a heart attack Nov 19 1971 at age 64.
➦In 1911…Radio Division of Department of Commerce created
➦In 1920…GE and AT&T sign cross-license agreement.
➦In 1923...the first permanent radio network, the AT&T web, was set up between WEAF New York and WMAF near Boston.
➦In 1934…The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) became the new regulator of U.S. broadcasting, replacing the Federal Radio Commission.
➦In 1941...marked the beginning of commercial television broadcasting. The Federal Communications Commission licenses went into effect, allowing broadcasters to transmit programs and advertising. The first channels to receive FCC licenses were WNBT in New York (the precursor to WNBC), operated by the National Broadcasting Company; and WCBW (now CBS), operated by the Columbia Broadcasting System. Any broadcasting before that date was considered "experimental".
➦In 1956...NBC's Steve Allen Show capitalizes on the outrage engendered by Elvis Presley's recent version of "Hound Dog" on The Milton Berle Show by winkingly presenting a new, "clean" Elvis, dressed in a tuxedo and singing "Hound Dog" to an actual basset hound perched on a stool.
Backstage, a humiliated Elvis explodes in fury at the Colonel for agreeing to the stunt. The next day, however, fans protest the show, demanding "The REAL Elvis."
➦In 1968…CHUM 104.5 FM changed formats from classical to progressive rock. The station now airs a HotAC format.
➦In 1970...Casey Kasem begins his weekly Billboard countdown on the nationally syndicated radio show American Top 40.
American Top 40 began on the Independence Day weekend in 1970, on seven radio stations, the very first being KDEO in El Cajon, California (now KECR), which broadcast the inaugural show the evening of July 3, 1970. The chart data broadcast actually included the top 40 songs from the week ending July 11, 1970. The very first show featured the very last time both Elvis Presley and The Beatles had songs simultaneously in the Top 10.
It was originally distributed by Watermark Inc., and was first presented in mono until it started recording in stereo in September 1972. In early 1982, Watermark was purchased by ABC Radio and AT40 became a program of the "ABC Contemporary Radio Network". The program was hosted by Casey Kasem and co-created by Kasem; Don Bustany, Kasem's childhhood friend from Detroit, MI; radio veteran Tom Rounds; and 93/KHJ Program Director Ron Jacobs, who produced and directed the various production elements.
The show began as a three-hour program written and directed by Bustany, counting down the top 40 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart. The show quickly gained popularity once it was commissioned, and expanded to a four-hour-program on October 7, 1978, to reflect the increasing average length of singles on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
➦In 1987…WFAN-AM, New York became the first 24/7 All-Sports
Radio station
At 3:00 p.m. on July 1, 1987, Emmis Communications-owned
WFAN signed on at 1050 kHz, replacing country music station WHN, and billing
itself as the world's first 24-hour-per-day sports talk station. (The WFAN call
sign was suggested by the wife of "The Fan's" first program director,
John Chanin. The first voice heard on WFAN was that of
Suzyn Waldman, with a sports update, followed by the first show, which was hosted
by Jim Lampley. Waldman reported for the station, covering the New York Yankees
and New York Knicks for 14 years.
Other hosts besides Lampley during WFAN's fifteen months at
1050 kHz included Bill Mazer, Pete Franklin, Greg Gumbel, Art Shamsky, and Ed
Coleman. Ann Liguori is also one of the original hosts and was the first woman to
host a show on the station. WFAN also inherited broadcast rights to the
defending World Series champion New York Mets from WHN, who had held the rights
for several years.
In early 1988 General Electric, which now owned NBC through
its purchase of RCA two years earlier, announced that it would close the NBC
Radio division and sell its stations. In February of that year GE made a
multi-station deal with Emmis and, in New York, the WNBC license for 660 was
included in the sale. On October 7, 1988 at 5:30 p.m., WFAN moved down the
radio dial to replace WNBC at 660 kHz.
Wolfman Jack
➦In 1995…Wolfman Jack died at his home in North Carolina at age 57.
