The decision by CNN’s corporate overlord to install a chief operating officer could be “the beginning of the end” for network chief Chris Licht, who must answer to a meddlesome boss while being undermined by a newsroom loyal to his predecessor, according to The NY Post citing a report on the news channel’s meltdown.
Licht’s year-long reign since taking over for the ousted Jeff Zucker has been plagued by internal turmoil — namely over fired anchor Don Lemon — and behind-the-scenes skullduggery, according to the 9,000-word expose by The Atlantic.
All the while, the ratings continue to hit new lows — even losing some primetime battles to Newsmax — as Licht attempts to pivot CNN toward the middle after years of pandering to the left.
Now, Thursday’s announcement that David Leavy, a longtime loyalist of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, will become CNN’s COO has “fueled talk of an imminent power struggle — and potentially, the beginning of the end for Licht,” sources told The Atlantic.
The magazine cited sources who blamed Zaslav for putting Licht in an unenviable position of having to work for a boss described as a micromanager.
A shakeup is coming to the primetime schedule at venerable Detroit-based radio station WJR 760 AM this month, and it's going to impact how Michiganians have known morning news/talk radio for decades, reports The Detroit News.
The changes revolve around well-known news radio personality Paul W. Smith, who will shift his show later this month from the 6-9 a.m. weekday slot it's held since 1996 to a noon-2 p.m. show called "Focus."
Smith said the show will give him the flexibility to take deeper dives into subjects and take the show remotely to broadcast out in the community. As a result of the move, Smith is extending his contract with WJR to stay on for at least five more years.
"It all kind of worked out perfectly," said Smith, adding he was contemplating a change since he's a self-described "night owl, not a morning lark" and has had to get up at 4 a.m. weekdays for his show.
"Then this opportunity came up where we could seize the midday programming and turn it back into local programming, all the topics that are of interest to our audience throughout the state of Michigan. And they asked if I would do it because it would be, for them, a strong way to kick that off.
The lineup shakeup will take place on June 20, pivoting the station toward a more Michigan-centric direction.
Guy Gordon, currently in an afternoon time slot with his own show, will become the host of "JR Morning," airing in Smith's old space of 6-9 a.m. weekdays. "All Talk" with Tom Jordan and Kevin Dietz will follow until noon when Smith's "Focus" show takes over through 2 p.m.
A newly created "JR Afternoon" show with senior news analyst Chris Renwick airs 2-4 p.m. and "The Mitch Albom Show" shifts to 4-6 p.m. "SportsWrap" with Sean Baligian wraps up the all-local 6-7 p.m. primetime schedule.
Audacy is set for the return of Live 105 (KITS-FM) in San Francisco. The station, previously known as 105.3 Dave FM, will now feature music from every era of its history as the ‘Bay Area's Alternative.’ Core artists will include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, The Killers, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Blink-182, Foo Fighters, Depeche Mode, The Cure and more. The rebranding is scheduled for 10:53 AM local time today.
“The people have spoken, and we are excited to answer the call,” said Stacey Kauffman, Regional Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy San Francisco and Sacramento. “After a six-year hiatus, Live 105 – THE Bay Area’s Alternative – has returned to the airwaves! We are proud to bring back this local favorite that gives our loyal listeners and favorite Alternative artists from the 90s to today a place to call home again, right here in the Bay Area.”
Live 105 will launch with Regional Vice President of Programming John Allers serving as Brand Manager. Jayn will serve as Music Director in addition to her role as Music Director for Alice @ 97.3 (KLLC-FM) in San Francisco.
“Our entire team has great respect and admiration for what Live 105 means to the Bay Area Alternative community,” said Allers. “We will continue to honor Live 105's rich history and legacy by bringing back brand mainstays such as ‘Soundcheck’ with Aaron Axelsen and other familiar voices while collaborating with Live 105 alumnus 'Miles The DJ' in guiding the evolution of Live 105 into the future.”
On-air talent updates will be announced in the coming weeks.
📻Listeners can tune in to Live 105 (KITS-FM) in San Francisco on air, as well as nationwide on the Audacyapp and website. Fans can also connect with the station on social media via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
A sonic boom was heard across the Washington DC area Sunday afternoon when military jets raced after a private, unresponsive plane that crossed into restricted airspace and later crashed, killing all four people onboard. The deafening boom rang out when two F-16 fighter jets were scrambled from Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland to investigate the aircraft that was flying, but not responding to radio transmissions shortly after 3 p.m., according to the Department of Defense. Residents around the capital and surrounding communities were left bewildered until more information later came out. The F-16s were deployed after the private Cessna jet flew into restricted airspace over the capital before it violently crashed in southwest Virginia. The fighter jets saw that the pilot of the plane had passed out, a US official told ABC News.
