The growth of the smart speaker market continues with 22% of U.S. broadband households planning to buy one this year.
MediaPost cites new research from Parks Associates found that more than one in five consumers plan to purchase a voice-controlled smart speaker with a personal assistant in 2017.
Interest in the category is growing along the introduction of new devices and the expansion of others, such as the increasing number of models of Amazon Echo and Google Home devices.
"It's still early days for the voice-first market, but rapid early adoption of products like smart speakers with personal assistants, at 12% of U.S broadband households by year-end 2016, demonstrates the need and demand for a natural and easy-to-use interface," stated Dina Abdelrazik, research analyst, Parks Associates.
"Natural language processing for voice technologies happen in the cloud, so real-time updates can be made quickly once consumer realities unfold. Multiple channels, from custom to direct-to-consumer retail, will focus on expanding the voice-enabled UX in 2018."
Both Amazon and Google deeply discounted their smaller devices, the Amazon Echo Dot and Google Home Mini, for the holidays.
Stuart Evey, who as an executive for Getty Oil recommended that the company invest in the start-up that became ESPN and then took an active role in its management for five years, died on Dec. 8 in Spokane, Wash.
Evey, who oversaw Getty’s non-petroleum businesses, was asked in late 1978 to evaluate a plan for an all-sports network. In those early days of cable programming, there were few channels, let alone any that televised sports 24 hours a day, as Bill Rasmussen, a former hockey team executive, was proposing.
Seven other companies had rejected Rasmussen’s pitch, and he was running out of money.
“Bill came to my office very disgruntled because he knew, in his mind apparently, that there’s no way an oil company would ever be interested in what he had in mind,” Evey old the authors James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales for the book “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN” (2011).
Rather than spurn Rasmussen, Evey was intrigued. But there was not much dependable information about the nascent cable industry to analyze. Networks like CNN and MTV had not yet started. And television executives like Roone Arledge, who had revolutionized sports coverage at ABC, told Evey that an operation like ESPN had little chance of succeeding.
“Stu was skeptical, and he was constantly trying to figure out what might go wrong,” Rasmussen said in a telephone interview. “But he was a sports enthusiast, and it would be a feather in his cap if it turned out well.”
Evey persuaded the Getty board to invest $10 million in ESPN for an 85 percent stake, with Mr. Rasmussen and his family owning the rest. It was a critical investment. The network went on the air on Sept. 7, 1979, and eventually became the largest force in sports media.
➦In 1898...drummer/bandleader Lud Gluskin was born in Manhattan. He became director of music at CBS in 1937, and his work was heard all over the radio dial on programs originating in Hollywood for the next 15 years. He led the orchestra for a year or two of Amos ‘n’ Andy, Suspense, My Friend Irma, Life with Luigi, My Little Margie, Sweeney & March, The Philip Morris Playhouse, Campana Serenade, and dozens of lesser-known, lower-budget programs. He died Oct. 13 1989 at age 90.
➦In 1901...Guglielmo Marconi was officially notified by the Anglo-American Telegraph Company that it would take legal action against him unless he immediately ceased his wireless experiments and removed his equipment from Newfoundland. Anglo-American had a fifty-year monopoly on electrical communications in Newfoundland, that began in 1858, and it was determined to hinder radio telegraphy, which was a serious threat to its transatlantic electric telegraph business operated by submarine cables. Marconi soon decided to move his base of operations to Cape Breton Island, and was welcomed there on Dec. 26 with open arms. ➦In 1907...Well known opera performer Eugenia H. Farrar became the first person to sing on the radio. Lee De Forest transmitted her voice from the Brooklyn Naval Yard in New York during the departure of Admiral Robley Dunglison Evans on a cruise with the fleet.
➦In 1925..Dynamic loudspeaker is designed by Chester Rice and Edward Kellogg.
➦In 1951...After more than two years on radio, the TV pilot episode of "Dragnet" aired on NBC. The series, starring and created/produced by Jack Webb, ran until August 1959, then returned from 1967 to 1970. Dragnet ran on NBC radio from June 3, 1949 to September 20, 1955 with repeats lasting until February 26, 1957.
➦In 1990...KUSW, Salt Lake City, Utah, ended shortwave radio transmissions.
➨In 1993...KEZK in St. Louis became the first U.S. radio station to ban Michael Jackson records following recent allegations of Jackson's child sexual abuse.
➦In 2005...Howard Stern did his last terrestrial radio show for Infinity Broadcasting's WXRK-FM (changed to CBS Radio) before moving on to SIRIUS Satellite Radio.
