R.I.P.: Chuck Woolery, Game Show Host

Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection” and “Scrabble” who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83 reports CNN.

Mark Young, Woolery’s podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. “Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him,” Young wrote.

Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.

In early 1976, Woolery began hosting Wheel of Fortune at the suggestion of creator Merv Griffin, who had seen Woolery sing on The Tonight Show. He hosted in 1978, and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Game or Audience Participation Show.

R.I.P.: Alice Brock, of Alice's Restaurant Fame

Alice Brock, whose eatery in western Massachusetts was immortalized as the place where “you can get anything you want” in Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 antiwar song “Alice’s Restaurant,” died on Thursday in Wellfleet, Mass. — just a week before Thanksgiving, the holiday during which the rambling story at the center of the song takes place. She was 83, according to The NY Times.

Viki Merrick, a longtime friend, said she died in a hospice from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Ever since Guthrie released the song, officially called “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” in 1967, it has been a staple of classic-rock stations every late November, not to mention car trip singalongs on the way to visit family for Thanksgiving dinner.

Study: Radio Remains Ubiquitous In New Vehicles

A new survey finds AM radio is still present in 98% of car dashboards, while FM radio is present in 100%.

Car tech research company Quu has released its inaugural 2024 In-Vehicle Visuals Report, which examines the prevalence of radio in the top 100 best-selling new American vehicles. The pro-radio company vows to “identify our strengths and weaknesses” with so much audio available in our cars.

According to the report, FM radio is represented in 100% of these vehicles, while AM radio maintains an impressive 98% prevalence. That’s more than SiriusXM, which claims 92%. The two leading phone interfaces, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, each claim 98% — most Americans have access to one or the other.

Interestingly, while it’s notable that AM radio still retains such a strong presence in newer vehicles, AM/FM no longer possess a “dashboard monopoly.” An increasing number of vehicles offer their own built-in music and radio streaming apps, and two out of three new vehicles come equipped with HD radio like SiriusXM.

Digital Music News reports GM vehicles are an exception to the widespread adoption of HD radio; only Cadillacs come with standardized HD radio. That’s about one in five cars, according to Quu’s data.

But that means that “the dash is crowded,” with multiple radio options vying for the driver’s attention. “AM/FM radio stations need to drive home their value proposition to listeners who have several other choices at the touch of a button,” says Quu.

That said, the value of AM radio during times of emergency cannot be overstated. And in the wake of devastating hurricanes like Helene and Milton, Attorneys General from numerous states — including South Dakota, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia — are stressing the importance of ubiquitous AM radio, urging Congress to pass the AM Radio For Every Vehicle Act.

Denver Radio: The Mountain Raises $51K+ For Project Sanctuary

On Friday, November 15th, Audacy Denver’s 99.5 KQMT’s The Mountain (KQMT-FM) proudly raised over $51,000 for its 7th annual “Project Sanctuary – Helping Heroes Heal Radiothon™.” Project Sanctuary is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping military servicemembers and their families transition back to everyday life through therapeutic retreats. 

This partnership between 99.5 KQMT’s The Mountain and Project Sanctuary has been built on the commitment to help military families thrive through compassion advocacy. From 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., afternoon host and brand manager Dan Hardee was on-air broadcasting heartfelt interviews with veterans and families whose lives have been transformed by Project Sanctuary’s programs. 

Senior Vice President and Market Manager Micah Goldberg said “We are so proud to be able to support our Veteran community through KQMT and Project Sanctuary and give back to those who have given so much to us. Congrats to Dan Hardee and the entire team for another amazing year of fundraising for such a worthy cause.” 

99.5 KQMT’s The Mountain’s “Project Sanctuary Radiothon™” is part of Audacy’s commitment to making a meaningful difference at scale. Audacy uses its reach and personal connection with listeners to advance causes that promote strong mental health and build sound communities.

FCC Chair Could Make Life Difficult For Media Companies

President-elect Trump’s nomination of Brendan Carr as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is bringing both hope and fear to the media industry.

For media executives, the hope comes in the promise of industry consolidation, according to The LA Times.

Companies such as Fox Television Stations, Nexstar Media Group, Tegna and Gray Media are eager to buy more TV stations to better compete against deep-pocketed tech firms that are aggressively pursuing viewers and ad dollars. Carr is expected to support revisiting the rule on ownership of TV stations.

The trepidation comes from Carr’s open criticism of broadcasters and tech firms on behalf of Trump, who is famously hostile to journalists and outlets that criticize him. Carr, a Republican nominated to the FCC during Trump’s first term in 2017 and again by President Biden in 2023, wrote the chapter on the FCC in the conservative policy blueprint Project 2025.