BREAKING: A small Cessna plane flew over a no fly zone in Washington, D.C. unresponsive this afternoon.
- F16's were then scrambled to intercept the unresponsive aircraft.
- The Annapolis Office of Emergency Management confirmed that a sonic boom was caused by the F16s.
Hours later, police said rescuers had reached the site of the plane crash in a rural part of the Shenandoah Valley and that no survivors were found.
A Florida woman and NRA executive posted a heartbreaking tribute to her daughter and granddaughter after it was confirmed that no one survived the wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nation's capital Sunday afternoon. The flight, which was prompted the Pentagon to scramble an interceptor fighter jet Sunday afternoon as the pilot had become unresponsive. The private Cessna jet from Elizabethton, Tennessee came close to both the US Capitol building and the White House at around 3.30pm, Federal Aviation Administration officials say. Barbara Rumpel, a businesswoman and member of the NRA Women's Leadership Form, posted to Facebook Sunday, confirming that her daughter and granddaughter died in the crash. 'My family is gone, my daughter and granddaughter,' Rumpel wrote in the comments of a post sharing her attendance at an NRA conference.
➤ONE DEAD IN S-A MALL SHOOTING: A man was shot and killed as he got his hair cut at North Star Mall on Sunday afternoon, according to San Antonio police. SAPD public information officer Nick Soliz said two gunmen went up to the victim in the barber shop and shot him “in cold blood” just after 3 p.m. The man, believed to be in his early 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene.
🚨#BREAKING: Shoppers run for cover after multiple shots were fired inside the North Star Mall
Watch as multiple shoppers run for cover after multiple shots were fired inside North Star Mall in San Antonio Texas. Police have confirmed that the shooting… pic.twitter.com/m7Pog27c1K
Chuck Todd told viewers Sunday he is leaving the moderator’s chair on the 75-year-old "Meet The Press" in September. He will hand it off to Kristen Welker, the network’s chief White House correspondent.
The L-A Times reports Welker will be the second female moderator in the long history of “Meet the Press.” Martha Rountree was the first to have the job when the program launched in 1947 and held the position until 1953.
Chuck Todd will depart NBC's 'Meet the Press' after nine years hosting the show.
Kristen Welker, NBC News’ co-chief White House correspondent, will succeed him. https://t.co/giJX6qkyv9
Welker will make history as the first Black woman to serve as moderator of a Sunday morning network public affairs program, among the most prestigious positions in TV news.
Incoming Twitter Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino has tapped one of her top lieutenants from NBCUniversal to join her as she prepares to take the helm at the social-media company.
Joe Benarroch is taking on a senior business operations role, according to The Wall Street Journal citing a memo Benarroch sent to NBCUniversal colleagues.
Benarroch has served as executive vice president of communications, global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, where Yaccarino for years has run the media company’s ad sales operation. He has been one of her most trusted advisers.
Joe Benarroch
“Tomorrow, I start a different professional adventure at Twitter, taking on a role focusing on business operations,” Benarroch wrote in the memo. He noted that he has worked with Yaccarino to champion and grow the company’s business priorities and help build partnerships, among other things. “I am looking forward to bringing my experience to Twitter, and to working with the entire team to build Twitter 2.0 together.”
Musk has said Yaccarino will focus primarily on business operations, while he will focus on product design and technology.
Musk bought Twitter last year for $44 billion but has struggled to stabilize the business after many advertisers, put off by his approach to content moderation, left the platform or slashed their spending. Musk has made various efforts to encourage advertisers to return. Yaccarino’s deep relationships on Madison Avenue could help that cause, ad executives have said.
The addition of Benarroch comes amid turnover in Twitter’s upper ranks in recent days. Last week, Twitter lost two key executives: Ella Irwin, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, who was in charge of handling content moderation decisions, and A.J. Brown, head of brand safety and ad quality, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Initially, much of the national press coverage of Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R-FL) presidential primary campaign rollout last week began with a fixation on proving whether or not he was likable to Republican primary voters.
According to Saleno Zito, National Politics Reporter for The Washington Examiner, the reason for that fixation is likely because many of them had spent the past six months writing stories about how the former Navy officer and congressman did not possess that attribute.
When that was disproved after several planned and unplanned retail stops, the fixation turned to his disdain for the press by not taking questions from them. Even after doing over a dozen interviews with local press and taking questions during a press conference, the narrative became: He doesn’t take questions from voters.
In fact, the narrative hit a fever pitch on Thursday when a reporter from the Associated Press asked DeSantis, “How come you’re not taking questions from voters,” at the very moment he was standing in a sea of voters who were clearly asking him questions and talking to him.
It was clear DeSantis was dumbfounded by the question, answering, “People are coming up to me, talking to me. What are you talking about?"
