A group of Latino leaders on Monday called on NBC and Tom Brokaw to do more to address Brokaw's appearance Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," when he said Hispanics in the U.S. should "work harder at assimilation."
Tom Brokaw
According to The Hill, dozens of Latino leaders within politics, advocacy groups and the media wrote a letter asking that "Meet the Press" more regularly include Latinx voices on the program and that NBC makes a "significant contribution" to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
The letter also calls on Brokaw, "Meet the Press" and NBC to "better educate themselves about the diversity of the fastest growing demographic in the country, including putting resources behind a series that highlights the diverse and complicated history and contributions of the community in the U.S."
The letter, which was posted on Medium, is addressed to NBC President Robert Greenblatt, NBC News President Noah Oppenheim and "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd.
Brokaw took to Twitter on Sunday to apologize for his remarks, writing that he was "sorry, truly sorry, my comments were offensive to many."
my twitter acct failed me at the worst time.
i am sorry, truly sorry, my comments were offensive to
many. the great enduring american tradition of diversity is to be celebrated and cherished. yamiche, thank u for your comments.
let’s go forward together.
NBC News, facing mounting backlash stemming from Tom Brokaw's comments that Hispanics should "work harder at assimilation" into American culture, distanced the network from his "inappropriate" commentary. "Tom's comments were inaccurate and inappropriate and we're glad he apologized," an NBC spokesperson said Monday evening.
In Monday's letter, the Latino leaders called Brokaw's apology insufficient.
"Brokaw’s Sunday morning appearance featured comments that were completely unacceptable, and his subsequent tweets fell short of a real apology and acknowledgment of the extent of the ignorance of his comments," the letter reads.
The Latino leaders also called Brokaw's comments "more than just out-of-touch musings," saying that they are "part of a legacy of anti-Latino sentiment that is spreading freely in 2019." They also said that President Trump and the "right-wing media" have spread lies about the Latino community.
Schurz Communications announced Monday it will sell its publishing division, including the South Bend Tribune, to GateHouse Media.
According to The South Bend Tribune, terms of the sale, which is to be closed on Friday, have not yet been announced.
Schurz was founded in 1872 by brothers-in-law Alfred Miller and Elmer Crockett, a pair of Union veterans of the Civil War, who published the first edition of The Tribune on March 9 of that year. The newspaper has been owned and operated by descendants of those two families ever since.
The sale includes all 20 Schurz publications, including the Herald-Times in Bloomington, Ind., The Petoskey News-Review in Michigan, The American News in Aberdeen, S.D., and The Herald-Mail in Hagerstown, Md., as well as a group of smaller papers surrounding Bloomington.
The Pittsford, N.Y.-based GateHouse is one of the largest publishers of print and online media in the United States, operating 145 daily publications before the Schurz acquisition. As of Sept. 30, the company operated in more than 550 markets across 37 states. This week’s sale adds two more states, Indiana and South Dakota, to GateHouse’s footprint.
Schurz executives and board members agreed to the sale after deciding GateHouse would offer a scale of operations that can make the newspapers more competitive and successful long term. Employees were told of the sale Monday morning.
The sale brings to an end 147 years of local ownership of the South Bend Tribune, which is one of the city’s oldest continuously operating businesses.
Alfred Miller died in 1892, and his son, Fredrick A. Miller then became the Tribune’s editor. He continued as editor and publisher for 62 years, until his death in 1954. Under his leadership, the Tribune founded both WSBT Radio and WSBT-TV on the third floor of the Tribune Building. Upon F.A. Miller’s death, his nephew, Franklin Schurz Sr. became the Tribune’s editor and publisher.
Over the decades, Schurz Communications grew into a chain of more than a dozen small and mid-sized newspapers and also eventually owned a string of TV and radio stations across the country, including the WSBT stations.
The sale of its publishing division is another large step away from traditional media for Schurz Communications, which sold all of its TV and radio stations in 2015.
The company will now focus on the broadband companies it still owns, as well as cloud and managed IT services.
During the period from 12/01/2018 to 12/31/2018 the Commission accepted applications to assign call signs to, or change the call signs of the following broadcast stations:
“He was the smoothest reader of the news I’ve ever met,” said a WBAL-Radio colleague, John Patti, the morning news anchor. “He could read it cold — you could give him a piece of news copy and he read it so effortlessly he made it sound like it had been news all morning.”
