Jim Rome Horsing Around

CBS Radio host Jim Rome has been in the horse racing game for a number of years -- his stable runs under the name Jungle Racing LLC.

But accoerding SI columnist Richard Deitsch Rome never experienced a day like he had on Saturday.

The four-year-old filly Mizdirection -- co-owned by Rome -- hit the wire first in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita Park.

"It was spectacular and surreal," Rome told SI.com on Sunday. "It really was thrilling."

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R.I.P.: KTKS Owner Jay Fisher

Jay Fisher, longtime local radio personality and owner of KTKS / KS95.1 Versailles, MO  passed away Monday, Nov. 5. He also was a local county commissioner.

A resident of the Versailles area, Fisher had been battling cancer for some time.

Arrangements are pending.  

The Tribute Wall for Jay Fisher at www.kidwellgarber.com is already filling with people honoring the memory of Fisher.

R.I.P.: ESPN Radio NBA Voice Jim Durham

Jim Durham, lead play-by-play commentator for the NBA on ESPN Radio since its inception in January 1996, passed away over the weekend at his home in Tomball, TX (outside of Houston). Durham was 65 and is survived by his wife, Helen, their three children, Patrick, Richard and Tracy and several grandchildren.

In 2011 Durham was honored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with the Curt Gowdy Media Award, presented annually to members of the print and electronic media whose longtime efforts have made a significant contribution to the game of basketball.

“Jim was a respected play-by-play specialist who combined a tremendous gift for storytelling with a Hall of Fame voice,” said Mo Davenport, ESPN Senior Vice President and General Manager, ESPN Radio. “He’s been a dedicated friend and a trusted teammate to so many at ESPN for two decades and he will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with his wife Helen and the entire Durham family.”

Durham’s final assignment for ESPN was last Tuesday’s season-opener between Boston and Miami. He worked the game with long-time partner, Dr. Jack Ramsay.


Early in his career, Durham worked on WJBC radio in Bloomington, Illinois. During his time there, he covered the career of Illinois State University basketball star Doug Collins, later coincidentally the coach of the Bulls during the early Jordan years in Chicago, including the famous call listed below.

Since 1995, he has called numerous National Basketball Association games for ESPN and ESPN Radio. Durham has spent more than 32 years calling NBA games on TV and radio; his previous assignments were with the Chicago Bulls, the Dallas Mavericks, TNT and TBS. With the Bulls, he was the play-by-play announcer when Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and their teammates won the 1991 NBA championship. In 1999, Durham called men's NCAA basketball tournament games for CBS.

John Cusack To Portray Rush Limbaugh In Film

Rush Feuds With NBC’s Brian Williams

Rush Limbaugh will be the subject of an upcoming movie from actor and filmmaker John Cusack. The conservative radio host has never shied away from attention but it could be tough for him to see his likeness portrayed by an actor who has been outspoken about his liberal views.

Director Betty Thomas told the Associated Press she’s finishing up the film’s script, and production will start in 2013. The working title is “Rush.”

Limbaugh, 61, has yet to comment on the news, according to ibtimes.com.  

Cusack has been vocal about his critical views toward President Bush and President Obama’s policy of drone warfare in the Middle East.

Limbaugh has been in the news of late for his recent sparring match with NBC news anchor Brian Williams. Limbaugh attacked New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for working together with President Obama in the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. On his daily show Limbaugh said the two had a “man love” and that Christie “has gone overboard in praising a failed president.”

Williams said on his show “Rock Center” that Limbaugh went too far by being too critical of the Obama administration after the devastation Sandy caused.

Read More Now.

‘Good Morning Columbia’ Off The Air — Again

Another Shake-Up In Columbia, SC Radio

“Good Morning Columbia,” the long-running radio show, is once again without a home. On Friday it aired for the final time on WWNQ-FM Carolina Country 94.3, the show’s third broadcast frequency in a year, according to a story by Otis R. Taylor Jr. at thestate.com.

The show, hosted by Doug Enlow, Bill Benton and Charlie Benton, was on WISW-AM 1320 for more than a decade before a Cumulus Media shakeup at the local level forced the show off the air in late 2011. In April, the crew returned and began broadcasting on WWNU-FM, then-known as Carolina 92.1, an easy listening station.