DeSantis looked around at all the people he was just talking to and asked the reporter, “Are you blind? OK, so people are coming up to me, talking to me whatever they want to talk to me about.”
Then things got silly real fast, at least on social media, as fellow New York- and Washington, D.C.-based reporters swooped in to comment on Twitter about how DeSantis “snapped” and “lashed out” at the reporter. Within hours stories were written in the legacy press detailing the “confrontation.”
Major League Baseball and Diamond Sports Group, which owns the Bally Sports branded family of regional sports networks, have been at loggerheads for some time. After testimony before a bankruptcy court, and a judge’s ruling, the days of the league being broadcast by the networks appear numbered, according to Forbes.
On Thursday in Houston, U.S. bankruptcy judge Christopher Lopez ruled that Diamond should pay the full value of their contracts with the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Texas Rangers. Diamond had been seeking to pay less based on changes in the media rights market.
MLB released a statement shortly after, saying, “MLB appreciates the ruling from the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Houston requiring Diamond to pay the full contractual rate to Clubs. As always, we hope Diamond will continue to broadcast games and meet its contractual obligations to Clubs. As with the Padres, MLB will stand ready to make games available to fans if Diamond fails to meet its obligations.”
Before a Macomb County judge on Thursday sentenced a Pontiac man to life in prison for killing a WWJ news anchor and assaulting his family last Stepember, prosecutors made him watch a video of police rescuing the 10-year-old boy he had tied up and hit with a hammer.
The Detroit News reports the video showed the officers finding WWJ anchor Jim Matthews’ body on the ground in his home and their desperation to find Matthews’ son, who they knew was in the house somewhere.
They found the boy tied up in a closet, covered in blood after having been hit in the head with a hammer. His injuries were severe, police said.
Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Steve Fox wanted that video to be one of the last things Arthur Williamson saw before he went to prison for the rest of his life.
A Detroit-area man has been sentenced to life in prison for the slaying of a radio news anchor and attack on the anchor’s family. https://t.co/3lQMneJDOv
“I hope he sees some of the images and hears these sounds for the rest of his life,” Fox said.
Macomb County Circuit Court Judge James Biernat said it was good that Williamson would never see life outside of prison again.
Williamson pleaded no contest to fatally stabbing and beating Matthews with a hammer and to assaulting his two children and long-time girlfriend in September 2022. Biernat sentenced him to life in prison.
Personal Finance radio host Dave Ramsey is facing a $150 million lawsuit from 17 listeners who claim he played a role in defrauding them by promoting a timeshare exit company, according to The Tennessean.
The lawsuit, filed in April against Ramsey and marketing company Happy Hour Media Group in the Washington Western District Court, argued that the radio host promoted Timeshare Exit Team to the financial detriment of his listeners.
➦In 1910...Radio, TV character actor Herb Vigran was born in Cincinnati.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1939, and with his unique voice was frequently cast in scores of network radio dramas and variety shows, performing with the likes of Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Jimmy Durante.
He appeared in more than 350 TV shows and bigscreen films, most notably in Dragnet, Gunsmoke and I Love Lucy.
He died of complications from cancer Nov. 29 1986 at age 76.
➦In 1956...Elvis Presley appeared on The Milton Berle Show, causing a national uproar with his hip-swiveling performance of "Hound Dog. When Presley appeared next on Ed Sullivan’s show on CBS TV, he was pictured only from the waist up.
➦In 1973…following news that the American Red Cross had run out of money as a result of aid efforts for recent natural disasters, Gordon Sinclair of CFRB in Toronto recorded what would become his most famous radio editorial, "The Americans." While paying tribute to American success, ingenuity, and generosity to people in need abroad, Sinclair decried that when America faced crisis itself, it often seemed to face that crisis alone.
At the time, Sinclair considered the piece to be nothing more than one of his usual items. But when U.S. News & World Report published a full transcript, the magazine was flooded with requests for copies. Radio station WWDC-AM in Washington, D.C., started playing a recording of Sinclair's commentary with "Bridge Over Troubled Water" playing in the background. Sinclair told the Star in November 1973 that he had received 8,000 letters about his commentary.
With the strong response generated by the editorial, a recording of Sinclair's commentary was sold as a single with all profits going to the American Red Cross. "The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion)" went to No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100, making the 73-year-old Sinclair the second-oldest living person ever to have a Billboard U.S. Top 40 hit.
A transcript of the commentary was also recorded by Byron MacGregor, news director of Windsor, Ontario, radio station CKLW-AM Windsor-Detroit, and it became an even bigger hit in the U.S., climbing to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Sinclair was said to be annoyed by MacGregor's recording, which was released as a single before Sinclair's authorized version.
➦In 1977…DJ Charlie Van Dyke did his last show on 93KHJ, Los Angeles.
