Neilsen recently released their 2019 diary book ratings for the Winter of 2019, and one of the biggest success stories for the period was country radio station CountryWBEE 92.5 FM in Rochester, New York, reports savingcountrymusic.com.
Already #1 in their radio market, WBEE saw significant market growth from the Fall of 2018 to the Winter of 2019 from an 8.1 share to an impressive 9.9. The radio station also saw strong growth in all of their key demographics, including 18-34 adults, 25-54 adults, and 25-54 women who make up country’s key demographic.
Bob Barnett
What does the radio station attribute this solid growth and continued market dominance to? In a recent interview with Country Aircheck, WBEE’s Vice President of Programming, Bob Barnett, says it wasn’t veering younger and more pop like many radio pundits might advise a radio station to do. Instead, the strategy was the exact opposite.
“We policed the excessive number of ‘snap tracks’ and drinking songs, and we were increasingly more selective over which new songs got added and exposed,” says the program director.
“In addition, we re-introduced a number of older gold titles back into the mix to try and achieve a better ‘mainstream’ country music mix. Through late summer and fall, I felt like much of the new music coming in was all beginning to sound the same—and we were missing variety and depth—so, we adjusted the gold mix.”
WBEE’s Bob Barnett gambled on trying to build better songs and older songs into the radio station’s playlist—something counter-intuitive to the philosophy of many country radio station programmers—and it paid off. “It felt like the prevailing reaction from the team to this book was a combination of accomplishment and relief,” says Barnett.
Snap and clap tracks have become the hot commodity in country music recently as pointed out by country commentator Grady Smith in a recent viral video that has received over 3 million views. Snap tracks among many other factors have added to the “sameness” many people feel about today’s country music, and not just between different contemporary country songs, but between songs on other formats that also employ electronic beats as opposed to live drums.
FOX News has named Viant Technology’s Jeff Collins as Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales, announced Marianne Gambelli, President of Advertising Sales for Fox Corporation.
Starting today, Collins will oversee advertising sales for all of FOX News Media including, FOX News Channel, FOX Business Network and FOX News Digital. The position was previously held by Gambelli, who transitioned to head of ad sales for the network’s parent company last fall.
In making the announcement, Gambelli said, “Jeff’s proven track record in identifying new revenue streams and implementing strategic partnerships will add depth and innovation to our sales team. We look forward to welcoming him to FOX News as we further expand our business beyond traditional platforms.”
Collins added, “I am beyond thrilled to join FOX News. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime to work on such a dynamic and powerful brand and I look forward to pairing my expertise across linear and digital platforms with the network’s incredibly loyal audience.”
As Chief Revenue Office for Viant Technology, Collins oversaw all revenue for the company and its subsidiaries including, Specific Media, Vindico, Myspace and Xumo. In this capacity, Collins drove the company’s ad tech expansion, including overseeing the 2017 acquisition of mobile ad company Aldelphic and ushered in a massive digital innovation across demand side platforms (DSPs). Additionally, in 2016, Collins helped manage the integration of Viant into the Time Inc. business following their acquisition of the company.
As part of Viant’s senior leadership team, Collins managed a global sales team of 120 across 12 domestic and international offices. He oversaw all business and sales efforts throughout the organization, including managing an operating budget in excess of $40 million. After joining Viant in 2014, Collins was responsible for developing key digital marketing and emerging media strategies, which resulted in the company repeatedly exceeding revenue targets.
Previously, Collins spent 18 years with Turner Broadcasting where he held sales and leadership positions across many of the Time Warner brands.
FOX News Media operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Digital, FOX News Radio, FOX News Headlines 24/7, FOX News podcasts and the digital streaming subscription service FOX Nation. A top five-cable network, FNC has been the most watched television news channel 17 consecutive years, while FBN has ranked as the number one business channel for the past two years. Owned by FOX Corporation, FOX News Media reaches 200 million people each month.
Townsquare Media Inc. announced today that Libby Nolan has joined the Company as Market President and Chief Revenue Officer for its Quincy-Hannibal local media cluster.
Libby Nolan
Nolan will lead the local media team in Quincy-Hannibal, which includes Country Kick-FM 97.9 (KICK-FM), AC Y101 (KRRY-FM), Classic Country Kick-AM (WLIQ-AM), and News-Talk KHMO 1070-AM. She will report to Townsquare Regional Vice President Kelly Quinn.