➦In 2006...Paul McCartney left EMI, his record label for 45 years, saying it had become "boring" and he "dreaded going to see" its executives. McCartney told The London Times that the company's handling of his music had become "symbolic of the treadmill." He later signed with Hear Music, the Starbucks label.
➦In 2007...Singer/songwriter (Longer, Same Old Lang Syne, Hard To Say, Leader Of The Band, Run For The Roses) Dan Fogelberg died of prostate cancer at 56. ➦In 2010...Larry King ended his CNN talk show after 25 years.
KUPL 98.7 The Bull (KUPL) brings Jenn Hays to Portland to join Tony and Jake in Mornings. The new show “Bull Mornings with Tony, Jake and Jenn” launches Monday, January 8th.
Jenn is originally from Oregon, having spent the past couple of years working in Billings, Montana.
“My whole radio career I have continued to hear how amazing the team at Alpha is. To say I’m excited to join such a legendary team is an understatement! Oregon is my home state and where it all started for me so I can’t wait to get back, get in the studio with my new team and start rockin’ the airwaves!” – New co-host Jenn Hays
“Jenn is a star, ready to shine brightly in the Rose City. We’re thrilled to welcome her back home to tackle Bull Mornings with Tony & Jake. Let the fun begin!” – 98.7 The Bull’s PD MoJoe Roberts
KUPL 98.7 FM (25 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area
“Following an exhaustive nationwide search it was clear that Jennifer Hays is uniquely qualified to join The Bull’s Morning Show. She is very talented, a native of Portland, a huge country music fan and growing up KUPL was her favorite country station. She will bring her talent, wit, enthusiasm for Portland and country music home. The next chapter for The Bull’s Morning Show is about to be written. We look forward to a fun and compelling local show as Jenn joins her co-hosts Tony Russell and Jake Byron.” – Alpha Portland SVP/Market Manager Lisa Decker
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital partner iHeartMedia mobilized 26 radio stations across the nation and collectively raised more than $5.6 million during the annual Country Cares for St. Jude Kids national radiothon, December 7 – 8.
The fundraising event encouraged radio listeners to pledge $20 per month to become “Partners In Hope” with St. Jude. The event was supported across iHeartMedia markets in conjunction with The Bobby Bones Show – iHeartMedia’s nationally syndicated award-winning country morning show – and the $5.6 million raised in just two days this year marks iHeartMedia’s largest national campaign.
Also, more than 80 country artists supported the St. Jude ‘This Shirt Saves Lives’ campaign in addition to the radiothon. The social media push and on-air promotion through Country Cares radio partner stations attracted thousands of new Partners in Hope and sustaining donors in support of the life-saving research and treatment being done at St. Jude. Artist and donor social posts can be viewed at www.thisshirtsaveslives.org.
St. Jude and iHeartMedia have enjoyed a longstanding partnership for more than 30 years, generating more than $90 million in the past decade to treat St. Jude patients by relying on the power of radio and the generosity of local listeners. Like this year’s successful radiothon, many times in past years iHeartMedia stations have come together to support St. Jude patients and families who never receive a bill from St. Jude for the cost of treatment, travel, housing or food.
The Bobby Bones Show generated more than $1.7 million with the help of several artists including Lauren Alaina, Kelsea Ballerini and Cole Swindell. Additionally, throughout the year, The Bobby Bones Show supports many St. Jude programs such as the star-studded Bobby Bones & The Raging Idiots’ Million Dollar Show in January at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
“The iHeartMedia radiothon program capitalizes on the power of storytelling and iHeartMedia’s unique role as a community medium to inspire and motivate listeners to action,” said Rod Phillips, iHeartMedia SVP of Programming. “We have a rich history of supporting St. Jude – which treats so many children living in the communities in which we serve – and we look forward to many more successful fundraising events in 2018.”
Participating iHeartMedia radio stations include: WMZQ Washington, DC; WAMZ Louisville; WGAR Cleveland; WKKT Charlotte; WBWL Boston; KTOM Salinas, CA; WSIX Nashville; KASE Austin; KWNR Las Vegas; WMIL Milwaukee; WNCB Raleigh; KTST Oklahoma City; WQIK Jacksonville; KODA Houston, among others. KEEY in Minneapolis, and San Antonio’s KAJA air this week.
The FCC voted on Thursday to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules, which required internet service providers to offer equal access to all web content without charging consumers for higher-quality delivery or giving preferential treatment to certain websites.
According to The NYTimes, the vote is a big win for Ajit Pai, the agency’s chairman, who has long opposed the regulations, saying they impeded innovation. He once said they were based on “hypothetical harms and hysterical prophecies of doom.”