He earned a degree in journalism at the University of Iowa and worked the weekend anchor for the television station WOI. He remained in broadcast work and held posts in Rock Island, Ill., and Kansas City.
Durian came to Baltimore in 1982 from KDKA in Pittsburgh, where he was an Evening Magazine co-host, and became a lead anchor at WBAL-TV 11 and appeared with Stan Stovall. He spent more than three years as the television news anchor and was replaced in 1986.
When Durian left the station he worked at Maryland Public Television. In 1988 he returned to News/Talk WBAL 1090 AM as a talk show host, where he remained until he stepped down in 2012.
“Dave loved being on radio because of how familiar you can be,” Mr. Patti said. “He had the ability to connect with listeners.”
Our friend and colleague Dave Durian passed away at 2:30 this morning after a battle with lung cancer and a stroke. Here are some memories of one of the smoothest broadcasters there ever was.https://t.co/tny9ZwNuZa
In 2012 Mr. Durian, then a well-known presence on Baltimore radio for more than two decades, stepped down as anchor of WBAL's morning drive-time news program.
He also stayed active in the WBAL Radio "Kids' Campaign" charity efforts and the annual remote broadcasts from Valley View Farms. He did voice-over work for commercials, too.
➦In 1929...Newspaper gossip columnist Walter Winchell first appeared on network radio. He made his NYC radio debut over WABC (then a CBS station) in New York on May 12, 1930.
The show, entitled Saks on Broadway, was a 15-minute feature that provided business news about Broadway. He switched to WJZ (later to be renamed WABC) and the NBC Blue (in the '40s to become ABC RadioNework) in 1932 for the Jergens Journal.
Winchell found embarrassing stories about famous people by exploiting his exceptionally wide circle of contacts, and trading gossip, sometimes in return for his silence. His uniquely outspoken style made him both feared and admired, and his newspaper column was syndicated worldwide. In the 1930s, he attacked the appeasers of Nazism, and in the '50s aligned with Joseph McCarthy in his campaign against communists. The McCarthy connection in time made him deeply unfashionable, his talents did not adapt well for television, and his career ended in humiliation. ➦In 1937...On the CBS Radio Network debuted "Aunt Jenny’s Real Life Stories". The show was a 15-minute radio soap opera that aired January 18, 1937–November 16, 1956. Unlike most continuing soap operas, on Monday of each week a new, self-contained storyline was begun, one which would then reach its conclusion on Friday.
➦In 1942...BBC Radio launches a new program called Desert Island Discs . Still on the air today, it's the second-longest-running radio program in existence, next to the Grand Ole Opry.
➦In 1945...Lionel Barrymore took over the host duties temporarily on the “Lux Radio Theatre” on CBS radio. This after longtime host Cecil B. DeMille refused to join the radio performers union.
➦In 1951...Major League Baseball signed a 6 year agreement for radio-TV rights garnering a million dollars a year.
➦In 1956...the show "Indictment" was first broadcast on the CBS Radio Network. The well-produced show remained on the air in the rapidly-ending OTR era for three years.
➦In 1964,...The Beatle hit #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 for first time with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. This song had worldwide sales of 15 million copies. The same day The Beatle recorded a version in German.
In ➦1980...a true entertainer who conquered vaudeville, radio & TV Jimmy Durante, who was confined to a wheelchair following a 1972 stroke, died of pneumonia at age 86.
➦In 2000...Longtime WQBH, WJLB, WCHB Detroit personality Martha Jean "The Queen'' Steinberg died at the age of 69.
Martha Jean Steinberg
Her first radio job was on Memphis’ WDIA starting in 1954m where she was one of the first female disc jockeys in the U-S, airing R&B hits along with "household hints".
In 1963 she moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she became a larger-than-life figure on the air and in the black community. Steinberg cultivated a 46-year career and is a member of the Black Radio Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
During Detroit’s 1967 civil disturbance she remained on-air for 48 straight hours, imploring listeners to stay off the streets. That event evolved into a regular call-in show with the city’s police commissioners called “Buzz the Fuzz.”
In 1972, Steinberg became an ordained minister and founded a church called the Home of Love. Her shows became even more spiritual in nature, tagged by her sign-off, “God loves you and I love you.”