“Libby is a perfect match for what we look for in a leader at Townsquare. She brings with her exceptional experience in building sales teams and utilizing local talent to its fullest potential, which will enhance our ‘Local First’ approach in Quincy-Hannibal,” commented Mr. Quinn. “There are great things in store for this market with our ability to serve the community with fantastic content and incredible advertising solutions.”
“I am ecstatic to be leading the Quincy-Hannibal Townsquare team,” said Ms. Nolan. “I love Townsquare’s ‘Local First’ commitment which provides our communities with the best content and advertising and digital marketing solutions. I look forward to helping small and medium sized businesses thrive by providing the very best solutions in the market.”
Townsquare COO – Local Media, Erik Hellum added, “It doesn’t get better than this. Libby has strong roots in both Illinois and Missouri – grew up in a small town in IL and worked for many years in St. Louis, which when combined with her talent, experience and passion for our business makes her a great fit for Townsquare and the right person to lead our team in Quincy-Hannibal.”
Prior to joining Townsquare, Ms. Nolan was General Sales Manager for Entercom and Emmis in St. Louis, MO.
Spotify is about to begin publicly testing its first hardware: a voice-controlled smart assistant for cars, meant to help Spotify learn how people consume audio while they’re driving. As part of the test, some Premium users will receive the device for free.
The device, called Car Thing, plugs into a vehicle’s 12-volt outlet (aka a cigarette lighter) for power and connects to both a person’s car and phone over Bluetooth. The device can be activated by saying, “Hey, Spotify,” followed by a request for whatever the person wants to hear. It’ll be linked to a user’s Spotify account, so they can access their playlists.
Car Thing includes a circular screen on one side, which will show what’s being played. On the other side are a series of buttons that can be used to access playlist presets.
The test, which will be small and begin within the next few weeks and Spotify will reach out to people it’s considering including. The Verge citing a source close to Spotify says the team doesn’t have a hard timeline for how long the test will run, and that there are no intentions to launch this device as-is or to the public more broadly.
In a blog post, Spotify says that Car Thing was developed to “help us learn more about how people listen to music and podcasts.” And despite this being a hardware device, Spotify says its focus “remains on becoming the world’s number one audio platform — not on creating hardware.”
Still, the source says Spotify has trademarked not only the Car Thing name, but also the names Voice Thing and Home Thing, which suggests that Spotify might be interested in creating a home smart speaker or at least piloting a test program with one.
This source says Spotify is running its Car Thing test to learn more about the in-car experience. Spotify already has access to some data about its users’ habits when driving — the team has an integration with Waze, as well as a driving mode, so presumably the app knows when someone is in the car and what they’re consuming. However, if someone is playing music through an auxiliary cable, over Bluetooth, or via another third-party app, Spotify might not know the context for that listening session; Car Thing could change that.
David Begnaud, Jericka Duncan, Vladimir Duthiers and Anna Werner to Appear on the Network’s Morning Program
CBS This Morning will have a team of correspondents dedicated to the Network’s flagship morning program, it was announced today by executive producer Diana Miller.
CBS News’ David Begnaud, Jericka Duncan, Anna Werner and Vladimir Duthiers will appear on CBS THIS MORNING along with co-hosts Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil to deliver original reporting on the day’s top stories, investigative reports and news-making interviews that will distinguish the broadcast.
“Having a dedicated team of correspondents will provide a consistent, high level of original reporting that viewers can count on each day,” said Miller. “Each one of them brings something different to the broadcast and is focused on our mission of hard news with a heart.”
Their reporting will also be featured on the CBS Evening News, our streaming network CBSN and all other CBS News platforms.
Begnaud becomes lead national correspondent for CBS THIS MORNING and will continue to deliver his award-winning coverage as he travels to the front lines of the important breaking top stories.
Duncan becomes a national correspondent for CBS THIS MORNING delivering original reporting, news-making interviews and stories with impact. Duncan, who has been a CBS News correspondent since 2013, has reported such significant stories as accusations against R Kelly, Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein; the shooting deaths of four Marines and a Navy sailor in Chattanooga; the 70th anniversary of D-Day and Normandy; as well as a variety of national breaking news stories.