The original rules went into effect in 2015 and laid out a regulatory plan that addressed a rapidly changing internet. Under those regulations, broadband service was considered a utility under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the FCC broad power over internet providers. The rules prohibited the following practices:
BLOCKING Internet service providers could not discriminate against any lawful content by blocking websites or apps.
THROTTLING Service providers could not slow the transmission of data based on the nature of the content, as long as it is legal.
PAID PRIORITIZATION Service providers could not create an internet fast lane for companies and consumers who pay premiums, and a slow lane for those who don’t.
Many consumer advocates have argued that if the rules get scrapped, broadband providers will begin selling the internet in bundles, not unlike how cable television is sold today. Want to access Facebook and Twitter? Under a bundling system, getting on those sites could require paying for a premium social media package.
Another major concern is that consumers could suffer from pay-to-play deals. Without rules prohibiting paid prioritization, a fast lane could be occupied by big internet and media companies, as well as affluent households, while everyone else would be left on the slow lane.
The argument against regulation
The FCC chairman has long argued against the rules, pointing out that before they were put into effect in 2015, service providers had not engaged in any of the practices the rules prohibit.
The Hill reports Thursday’s vote is unlikely to end the fight over the popular consumer protections. Public interest groups have already vowed to challenge the move in court and Democrats plan to push legislation that would block it from going into effect as Republicans renew their calls for a legislative compromise that would put the issue to rest.
Minutes after the vote, multiple state attorneys general, including those from Washington and New York promised to sue the FCC to overturn the ruling.
“Donald Trump’s FCC made an historic mistake today by overturning its net neutrality rules, and we cannot let it stand,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who on Thursday introduced legislation that would reinstate the rules. “We will fight the FCC’s decisions in the courts, and we will fight it in the halls of Congress.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping to paint the repeal of the rules by the FCC, which is now chaired by President Donald Trump appointee Ajit Pai, as evidence Republicans are uninterested in young people and consumer concerns at large, Reuters reports.
“The American public is angry,” said FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat. She added that the actions of the Republican majority have “awoken a sleeping giant.”
Rupert Murdoch is banking on Americans’ love of live sports and breaking news for a new, slimmed down version of his Fox TV business after selling the company’s film studios and international operations to Walt Disney Co (DIS.N).
Reuters report the 86-year-old media mogul’s play is based on the fact that sports and news still attract viewers watching in real time - and the advertisers that want to reach them - even as more people watch their favorite shows on demand after they air or online, skipping commercials completely.
“Are we retreating? Absolutely not,” Murdoch told investors on Thursday. “We are pivoting at a pivotal moment.”
Disney’s $52.4 billion purchase of Twenty-First Century Fox’s (FOXA.O) film, television and international businesses, announced earlier on Thursday, leaves Fox with a smaller but more focused set of assets, based on Fox News Channel - the U.S. No. 1 news cable network - and its broadcasts of sports such as National Football League and Major League Baseball.
Murdoch, who started in the news business 65 years ago when he inherited his father’s newspaper, is keen to adapt to new ways of reaching customers. The new Fox will keep the technology it has been working on and is developing an online streaming video service to boost online audiences for its programs, executives said.
The new Fox will be about a third of the size of what it is now, with about $10 billion in annual revenue, company executives said. If investors value the new company with the same or a greater multiple as the current Fox, it would suggest a market value of at least $20 billion.
Its smaller size may mean it has less leverage when negotiating with cable and satellite companies to carry its content or bidding for sports rights to air on its network.
Nevertheless, Murdoch challenged investors to trust him, saying he faced similar doubts when he launched Fox News 21 years ago and Fox Sports 1 in 2013.
“Content and news relevant to you will always be valuable,” Murdoch said.
Murdoch is also banking on Fox News Channel continuing its success as the top-rated cable news network, despite the fact that the median age of Fox News’ viewers is over 65, according to Nielsen. The median age of rival MSNBC’s viewers is also over 65, while CNN’s is 59.
86-year-old media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his family would emerge as the single largest individual shareholders in Disney once the proposed $66 billion deal for 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets closes. Only the mutual fund Vanguard would have more significant holdings in the Burbank media giant.
According to Deadline.Hollywood, the Murdochs stand to receive nearly 88 million Disney shares in the all-stock deal, based on the number of Fox shares he and his family trust reported in regulatory filings.
That’s more than the 64 million shares owned or directly controlled by Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs. The late Apple co-founder became Disney’s largest individual shareholder in 2006 with the $7.4 billion sale of Pixar Animation Studios.