In 1982, Steinberg and several partners bought a Detroit AM station, changed its format to gospel and talk, and changed the call letters to WQBH (which many say stood for “Queen Broadcasts Here”). She bought the station outright in 1997 and remained its star broadcaster until her death three years later. Her impact on the station and its listeners was so profound that WQBH continued airing daily recordings of the Queen’s programs for years after her death. The station was sold in 2004 to Salem Broadcasting and is now a conservative talk station, WDTK.
➦In 2013...WRXP 94.7 FM, NYC changed call letters to WNSH
HOA
➦In 2017...Radio Personality Herb Oscar Anderson died at age 81 at a hospital in Vermont.
He was one of the original Swingin' Seven deejays when WABC 770 AM went to a Top40 Format in late 1960.
A longtime fixture on the New York radio station, popular in the metro area and beyond, Anderson began his tenure at WABC in 1960 at a time when the station was honing its Top 40 format. Anderson, who was a fan of big band music, was one of the station’s “Swingin’ 7” on-air personalities, WABC’s answer to the “Good Guys” on rival station WMCA 570 AM, where Anderson previously worked.
Anderson, who was born on May 30, 1928, in South Beloit, Illinois, was raised along with his four siblings at the Odd Fellows orphanage in nearby Lincoln because his widowed mother was too poor to support them. He and his mother were eventually reunited. He eventually moved to Wisconsin, where he worked as a newspaper reporter. The parent company also owned WCLO radio. He soon applied for a position at the station, figuring that announcing a sports story for 30 seconds would be more fun than spending three hours writing his high school sports column for the newspaper. After a three-year stint in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Anderson was hired in 1956 by St. Paul, Minnesota, radio station WDGY to host a Top 40 program.
The huge immediate success at the Storz Top40 WDGY prompted CBS, which had WCCO in the Twin Cities area, to get Herb out of the market by giving him a job at its Chicago station, WBBM.
HOA - circa the '70s
Before long, he was hired at WABC in New York City. In the late 1950s, Herb then went on the ABC network and was part of a line-up that included legendary talk show host and game show creator Merv Griffin, actor Jim Backus and singer Jim Reeves.
Herb hosted a show and sang before a live band, but the show didn’t work out. However, a short time later, he received a telegram from WMCA offering him a job.
In December 1960, he rejoined WABC as one of the original "Swingin’ Seven" air personalities when the station started its Top 40 format.
Unhappy with changing musical tastes, Anderson left WABC in 1969. his son later stated that a key reason for his father’s departure was because station owner ABC broke its promise to let Anderson host his own talk show. Anderson followed his WABC gig as a DJ at AM radio stations WOR and WHN in the ’70s.
➦Click Here for more historical events that happened on Jan 29.
Entercom today announced the 2019 roster of Format Captains across the company.
The following executives have been named Format Captains:
Mark Chernoff and Matt Nahigian – Sports
Chris Ebbott – Classic Hits
Alan Furst – Talk
Jimmy Gonzalez – Spanish Language
Mike Kaplan – Alternative
Brian Kelly – Top 40
Ben Mevorach and Ken Charles – News
Dave Richards – Rock / Classic Rock
Tim Roberts – Country
Reggie Rouse – Urban
Jim Ryan and Nikki Nite – Adult Contemporary
Steve Salhany – Hot Adult Contemporary
Michael Martin will continue in his role as Senior Vice President of Programming and Music Initiatives, overseeing all national artist bookings and routing efforts for the company, along with other music industry initiatives coming this year.
“We are fortunate to have so many qualified, talented people within our organization,” said Pat Paxton, President of Programming, Entercom. “I look forward to the collaboration that will take place to ensure that our brands continue to excel in every way.”
Format Captains are assigned for a period of one year and this responsibility is added to their existing role.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) will present the Spirit of Broadcasting Award to veteran radio industry reporter Tom Taylor during the 2019 NAB Show in Las Vegas. Taylor will accept the award on Monday, April 8 at the NAB Show Opening.
Tom Taylor recently retired after a three-decade career covering radio. His journalism career included stints as editor of the daily Tom Taylor NOW e-publication newsletter, launched in November 2012 and published through RTK Media with partners Robert Unmacht and Kristy Scott. Previously, Taylor served as editor of Inside Radio, M Street Journal/M Street Daily and the TRI newsletter from Chicago-based Radio-Info.com.