Duthiers, who serves as a CBS News correspondent and CBSN anchor, will deliver the first look at stories people are talking about each day for CBS THIS MORNING. A Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist, Duthiers has covered a wide range of breaking and feature stories from around the globe.
Werner has been named consumer investigative correspondent for CBS THIS MORNING. Already known for groundbreaking reporting on consumer safety and whistleblower stories, she will continue to dig into stories that have impact.
The late-night wars are not what they were in the 1990s, in the days of David Letterman and Jay Leno, reports The NY Times. The viewership figures aren’t what they were back then, for one thing. And the acrimony among the stars of the 11:30 time slot isn’t what it used to be, either.
But, according to the Times, there was a glimpse of the old fire on Wednesday’s edition of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” when Howard Stern told Mr. Fallon of the angst he felt in deciding which late-night venue he would select as the venue for promoting his new book.
It was between “The Tonight Show” and CBS’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Mr. Stern told Mr. Fallon, and he got so worked up about his dilemma, he said, that he even called Mr. Colbert for advice.
As Stern recounted it for Fallon and his audience, he told Colbert that he was very worried about disappointing Fallon by choosing the CBS show — because Mr. Fallon is “very fragile,” Mr. Stern said. But, he added, Colbert solved the problem by encouraging him to go on “The Tonight Show” first.
Stern talked about it with Fallon starting at the 2:15 Time Mark:
After nearly four years of going head to head with Fallon, Colbert has bragging rights. He averages 3.8 million total viewers, compared with 2.4 million for “The Tonight Show” and two million for ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Colbert also looks poised to finish first among adult viewers under 50 for the first time. The CBS host, who surpassed Mr. Fallon among younger viewers a couple of months ago, has a narrow lead, averaging 678,000 viewers in the key demographic to Fallon’s 662,000.
Longtime CBS anchor and "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley on Friday laid part of the blame for the spread of false information at the feet of “self-dealing politicians” who seek to benefit themselves, calling it a danger to democracy, reports The Hill.
“We live in a time where never in human history has more information been available to more people. That’s a great thing,” Pelley said CBS' “The Late Show with Steven Colbert” on Friday.
“But never in human history has more bad information been available to more people. That is a big change in our generation, for the next generation, a big change for America. You have to have solid, reliable information for people to make decisions about their families and their country.”
Pelley, a former anchor of "CBS Evening News" who is promoting his new book “Truth Worth Telling,” pointed to the spread of false information online in recent years.
“So much of what we are reading and seeing is a cynical attempt by hostile foreign governments or self-dealing politicians to poison that landscape. What’s the most dangerous thing to a democracy? Is it terrorism? War? Maybe another Great Recession? I don’t think so. I think the biggest danger to a democracy is poisoning the information.”
Reporter Maria Menounos gave her opinion on the future of entertainment news on television in wake of new technology and mobile sites, reports Fox Business.
Menounos, 40, spoke to Yahoo Finance at the SALT Conference in Las Vegas. She was asked which direction she saw media going and what has surprised her.
“What we’re seeing in my field in entertainment is no one needs to tune in anymore because you’re getting it on your mobile device,” the reporter told Yahoo Finance Opens a New Window. .
The reporter, who has worked as a corresponded for “Access Hollywood,” “Extra” and “E! News” gave an example of the quick news.
“You’re seeing that Meghan Markle just announced her baby with Harry on your phone and then you click and you watch it and then you’re done so there’s no need to tune into the evening entertainment news,” she explained.
“So that breed is dying, and it needs to evolve. There needs to be a new evolution for it,” she continued.
A study by the Pew Research Center showed six in 10 American adults get their news from their mobile devices.
The reporter and her husband, Keven Undergaro, launched AfterBuzz TV, a digital broadcast network. She described it as the “ESPN of TV talk” and a place to watch for conversation on your favorite television shows.
Father Jonathan Morris among the most prominent Catholic priests in America as a contributor to Fox News, has asked to be dismissed from the clerical state, indicating he wants to be free to “marry and have a family” though saying it’s not about an “existing relationship,” reports Angelus News.
In a statement released Friday, Morris writes that the decision has filled him “with newfound joy,” though he says he knows some people won’t understand his decision to leave the priesthood.