In June, Double O Radio sold its two local properties, WWNU and WWNQ, to Hometown Columbia, which purchased the stations in a joint venture with Davis Media and Triple M Broadcasting. WWNU flipped to a rock-based format and rebranded itself as The Palm, a nod to South Carolina’s nickname as the Palmetto State. WWNQ, known as Country Legends under Double O, was rebranded as Carolina Country.

Mike Allen, formerly of Charleston rock station WCOO-FM The Bridge 105.5, was hired to be WWNU’s program director and morning host. “Good Morning Columbia” was shifted to WWNU in July.

With “Good Morning Columbia” off the air, this is the second remarkable departure from local radio in five days. On Thursday Keven Cohen, WVOC-FM 100.1’s afternoon drive host for 13 years, was fired by Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. But unlike Cohen’s separation from WVOC, the release of “Good Morning Columbia,” which aired weekdays from 6-9 a.m., shouldn’t draw the ire of the show’s fans.

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KDAL Talent Disciplined For Strip Club Comments

Two Duluth radio talk show hosts were disciplined for words used on-air to describe a strip club during a morning broadcast Wednesday on KDAL-AM 610.

The Duluth News-Tribune reports Ken Buehler and Johnny Lee Walker of the KDAL Morning Show were talking about Walker’s going-away party and the questionable word was used in reference to where the party should have been held. Buehler suggested a kind of bar where women are undressed from the waist up.

“It’s not a word you can’t say, it’s just not KDAL appropriate,” said KDAL operations manager Mark Fleischer.

Buehler was asked not to return for the rest of the week, but will be back on the program with Pat Cadigan on Monday. Walker announced Tuesday that he was leaving the radio business. He did not go on-air Thursday, his final day at the station, Walker said.

Ken Buehler said he was told by management that he was not allowed to comment on the suspension.

The morning show airs from 5-9 a.m. on weekdays. Buehler has been part of the lineup for about a year, Fleischer said.

Read More Now.

Has The Mainstream Media Ignored Benghazi

CableTV News Rankings For October

October 2012 was a big one for cable news, thanks in large part to the Presidential debates, and the final leg of the campaign.

According to Alex Weprin at TVNewser, the debates helped boost programs, generating a “halo effect” that had an impact on the top cable news programs. Fox News Channel led the way as usual, scoring the top nine programs in total viewers, and the top three in the demo. MSNBC’s strong performance help propel a few of its programs toward the top of the ranker for the month.

“The O’Reilly Factor” was the number one program on Fox News and cable news overall in total viewers. In the demo however, it was “Hannity” that claimed the top spot, with “O’Reilly placing third behind “On the Record.” “O’Reilly” averaged 3.92 million total viewers, while “Hannity” drew 856,000 demo viewers for the month.

Oct '12 Cable News Program Ranker A25-54

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15 Facts About Radio

Mary Beth Garber, EVP/Radio Analysis and Insights at Katz Radio Group, has compiled a terrific list of radio facts!  Enjoy!

• More 18-34 Adults use Radio each week than any other medium.  

(Scarborough USA+, Release 1  2012 USA Adults 18-34, sample size 29,250)

• More 25-54 Adults use Radio each week than any other medium.  

(Scarborough USA+, Release 1  2012 USA Adults 25-54, sample size 88,248)

• Radio reaches more Adults 18-34 during the work day than any other medium.  

(GfK MediaDay 2012 (Fieldwork 11-12/Doublebase Respondents) weighted to population (000) Base A18-34, Mon-Sun 5A-5P,  sample size 1214)

• The average person 12+ in the USA spends about 2 hours and 40 minutes a day with  Radio.  (RADAR 114 September 2012 Monday-Sunday 6AM-Midnight for Persons 12+, sample size 395,655)

• 18-34 Adults spend more time each day with radio than with the internet. 

(2012.2 MBI - USA TouchPoints smartphone enabled National probability sample of 2,000 persons aged 18-64, Nested within  GfK/MRI’s Survey of the American Consumer)

• Adults 18-34 are 52% more likely to be heavy users of radio than heavy users of television in the USA. 

(Scarborough USA Plus - Release 1, 2012, 12 Month Adults 18-34. Heaviest two quintiles of exposure, sample size 29,250)

• 70% of people with favorite Radio personalities follow them on social media.  

(USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, PSI Study released  June 2012, Woodley, P. and Movius, L. People With a Favorite Radio Personality in Los Angeles 617 respondents)

• More than half of people with favorite Radio personalities have considered or  purchased a product/service advertised during their favorite Radio personality’s show. 

(USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, PSI Study  released  June 2012, Woodley, P. and Movius, L. People With a Favorite Radio Personality in Los Angeles 617 respondents)

• More people of all ages would be more upset to go without their Radio station than to go without Facebook.  

(Alan Burns/Triton Digital “The Future of Radio” September 2012 National Consumer Database;  25,000,000 Panelists; August & September 2012; All Ages, Genders and Format Fans; Total Polled = 41,252; Roughly in Line with 2010 Census; Heavily Caucasian)

• 85% more Adults 18-34 use Radio on a typical day than Facebook.  

(comScore Inc Ratings AprilJune 2012, RADAR 114 September 2012, P18-34, 6A-12M, sample size 106,023)

• Only about 10% of Adults 18+ will listen to satellite radio in a week.  Nearly 93% of Adults 18+ will listen to Radio in a week. 

(Scarborough Release 1 2012 (Feb 2011 – Feb 2012, Adults 18+, M-Su 6a-Mid )

• Radio reaches more than 90% of virtually any market segment each week. 

(RADAR 114 September  2012, Mon-Sun 6A-Mid sample size 395,655)

• On Radio, the audience listening level from the beginning to the end of a 6-commercial break is 93% of what it was before the break.  

(Arbitron, Media Monitors and Coleman Insights “What Happens When the Spots Come On?”  study of 866 radio stations measured by Media Monitors and Arbitron across all 48 PPM markets in the United States during the months of October 2010 through September 2011 covering a total of 17,896,325 unique commercial breaks involving 61,902,473 minutes of advertising.)

• Virtually all Radio Listening happens LIVE, in real time, while more than half the Adult 18-49 top 10 TV shows’ ratings come from 7 day DVR viewing. (MediaLifeMagazine.com October 2012)

• There are more than 11,000 commercial radio stations licensed in the US, more than ever before as radio continues to grow.  (FCC July 2012)

Tom’s Take: A lot of positives here, great way to start the week!

Covering Presidential Campaign: Exhilarating and Exhausting

CBS News Correspondent Peter King spent a week following the Romney campaign for CBS Radio News - the first time in his long, distinguished career he was embedded with a presidential campaign.

We're somewhere above the Middle - the part of the U.S. between New York and the big mountains of the West. I have no idea exactly where... and that's something I expect to say a lot during the next week or so. 

Many who grew up reading the great campaign books of the '60s and '70s - Timothy Crouse's "The Boys on the Bus" and Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail" come to mind - have had a somewhat romanticized view of what it's like to ride the bus or the plane. That mostly goes away - fast - once you've actually done it! Sure it's fun. Yes, it's exhilarating, but especially, it's exhausting.

Listen: Peter King talks about his campaign travels, Part 1

Listen: King, Part 2

As my wife, Lisa (Lisa Meyer, who has covered presidential campaigns for CBS and AP Radio) said over and over in the weeks leading up to my trip, "you have NO idea!" Everything she told me during our self-styled pre-campaign "boot camp" came true - and then some. 

The itinerary is dizzying: campaign days start early. That means 5 or 6 a.m. for breakfast (yes, we DO get fed), followed by a "bag drop"; we leave our "checked" bags to be swept by the Secret Service, then collected for the bus and plane. We keep with us whatever gear we need for the day. 

Flying charter is wonderful - and seductive. Lisa told me, flat out, that once I'd flown charter, I'd never want to fly commercial again. She was right. Sometimes, there are more seats than passengers, which makes stretching out easier. The Romney plane has WiFi and power outlets. We're allowed to use all of our electronic gear at any time. No constant admonitions to power off anything with an on-off switch.

Read More Now.

KNUS Denver’s Steve Kelley Swings For Votes

Morning radio personality Steve Kelley is proving Colorado really is a “swing state” by attempting to set the world record for the longest marathon on a swing.

The 710KNUS AM radio host started his “Colorado Swings the Vote” campaign Friday morning to encourage everyone to get out and vote in what he calls the most important election of our lifetime.

“I really believe Colorado will come into play in this election and it scares me if everybody doesn’t get out to vote. This is such an important election and I wanted to do something to make an impact. I wanted to do my small, albeit weird part. If everybody gets out and votes, the best person will win” Kelley said.

Kelley needed to swing more than 31 hours to break the world record. He got a five-minute break every hour.