During the election, he jumped on social media when Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on the Nov. 2 episode of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” to point out that the network also owed an invitation to Trump under the FCC’s equal time provision.

NBC obliged, giving Trump time at the end of a NASCAR race and following “Sunday Night Football.”

Carr got the industry’s attention again last Tuesday when he told Fox News that his recommendation on the Paramount Global merger with Skydance Media would consider recent accusations from Trump’s camp that CBS News edited its “60 Minutes” interview with Harris to make her sound more coherent

“That news distortion complaint over the CBS ‘60 Minutes’ transcript is something that’s likely to arise in the context of the FCC’s review of that transaction,” Carr said.

Big media companies are bracing for the possibility that he will do Trump’s bidding when the president-elect threatens retribution against media outlets that are unfriendly to him.

Disney Positioned To Make Streaming Work

Disney has emerged as the most promising traditional media company to pivot successfully to streaming, with a $321 million quarterly DTC profit, a $134 million profit for fiscal 2024, and 42% of its media revenue now stemming from streaming, putting it ahead of Paramount (27%) and WBD (26%) in monetizing its transition, according to The Wrap. 

Industry trends show linear TV subscriptions declining 8% quarterly, while streaming subscriber growth (+10% this quarter) and pricing strategies, particularly ad-supported tiers, are driving revenue growth, with Disney, WBD and Paramount all showing incremental DTC profitability.

Analysts highlight consolidation opportunities and scaling challenges for media companies, with Disney focusing on integrating ESPN into its streaming portfolio, WBD considering acquisitions and Netflix maintaining its dominance through global expansion and ad-tier success.

Disney squeezed out another quarterly profit in its overall direct to consumer (DTC) streaming business of $321 million, and it had a profitable fiscal year 2024 of $134 million after a dismal $2.61 billion loss in 2023. It now has 236.2 million Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ subscriptions, about 47.5 million less than industry leader Netflix.

More importantly, 42% of Disney’s total media revenue (excluding Experiences) came from streaming this quarter. That compares to Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery — the companies struggling the most to make streaming work and close the gap with Netflix — whose DTC revenues accounted for 27% and 26% of their total revenues, respectively, according to Macquarie Equity Research.

“Disney will get there,” Tim Nollen, an analyst at Macquarie, told TheWrap, echoing what other Wall Street analysts said last week. “Their pivot to streaming will enable them to overcome the declines in linear.” But for “the likes of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, it’s more questionable.”

Young Americans Are Turning Off the TV

As streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ have taken over a huge chunk of TV consumption in the United States, traditional TV is finding itself under increased pressure to defend its place as the go-to medium for entertainment, distraction and information. And while people still spend a lot of time watching live and timeshifted TV on average, that's largely due to heavy TV usage by Americans aged 65 and above, who watch roughly 10 times as much traditional TV as young adults do.

According to Nielsen, Americans aged 18 to 34 watch less than five hours of live and timeshifted TV per week. At the other end of the scale, those aged 65 and older watch more than 40 hours on average. Making this worse for the TV industry, there's a growing share of young adults who don't watch TV at all, as they get all they need from digital sources. 

According to Statista Consumer Insights, 50 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds in the U.S. say that they don't watch any traditional TV, compared to just 29 percent of 55 to 64-year-olds. That share would likely be even lower for those aged 65 and older, but they have not been surveyed in this case.

Will DOGE Target NPR Funding?

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) already has ideas for how the federal government can cut some of its debt  — defunding NPR and other government-funded media.

Driving the news: According to Axios, defunding NPR was suggested throughout President-elect Trump's first term, and resurrected last week by Elon Musk.

What they're saying: Greene told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo that a new subcommittee working in support of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will look at cutting "everything from government-funded media programs like NPR that spread nothing but Democrat propaganda" and grant programs that "don't help the American people."

Greene, who was stripped of her committee appointments in 2021, is the chair of the Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) Subcommittee, which falls within the purview of the House Oversight Committee.

"We are going to be searching for the facts, we're going to be verifying if this is worth spending the American people's hard-earned tax dollars," she said.

Yes, but: Trump included cutting CPB's funding in budget proposals throughout his first term, none of which came to pass. Several congressional bills seeking to eliminate or drastically cut funding also failed.

Reality check: DOGE isn't an official government department and must rely on Congress to take action on proposed funding cuts.

Comcast Spinoff Shouldn’t Warrant FCC Review

While there are many lingering questions about the implications of Comcast’s announcement that it will spin off its cable network portfolio into a publicly-traded company, its unlikely that the move to create SpinCo will warrant a review by the Federal Communications Commission, New Street Research analyst Blair Levin told The Wrap.

“As the spin-off does not involve any transfer of FCC licenses, there is no FCC review,” Levin wrote in a research note to clients. He also pointed out that there shouldn’t be any antitrust issues, given that the move does not involve any combination that would “increase horizontal or vertical concentration.”

