Report: Midlife Crisis At Viacom

This season, according to Nielsen ratings have declined by double digits at Viacom’s most popular cable networks, including Comedy Central, BET, VH1, Nickelodeon, Spike, and TV Land. At MTV, the company’s flagship network, prime-time ratings are down 21.7 percent from last season and 25 percent in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic the network targets.

Bloomberg Business reports Viacom’s poor ratings have managed to stand out, even as the collective pay-TV industry suffers an unprecedented ratings slump. In May, according to data compiled by MoffettNathanson Research, overall cable-TV ratings among 18- to 49-year-old prime-time viewers dropped 7 percent from last year. At Viacom, ratings fell 19 percent.

While Viacom is still profitable—last year it earned $2.4 billion in net income on $13.8 billion of revenue—the ratings collapse is alarming because the company is one of the least diversified of the U.S. media conglomerates.

In February the company’s prospects worsened when Jon Stewart, the star of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, announced he would soon be leaving the network. Stephen Colbert has also jumped ship.

In early April, Viacom announced it would write off $785 million in the second quarter, in part to cover the cost of older shows that are no longer as valuable. Across the company, large numbers of employees have been dismissed. During an April earnings call, Viacom said its domestic ad revenue had fallen 5 percent in the previous three months, the third straight quarterly decline.

NYC Radio:NASH 94.7 Easton Corbin "Up Close & Country"

Easton Corbin

Cumulus NYC's WNSH NASH FM 94.7 was proud to present another intimate “Up Close and Country” performance yesterday afternoon, June 30th, at Hill Country Barbecue Market in the heart of New York City.

Country artist Easton Corbin performed for a lucky group of listeners during the lunchtime hour. He sang his hit single “Baby Be My Love Song”, plus much more!

NASH FM 94.7's Jesse Addy was also on hand to mingle with listeners and chat with Easton.

Report: ESPN Wants Keith Olbermann To Drop Commentary

Keith Olbermann

ESPN and Keith Olbermann may be headed toward a tough negotiation to keep the outspoken host on the sports network. Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that ESPN has floated a highly problematic condition for an extension of Olbermann's initial two-year deal: that he cease engaging in “commentary” on his ESPN2 program.

The issue likely stems from Olbermann's critical assessment of the NFL's handling of the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal that exploded last summer when an elevator video of Rice punching then-fiancee Janay Palmer in the face surfaced after the NFL had imposed a slap-on-the-wrist, two-game suspension on the Baltimore Ravens star running back. Olbermann repeatedly hammered NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. In a lengthy commentary at the top of his Aug. 1 broadcast, he called on the commissioner to “resign” after what Olbermann described as a “weak, damaging and almost enabling reaction” to the episode.

The NFL has been pilloried throughout the media — and also faced pressure from advertisers — for its handling of a string of violent incidents involving its players. ESPN's highly regarded investigative series Outside the Lines was a leader in reporting on the scandal.

ESPN walks a particularly fine line in how its reporters and personalities handle the professional sports leagues that are so critical to the network's success.

Read More Now

Variety reports ESPN has denied a story by the Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that claimed the network wants host Keith Olbermann to suspend commentary from his program.

“Keith has never been told any topic is off limits for his commentary nor has continuation of it been part of any conversation about his future at the company,” the company said in a statement.

Phoenix Radio: Brandi Young Named SVP/Sales for iHM

Brandi Young

iHeartMedia/Phoenix has announced that Brandi Young has been named SVP/Sales.

"Brandi brings with her over 22 years of experience in radio sales, sales management, digital media and integrated marketing.  She's a great leader with strong management, sales and operational skills," said Linda Little, Market President, iHeartMedia Phoenix. "I am excited to have Brandi lead the sales organization here in Phoenix and know that she will take the sales team to new levels of success."

"I am thrilled at the opportunity to be part of the talented Phoenix team, and I look forward to leading with ideation and energy to monetize all multimedia assets to foster continued growth," said Young. "I am fortunate to experience all the incredible advantages of iHeartMedia and be part of such an important, evolving brand in the American media landscape. Arizona is home for my family and me and I am excited to embrace the community and drive winning results to our partners in the market and beyond."