Wolfman Jack had finished broadcasting his last live radio
program, a weekly program nationally syndicated from Planet Hollywood in
downtown Washington, D.C.
Wolfman Jack said that night, "I can't wait to
get home and give Lou a hug, I haven't missed her this much in years."
Wolfman had been on the road, promoting his new autobiography.
"He walked
up the driveway, went in to hug his wife and then just fell over," said
Lonnie Napier, vice president of Wolfman Jack Entertainment.
MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski hit back at President Donald Trump Fridaymorning, calling him a liar and questioning his mental health.
According to The Daily Mail, Trump claimed the duo relentlessly pursued him at Palm Beach property while Mika was recovering from a facelift.
'We are both certain that the man is not mentally equipped to continue watching our show, “Morning Joe," they said in a Washington Poststory on Friday morning.
According to their account in the Post, Trump invited them to Mar-a-Lago for dinner. When Brzezinski didn't show, he asked them back the next night on, New Year's Eve. They went - but did not attend the party he was having that night, they maintained.
'Trump also claims that Mika was “bleeding badly from a face-lift.” That is also a lie,' according to the story. While Brzezinski 'never had a face-lift' they admit that she did 'have a little skin under her chin tweaked, but this was hardly a state secret.' (pictured right, Mika pointing to her chin.
Brzezinski and her MSNBC co-host, Joe Scarborough, were scheduled to start a vacation, but delayed it so they could address the president’s attack, which came just after they’d finished their show Thursday morning.
“It is unbelievably alarming that this president is so easily played.. by a cable news host.. what does that say to our allies?” wondered Mika Brzezinski
For President Trump’s inner circle the Morning Joe outburst was no surprise, reports the NY Times.
An avid television viewer, the president has fumed for weeks about the coverage on “Morning Joe” — using the “psycho” moniker in private to describe Mr. Scarborough — as the co-hosts became increasingly acidic in their commentary, according to a senior administration official. Minutes before Trump’s tweets Thursday, Ms. Brzezinski derided the president as “lying every day and destroying the country.”
Mika Brzezinski
Trump has been particularly upset by the hosts’ questioning of his mental state, the official said, viewing it as a form of personal betrayal. Trump and the “Morning Joe” duo once enjoyed a relatively friendly relationship: Mr. Scarborough and Ms. Brzezinski visited Mr. Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, this past New Year’s.
Privately, Ms. Brzezinski was stunned by the remarks, telling a close friend on Thursday morning: “I really don’t need this.” Her father, Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security adviser, died in May, and her mother, Emilie Benes Brzezinski, has suffered two heart attacks since he died, according to the friend, who requested anonymity to describe a private conversation.
On Thursday, Brzezinski's posted to Twitter of a box of Cheerios, emblazoned with the words, “Made for Little Hands,” referring to a longstanding insult about Mr. Trump.
CNN, one of MSNBC’s chief rivals, issued a statement in support of Brzezinski — a rare sign of solidarity in the famously fractious TV news world. The message spoke to a growing sense among journalists that they must unite against the anti-press barrage from Mr. Trump and his aides, particularly after a week where Ms. Sanders, at the White House lectern, encouraged Americans to watch an anti-CNN video, “whether it’s accurate or not.”
With a growing number of Republican lawmakers condemning President Donald Trump’s Twitter blitz against MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, recent Morning Consult polling shows most Americans want the president to put his phone away.
In a survey earlier this month, 69 percent of registered voters said Trump tweets too much, up 13 points from a December survey. The share of voters disapproving of the volume of Trump’s tweets included 53 percent of Republicans (an increase of 11 points), 70 percent of independents (an increase of 22 points) and 82 percent of Democrats, up 7 points from December.
The Smart Audio Report, a new study from NPR and Edison Research, reveals the habits and behaviors of smart speaker owners. It contains insights on audio consumption, usage behaviors, ties to smart home technology and more.