But he warned the “X factor” is whether Donald Trump, who recently won a second term in the White House, would ask any government officials to “slow-down or otherwise interfere with the transaction, which involves MSNBC—a major Trump nemesis—until Trump receives some sort of concession for how MSNBC covers news in the future.”

Trump has selected Brendan Carr, the author of the FCC section in Project 2025 and the senior Republican on the FCC, to serve as the agency’s new chairman.

Levin expects a Carr-led FCC to revise current broadcast ownership rules that enable more local and potentially national consolidation, which will create new opportunities for Comcast and NBCUniversal to participate in with its spin-off.

Weather Should Be Okay For Macy's Turkey Day Parade

The pre-Thanksgiving rush kicks into high gear today, and at least at the start, the weather will cooperate. By Thursday, though, anyone heading into Manhattan for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade be advised: Wear something rainproof for the post-parade walk to the car or the subway. 

As of Sunday evening, the National Weather Service was predicting a 60% chance of rain for New York City on Thanksgiving, "mainly after 1 p.m." with a high in the mid 40s, dropping down to 43 degrees in the evening.

Or, put another way: Just in time to make the drive home for Thanksgiving dinner one best taken slowly.

Before then, spectators at the parade, which starts at 8:30 a.m. at 77th Street and Central Park West and ends at Herald Square, can expect a breezy day — with winds at 15-20 mph — but not brisk enough to keep the Pillsbury Doughboy, SpongeBob SquarePants and 20 other giant balloon characters from making their way along the route.

The city mandates that the iconic balloons cannot fly if sustained winds exceed 23 mph and isolated gusts exceed 34 mph. Those rules were implemented after the 1997 parade, when a Cat in the Hat balloon buffeted by strong winds toppled a lamppost, severely injuring several spectators.

The NYPD has promised to be out in full force at the parade. At a security briefing Friday, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said: "We have assets that you’ll see out there and assets that you won’t see," according to published reports. "We will be highly visible and ready to go."

Radio History: Nov 25

Norman Tokar

➦In 1919...Writer, producer Norman Tokar born (Died from a heart attack at age 59 – April 6, 1979). He directed many of the early episodes of Leave it to Beaver, and found his greatest success directing over a dozen films for Walt Disney Productions, spanning the 1950s to the 1970s.

After a career as an actor on Broadway in the early 1940s, Tokar moved into radio, most notably The Aldrich Family, where he played Henry Aldrich's friend Willie at the microphone and wrote several episodes as well. Tokar then went into television direction on such sitcoms as The Bob Cummings Show and The Donna Reed Show, and the drama Naked City.

In the early 1960s, Tokar’s success working with the juvenile actors on 93 episodes of the TV sitcom Leave it to Beaver encouraged Walt Disney to hire him to direct family features for his studio, which frequently used children in key roles.

WJAX mics at March 1936 news event.
Future FL Gov. Warren Fuller is third person from the right

➦In 1925...City of Jacksonville FL launched a broadcast station. The city appropriated $19,960 to put the station on the air and operate it through 1926. The station manager/engineer, John T. Hopkins was paid $250 a month and his assistant, James Brock made $165. The station, WJAX, made its first broadcast on Thanksgiving 1925 operating on 890 Kc. with 1000 watts using an antenna wire strung between two large tapered towers. WJAX shifted to 880 Kc. in 1928 and 900 Kc. in 1930.(Jacksonville radio historian Billy Williams).   Today, the station is WFXJ, branded as Sports Radio 930 AM and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.

➦In 1944...The FBI in Peace & War began a 14-year run on CBS Radio. 

➦In 1949..."Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" first appeared on the hit music charts. The song was written by Johnny Marks based on the 1939 story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer published by the Montgomery Ward Company.

In 1939 Marks's brother-in-law, Robert L. May, created the character Rudolph as an assignment for Montgomery Ward and Marks decided to adapt the story of Rudolph into a song.

The song was first sung by crooner Harry Brannon on New York City radio in early November 1949, before Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 in the U.S. charts during Christmas 1949. The song was suggested as a "B" side for a record Autry was making. Autry rejected the song. His wife convinced him to use it.

Autry's version of the song also holds the distinction of being the only chart-topping hit to fall completely off the chart after reaching No. 1. The official date of its No. 1 status was for the week ending January 7, 1950, making it the first No. 1 song of the 1950s.

Autry‘s rendition is the most popular, 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold.

➦In 1960...CBS radio axed five daytime serials from the airwaves, including The Second Mrs. Burton (after 14 years), Whispering Streets, Young Dr Malone & Right to Happiness (both after 21 years) and Ma Perkins (after 27 wonderful years.)