Before turning to journalism, Taylor served as vice president of programming and operations for Nassau Broadcasting’s WPST/WHWH in Princeton, NJ. He also programmed WKQQ Lexington, KY and WCHL Chapel Hill, NC. He was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. The second-generation broadcaster is the son of Bill Taylor, a former radio/TV personality in Orlando and radio general manager in Charlotte.
“Tom Taylor is a beloved friend of radio broadcasters and was daily chronicler of the industry for decades,” said NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton. “Tom's love for the business of broadcasting is matched only by his journalistic integrity, and NAB is delighted to honor him for his lifetime of service to quality radio reporting.”
The Spirit of Broadcasting Award recognizes general excellence and leadership and is given to individuals or organizations that have made lasting contributions to over-the-air broadcasting.
Previous recipients include radio and television entrepreneur Lowell “Bud" Paxson, improvisation and acting training center The Second City, Hubbard Broadcasting founder Stanley E. Hubbard, Communications Daily broadcast beat reporter Dawson B. "Tack" Nail, American Women in Radio and Television, "60 Minutes" creator and executive producer Don Hewitt, and Hispanic broadcasting pioneers Emilio Nicolas Sr. and Raoul A. Cortez.
Entercom today announced the rebranding of WRNL as Richmond Sports Radio 910 The Fan in Richmond, VA, effective February 4.
The flagship station for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Virginia Tech football and Virginia Commonwealth University will continue serving Richmond and the surrounding markets with premier sports content and coverage of local and regional teams.
As part of the rebrand, the station will begin simulcasting “The Sports Junkies” from sister station 106.7 The Fan WJFK-FM and will debut a new logo.
“We’re delighted to welcome the Sports Junkies to Richmond,” said Bennett Zier, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Entercom Virginia. “Their signature provocative and interesting take on sports, built over 20 years, will be a welcome addition to our stellar lineup that includes talented hosts like Wes McElroy.”
Award-winning host Wes McElroy will debut his signature sports commentary on local and regional sports during the afternoon drive from 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. ET.
“I’m ecstatic and honored that Entercom has asked me to be part of their exciting new lineup,” said McElroy. “After a dozen years on air in Virginia, this is home and there’s no other place I’d rather be. I’m equally excited to welcome one of the best sports radio teams ‘The Junkies’ to the Richmond, Virginia area.”
The Sports Junkies, comprised of John Auville, Eric Bickel, Jason Bishop, and John-Paul Flaim, have been a presence in Washington, D.C. sports since its launch in 1996 on 106.7 The Fan.
The new weekday lineup is as follows:
6:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.:“The Sports Junkies”
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.:“The Dan Patrick Show”
12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.:“The Herd with Colin Cowherd”
3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.:Wes McElroy
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.:“Straight Outta Vegas with RJ Bell and Steve Cofield”
7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.:“The Odd Couple with Chris Broussard & Rob Parker”
10:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.:“The Jason Smith Show”
Listeners can tune in to Richmond Sports Radio 910 in Richmond on air, as well as nationwide on the RADIO.COM app.
Cumulus Media announces that Chris Cox, Operations Manager and Program Director of Country at KHAY 100.7 FM in Oxnard/Ventura, CA, will retire from radio after 45 years of entertaining audiences across the U.S.
Cox’s successful broadcasting career has included on-air and programming positions for radio stations in Los Angeles, Houston, Cincinnati, Louisville, Anaheim, Palmdale/Lancaster, Evansville, and Southern Illinois. He joined Cumulus Media in 2012 as Operations Manager and Program Director of 100.7 KHAY-FM.
Sommer Frisk, Regional Vice President, Cumulus Oxnard/Ventura and Stockton/Modesto, CA, said: “Oxnard-Ventura-Santa Barbara has been extremely fortunate to have benefited from Chris’s stewardship over the last seven years. What we will miss about Chris is his dedication, hard work, professionalism and relentless commitment to the success of our cluster. What we will miss MOST about Chris is his leadership, character and compassion. We wish him well in his much deserved retirement.”
Cox said: “It’s been an incredible journey, 45 years of doing what I love - who gets to say that? I have been fortunate to work with fantastic people throughout my career; especially my good friend and mentor Mike McVay, who has always been there for me. I also want to thank Market Manager Sommer Frisk for her support over the last seven years in Oxnard/Ventura. Now I’ll have time to learn a new guitar riff. Smoke On The Water is getting old.”