“After taking some months of sabbatical to be with family and to dedicate more time to prayer and retreat, I have decided to ask the Holy Father, Pope Francis, to release me from the duties and responsibilities of the clerical state,” Morris said in a statement, which he made available to Crux.
He’s appeared on several TV networks and is best known for his role with Fox News, though he was also a theological adviser to Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ”, and was the program director for “The Catholic Channel,” a project of the Archdiocese of New York, on the Sirius XM radio network for three years.
Morris said in his statement that the fear of “disappointing people’s expectations” has held him back from taking the step he’s now taking, something he’s considered “often and at length in years past and discussed with my spiritual guides.”
In his statement, Morris acknowledges that even though he’s “loved and thrived” in much of his ministry, he’s struggled with his vocation and the commitments demanded by being a Catholic priest, particularly not being able to marry and have a family.
As smartphones have become a constant companion for most people in the United States, landline phones are rapidly losing their relevance. In 2004, more than 90 percent of households in the U.S. had an operational landline phone - now it’s little more than 40 percent.
That’s according to data provided by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, which has been tracking phone ownership in the U.S. as a by-product of its biannual National Health Interview Survey since 2004.
If the trend continues at the current pace, and there’s little reason to believe it won’t, landline phones could soon become an endangered species, much like the VCR and other technological relics before it.
➦In 1901...Reginald Fessenden applied for high-frequency dynamo patent. Fessenden (October 6, 1866 – July 22, 1932) was a Canadian-born inventor, who did a majority of his work in the United States and also claimed U-S citizenship through his American-born father. During his life he received hundreds of patents in various fields, most notably ones related to radio and sonar.
Fessenden is best known for his pioneering work developing radio technology, including the foundations of amplitude modulation (AM) radio. His achievements included the first transmission of speech by radio (1900), and the first two-way radiotelegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean (1906). In 1932 he reported that, in late 1906, he also made the first radio broadcast of entertainment and music, although a lack of verifiable details has led to some doubts about this claim.
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, is generally ignored and largely unknown. On December 24, 1906, at 9 P.M. eastern standard time, Reginald Fessenden transmitted human voices from Brant Rock near Boston, Massachusetts to several ships at sea owned by the United Fruit Company.
The host of the broadcast was Fessenden. After giving a resume of the program Fessenden played a recording of Handel's "Largo" on an Ediphone thus establishing two records - the first recording of the first broadcast. Fessenden then dazzled his listeners with his talent as a violinist playing appropriately for the Christmas season, "Oh Holy Night" and actually singing the last verse as he played. Mrs. Helen Fessenden and Fessenden's secretary Miss Bent, had promised to read seasonal passages from the Bible including, "Glory to God in the highest -and on earth peace to men of good will," but when the time came to perform they stood speechless, paralyzed with mike fright. Fessenden took over for them and concluded the broadcast by extending Christmas greetings to his listeners - as well as asking them to write and report to him on the broadcast wherever they were.
The mail response confirmed that Fessenden had successfully invented radio as we know it.
Technically, he had invented radio telephony or what radio listeners would call "real" radio as opposed to Marconi's Morse code broadcasting. Fessenden could truly lay claim to be the inventor of radio and he fully expected the world to beat a path to his door. Instead, he never received his due recognition, lost control of his patents and the ensuing revenue which made other inventors and companies immensely wealthy. Even today the Encyclopedia Canadiana does not give him a separate listing. Mention of him is only included under the listing for his mother Clementina who established Empire Day in Canada. Reginald is mentioned as one of her four sons, "inventor of the wireless telephone, the radio compass and the visible bullet for machine guns, he also invented the first television set in North America in 1919."
➦In 1960...WRCA 660 AM in NYC became WNBC...again.
WNBC signed on for the first time on March 2, 1922, as WEAF, owned by AT&T Western Electric. It was the first radio station in New York City.
The call are popularly thought to have stood for Western Electric AT&T Fone or Water, Earth, Air, and Fire (the 4 classical elements). However, records suggest that the call letters were assigned from an alphabetical sequence. The first assigned call was actually WDAM; it was quickly dropped, but presumably came from the same alphabetical sequence.
In 1922, WEAF broadcast what it later claimed to be the first radio advertisement (actually a roughly 10-minute long talk anticipating today's radio and television infomercials) which promoted an apartment development in Jackson Heights near a new elevated train line, (the IRT's Flushing-Corona line, now the number 7 line).