Media analyst Doug Creutz of Cowen & Co. speculates that the Murdochs may be positioning themselves to run Disney one day, after CEO Bob Iger retires. That’s consistent with what we’re hearing from sources, who say James Murdoch is angling for a senior management role in Burbank.
Iger, however, was circumspect today about the younger Murdoch’s role in the company, post-acquisition.
“James and I will be talking over the next number of months. He’s going to be integral to the integration process, and he and I will be discussing whether there is a role for him or not at our company,” Iger said.
If Washington regulators approve Disney’s acquisition of a large part of Twenty-First Century Fox’s assets without forcing any divestitures, ESPN will gain 22 regional sports networks. The NYPost reports those RSNs hold the broadcast rights for 44 of the country’s 81 professional sports teams — and have 61 million subscribers, according to Fox.
Pay-TV subscribers consider RSNs the fifth-most important channels in their packages, a Nielsen survey last year revealed. In some sports-obsessed markets, RSNs even ranked higher than the broadcast networks, the survey found.
ESPN — 80-percent-owned by Disney — has lost 13 million subscribers since reaching a peak of 100 million households in 2011.
Among the RSNs included in the asset sale to Disney is Fox’s 80 percent interest in the YES Network, which airs the games of MLB’s New York Yankees, the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and soccer’s New York City FC.
By league, the Fox RSNs control the local cable rights to 15 MLB teams, 17 NBA teams and 12 NHL teams. The collection made Fox the country’s No. 1 owner of RSNs.
Their acquisition by Disney demonstrates an abiding faith in sports programming, despite well-documented problems at ESPN.
Small changes already taking place at the former CBS Radio have Wells Fargo media analyst Marci Ryvicker saying the radio group just purchased by Entercom Communications is “100% fixable.”
Meeting with Entercom CEO David Field and CFO Rich Schmaeling face-to-face for the first time since the closing of the historic merger, Ryvicker says she also learned that cost synergies laid out by the company are likely conservative and there is more upside than downside risk for investment. InsideRadio reports Ryvicker says there isn’t one “major overhaul” that will fix CBS Radio. Instead, little changes like bringing in new market managers, investing in research and analytics to find programming holes in a market and improved cultural changes will right the ship.
Entercom has said post-merger cost synergies will save over $100 million. Ryvicker believes that is a conservative number. While Field and Schmaeling wouldn’t provide specific numbers, Ryvicker said their “body language suggested the synergies could be larger and recognized sooner” than the company’s current guide.
Ryvicker said the “newest and most impressive” information is the company’s investment in data and analytics – specifically Entercom Analytics, a tool that quantifies the impact of a radio campaign for advertisers. “We absolutely think that a bigger platform allows for this type of investment,” Ryvicker wrote. Additionally, Entercom’s scale in sports has “opened the door to CMOs of companies” that Entercom would otherwise not talk to.
As the prevailing sounding board for the angst of a zillion sports fans for 30 years, Mike Francesa has always approached his WFAN New York talk show with an atypical sobriety — for sports radio, that is.
Five and a half hours of no-frills bloviating on the air in his trademark “New Yawkese,” followed by another five hours of focused game-watching into the small hours of the night. The rest of his days have largely involved planning for future shows and future trips — to the Super Bowl, then spring training — on an endless loop.
The NYTimes reports: Not this year. Not after Friday, when Francesa, whose show has been dominating New York’s airwaves practically since its inception in the late 1980s, signs off WFAN for what he insists will be the last time.
His departure marks the end of an era for a medium that has endured a radical disruption in recent years. The proliferation of sports podcasts, satellite radio and multiple 24-hour sports networks has congested the soundscape with a stream of shows featuring men yelling at each other about sports.
For many years, however, there were seemingly just two: Francesa and Christopher Russo, better known as the Mad Dog, who formed the most influential sports radio duo in the country, until they separated in 2008, with Russo moving to the satellite radio company SiriusXM.
Francesa, who is 63 and announced his departure from WFAN last year, still has his followers. His show remains at the top of the ratings among men aged from 25 to 54 in the market, attracting over 1.1 million different listeners per week, according to figures from Nielsen. The numbers have skewed older lately. Millions of other, often younger, sports fans are downloading podcasts from the likes of Bill Simmons or Tony Kornheiser.
Mike Dee, the president of sports at Entercom Communications, which owns WFAN and more than 200 other stations in 48 markets, said Francesa’s departure was a pivot point. Francesa has famously resisted social media, and he can still devote hours discussing horse racing. Entercom plans to renovate its digital platform, expand deeply with video and emphasize social media.