Benztown, a leading international radio imaging, production library, programming, jingles and voiceover services company with over 2,300 affiliations on six different continents, and The National Radio Talent System™, the system of Radio Talent Institutes across America, discovering and preparing the next generation of broadcasters, announce the launch of the Benztown Mentorship Program.
The Benztown Mentorship Program will offer one-to-one mentoring to select students who are accepted into The Radio Talent Institutes of the National Radio Talent System™, on an ongoing basis, with structured mentoring opportunities during the Spring and Fall Semesters.
Dave 'Chachi' Denes
Benztown and The National Radio Talent System™ also announced the selection of the program’s first quarter mentee, Susquehanna University student Carly Rogers. Rogers participated in the Confer Radio Talent Institute last summer at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Through the Benztown Mentorship Program, Rogers will be personally mentored by radio professional Jack Diamond, Host of "The Jack Diamond Morning Show" on Cumulus Media’s WRQX Mix 107.3 FM in Washington, D.C., during the months of January, February and March. Diamond will mentor Rogers via teleconference and at WRQX-FM studios in Washington, D.C.
Dave “Chachi” Denes, Benztown President, said: “We are so pleased to help The National Radio Talent System™ connect some of radio’s most accomplished professionals with promising students working toward careers in radio through the Benztown Mentorship Program. Our industry is only as strong as the talent that we attract and train, and we believe that this program will create opportunities for up-and-coming young broadcasters and radio stations and companies looking to hire the very best.”
Dan Vallie
Dan Vallie, President, The National Radio Talent System™, said: “We were talking internally about doing a mentorship program when Benztown/Chachi approached us. The magic happened, and it’s exciting to start 2019 launching the Benztown Mentorship Program. This is an outstanding opportunity and experience for the selected students.”
Jack Diamond, Host of “The Jack Diamond Morning Show” on Mix 107.3/WRQX-FM in Washington, D.C., said: “I am pleased and honored to have been asked to be the first mentor of the Benztown Mentorship Program, in association with The National Radio Talent System™. When two of the absolute best in our business, Dan Vallie and Dave “Chachi” Denes, ask, you say yes! Working with and developing talent has long been a passion. It’s a way for all of us to support and improve our amazing industry. It’s also a great way to thank those who were there for us in the beginning and helped us along our journey. I can’t wait to get started!”
For more information about the Benztown Mentorship Program or to participate in the program as a mentor, contact Susan Aksu at sa@benztown.com or at (818) 842-4600.
The Sports Junkies, hosted by John Auville, Eric Bickel, Jason Bishop and John-Paul Flaim on Entercom’s 106.7 The Fan WJFK in Washington D.C. will expand their reach with a syndication deal.
Beginning today, The Sports Junkies will be available in Norfolk, VA on Sinclair’s Sports Radio WTAR 850 AM /96.5 FM, according to sportsradiopd.com.
“We’re excited to offer the Sports Junkies show to the audiences of great stations like Sports Radio 96.5 and 850 WTAR,” said Chris Kinard, Program Director, 106.7 The Fan. “This is a natural brand extension for the Junkies, who have amassed a large and loyal following on terrestrial radio, streaming, podcast, and television over nearly 23 years. We believe their show is a great fit for any sports station in the mid-Atlantic region.”
The Junkies have been a D.C. staple since 1996, joining WJFK prior to the station’s flip to an all sports format. Sinclair’s WTAR 850 and 96.5 currently carries the Fox Sports Radio network along with The Bob Matthews Show from 3 – 5pm as their only local programming during the weekday lineup.
Bob Sinclair, owner of the Norfolk stations, said “We are thrilled to bring the Sports Junkies to Hampton Roads and add them to our already stellar lineup. The show has been one of the best sports programs in the country for over 20 years and provides amazing coverage of the Redskins, Capitals, Nationals, Wizards, and more. And with so many of our listeners being fans of those teams, they will fit in perfectly here in the 757.”
Broadcasting daily from 5 – 10am, The Junkies syndication deal with WTAR in Norfolk will replace Outkick The Coverage with Clay Travis and the first hour of The Dan Patrick Show.