In 1926, WEAF was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America, making it a sister station to WJZ. RCA then formed the National Broadcasting Company, which operated two radio chains.
WEAF became the flagship station of the NBC Red Network. The other chain was the NBC Blue Network, whose programming originated at WJZ (now WABC), also owned by RCA. As a result of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement of 1941, WEAF became a clear channel station, and could be heard across most of the eastern half of North America at night.
On November 11, 1928, WEAF moved from 610 to 660 AM. The move that solidified WEAF's position as the most pretigious of all broadcasters took place in the autumn of 1933, when NBC moved to 30 Rockefeller Plaza and became the "radio" that gave Radio City its name.
In 1943, the United States Supreme Court ordered RCA to sell off one of its radio networks, citing antitrust concerns. The company decided to keep the Red Network, and it was rebranded as the NBC Radio Network after the Blue Network was divested, along with several stations (including WJZ), to Edward J. Noble and rechristened the Blue Network as the American Broadcasting Company. WEAF's call letters were changed to WNBC in 1946, then to WRCA in 1954, and back to WNBC in 1960.
➦In 2011…John Cigna died at age 75 following a stroke ( Born - December 11, 1935). He spent 28 years at KDKA 1020 AM in Pittsburgh, starting in 1973 until his retirement in 2001.
Cigna was born in 1935 in Brooklyn, New York. He worked at radio stations in West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana before moving to Pittsburgh in 1969 to take up a position at WJAS as the sports anchor and morning news director.
John Cigna
Cigna moved to KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh on March 11, 1973, when he hosted a talk show from 9:00 PM to midnight. Cigna became known for his often brash and confrontational demeanor, unafraid to call unreasonable listeners 'stupid' when provoked. He also became known for his famous catchphrases, including 'babycakes', 'piece of cake', 'I don't believe this', and 'Oh, brother!'.
Cigna's late night tenure lasted until 1983, where he moved to the morning slot after previous morning host Jack Bogut moved to WTAE-AM. The show, dubbed "John Cigna and the K-Team" consisted of Dave James, Fred Honsberger and sportscaster Nellie King.
Management, fearing a ratings dip after Bogut's departure, embarked on a heavy advertising campaign to promote Cigna on co-owned KDKA-TV, where Cigna appeared in a number of self-depricating promos that usually began with "John Cigna is learning firsthand about...", and depending on the ad, it would be KDKA news, the KDKA Storm Center, and the KDKA Traffic Copter, among others.
Cigna also became noted for performing two stunts in the KDKA news promo, where he jumped onto the hood of a moving station vehicle, and having a door slammed into his face (accidentally) by then-News Director Honsberger. Though KDKA was long-established as the top-rated station in Pittsburgh, ratings remained fairly steady after Cigna's move to mornings.
Cigna was paired with Honsberger in 1996 to do the morning show, now dubbed The Morning News with John Cigna, but Honsberger was moved back to his afternoon slot 6 months later.
Upon his retirement in September 2001, Cigna's on-air absences had been getting more frequent, to the point where billboards promoted "Where's Cigna?". Cigna's health began to decline since suffering injuries in a motorcycle crash two years prior. He was succeeded by Larry Richert as host of the morning show.
➦In 2014...77-year-oldBill Berg, a popular afternoon-drive talk show host on WGN 720 AM in the 1970s, died of complications from Parkinson's disease. Berg's first radio job was with a station in a small town in Illinois.
Bill Berg
He then worked at stations in Springfield, Lafayette, Ind., Detroit and Milwaukee before moving to Chicago in May 1966 to host an overnight program called "Nightwatch" on WIND.
In 1969, Mr. Berg began, hosting and producing a nightly sports talk radio show at WIND and working as its sports director. He also moderated a talk show featuring then-Cubs manager Leo Durocher. In 1970, Mr. Berg spent a season helping out on Bulls broadcasts.
In August 1971, Mr. Berg joined WGN as its afternoon drive-time music and talk show host.
Berg generated strong ratings at WGN during the 1970s. He also worked occasional Cubs games on the station and on WGN-TV, and also broadcast DePaul and Loyola basketball games and the Big Ten football game of the week. With Merri Dee, Mr. Berg co-hosted a short-lived WGN-TV show in 1973 called "Our Town Today."