“Although smart speakers have not been around for very long, nearly one in five owners say that these devices are the way that they most often listen to audio,” said Edison VP of Strategy Tom Webster. “The frictionless way in which these devices enable audio consumption is already changing listening behaviors, and potentially increasing audio consumption overall.”
According to radiomagonline.com, the Smart Audio Report is based upon a national online survey of 1620 Americans ages 18+ — half of whom respondents indicated that they owned at least one smart speaker (160 Google Home, 709 Amazon Alexa-enabled, and 69 who owned both), while 820 respondents did not and were surveyed for comparative purposes. The device owner data was extrapolated to nationally representative figures based on The Infinite Dial 2017 from Edison Research and Triton Digital.
According to The Infinite Dial 2017, 7% of Americans 12+ own a “smart speaker,” the category of voice-controlled devices that includes the Amazon Echo and Google Home.
Nearly three-quarters of smart speaker owners indicated that they are listening to more audio (news/talk, podcasts, audiobooks and music) at home after getting the smart speaker.
The average smart speaker owner listens to four hours and 15 minutes of music on a smart speaker, one hour and 15 minutes of news and one hour and 22 minutes of podcasts.
Smart speaker owners use the device to tune in to AM/FM radio, too: 38% listen to music stations and 32% listen to news/talk regularly. However, not all the news is good for radio. Unfortunately, 62% said they wanted a smart speaker in order to “hear better music than AM/FM radio.”
After being MIA for the past seven years, iHeartMedia’s Q101.9 KQXT-FM announced Thursday the return of popular nationally-syndicated personality Delilah to the station’s nightly lineup. Beginning July 3, the program will air from 7 p.m. to midnight, Sunday through Friday.
The top-rated show features Delilah's distinctive blend of story-telling, sympathetic listening and encouragement - all scored with adult contemporary music. Often referred to as the “Oprah of Radio,” Delilah attracts millions of listeners on more than 150 radio stations, making her the most listened-to woman on radio in the U.S. For her work on the program, Delilah has been inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the National Radio Hall of Fame, and she received the 2016 NAB Marconi Award for Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year.
KQXT 101.9 FM (100 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area
“We are thrilled to be bringing Delilah back home to Q101.9,” shared Brian Gann, iHeartMedia Regional SVP Programming, Austin/San Antonio. “Delilah is an amazing talent who strengthens our already stellar lineup. She is a perfect fit for Q101.9 and for San Antonio.”
JVC Media of Florida, a leading independent and locally owned radio and events company, announces the addition of MurphDawg & Jenn to mornings on its Orlando Country station WOTW 103.1 The Wolf effective immediately.
Guaranteed to keep it real weekday mornings from 6am-10am, MurphDawg & Jenn will have everything Orlando needs to get moving each morning.
Jenn, a fashion model and mother of two, began her career with The Wolf in 2015 before making her way across the street to CBS CHR/Top 40 WQMP and Hot AC WOMX.
MurphDawg, an avid sports junkie and Country music nut, has 20 years of radio experience waking up markets like Atlanta (WBTS), Long Island (WPTY), and Greenville (WHZT).
“I am so happy to be back with my radio family at 103.1 The Wolf and even more excited to limit Murph’s constant bragging about his hockey skills on air!” Jenn exclaims. MurphDawg, when asked to defend himself says, “Jenn brings great energy, excitement, and makes the morning show much better looking! Plus, my parents ALWAYS tell me how great I am at hockey. Why wouldn’t I share that with Orlando?!”
WOTW 103.1 FM (22 Kw) Red=Local Coverage
JVC’s EVP Shane Reeve states, “The addition of MurphDawg & Jenn to 103.1 The Wolf is the latest step in the evolution and tremendous growth of The Wolf. We are committed to Country in the Orlando market and are here to stay. JVC Media is excited for the future of MurphDawg & Jenn and 103.1 The Wolf – Orlando’s New Choice for Country Hits and Throwbacks.”