Young was Vice President of Corporate Sales for Townsquare Media from November 2011 until July 2015, where she operated Townsquare Media Network and activated regional new business campaigns. Previously, Young was Vice President of Corporate Sales for Cumulus Media & Citadel Broadcasting from February 1994 until November 2011.

iHeartMedia Phoenix has a strong cross-platform presence and includes a number of iconic brands and franchises - both broadcast and digital - including 95.5 The Mountain, Mix 96.9, 99.9 KEZ, 102.5 KNIX, 104.7 KISS-FM, 550 KFYI, KFYI2 and Fox Sports 910 AM Home of the NFL and University of Arizona Sports.

VA Radio: Cumulus Names New LSM For Blacksburg Cluster

Cumulus Media/Blacksburg, VA has appointed Valerie Kalen as local sales manager for its six-station radio cluster.

A more than three-year broadcast radio sales veteran, Kalen previously was key account manager and senior sales rep at the Blacksburg/New River Valley cluster.

Cumulus Blacksburg provides the community with a variety of listening options through its six stations, including NASH-FM 107.1, country; 105.3 The Bear, a flagship station for Virginia Tech Athletics and the New River Valley’s rock station; MIX 100.7, a mix of today’s best music; Super Sports 101.7, the area’s only FM sports station; WFNR 710 AM, conservative talk radio; and Good Time Oldies 1460 AM, featuring top billboard hits from the ’60s and ’70s.

“We’re extremely excited to have such a proven sales leader take the helm of our local sales force,” Cumulus vice president Cindy Rollison said. “Valerie’s depth of experience, knowledge and passion for both the broadcast industry and the Blacksburg market made her the perfect fit to lead the team.”

“I am honored and excited to embrace my new position as local sales manager at Cumulus Blacksburg,” said Kalen. “I’m looking forward to continuing my career advancement with a company like Cumulus, which continues to be on the forefront of broadcasting innovation.”

Study: Google Effect Causes 'Digital Amnesia'

There's an intertesting story on the WTOP 103.5 FM website about a new study which concludes people can't committ data to memory because the answers are just a click away.

The new study calls it “Digital Amnesia” — the experience of forgetting information that you trust a digital device to store and remember for you.

“The results reveal that the ‘Google Effect’ likely extends beyond online facts to include important personal information,” researchers wrote in the report. “Many consumers are happy to forget, or risk forgetting information they can easily find — or find again online.”

For instance, people 45 and old are more likely to get answers from the web, then write the fact down or choose to forget it once they’ve used it, the survey found.

Ninety-one percent of those surveyed said they use the Internet as an online extension of their brain. Forty-four percent said their smartphone serves as their memory; everything they need to remember is right there in their pocket.

Read More Now

FNC's Greta Wants Clinton Campaign To Pull TV Ad

Greta Van Susteren

A TV commercial unveiled this week by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is being denounced by Fox News Channel commentator Greta Van Susteren, who says it selectively edited her interview with Rep Trey Gowdy (R-SC) to make it appear the Benghazi investigation is politically motivated, according to mediaequalizer.com.

Via her website, the Fox News Channel host has demanded the Clinton campaign remove her 81-second “Briefing” spot, also providing a transcript of the original program to prove Gowdy was not actually backing the Democratic presidential primary candidate’s claims.

This Hillary Clinton ad is intellectually dishonest – it edits Congressman Trey Gowdy incompletely http://t.co/zzd50VFCXN

— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) July 2, 2015

Van Susteren sees the key discrepancy as “Chairman Gowdy saying ‘it could be’ when I pointed out that a delay in releasing the Benghazi report could be seen as political. The editing is grossly incomplete to give a false message. What the ad NEGLECTS to include is why the delay and who is causing the delay. This is hugely significant and where the HRC campaign is being intellectually dishonest with its edit.”

Massena NY Radio: No Buyers, WYBG-AM Signs-Off

Dorothy, Curran Wade

Listeners tuning their radio dials to 1050 AM will hear the sounds of silence.

WYBG radio is no more.

The Watertown Daily Times reports, Tuesday was the last day of operation for the station that began beaming its signal 57 years ago under the call sign WSTS out of the former Slavin’s building. For the past 27 years, it has been under the local ownership and operation of Wade Communications Inc.

“I told Nathan (C. Jaquith, control room operator), ‘You have the dubious distinction of playing the national anthem for the last time,’” owner and general manager Curran E. Wade said.

Wade, who has been in the broadcasting business for 61 years, including 50 in New York state — 27 or which have been with WYBG — said he and his wife, Dorothy M. “Dottie,” have attempted to sell the station. But, he said, there were no buyers, leading to the decision to leave the airwaves. There is, however, a 30-day window with the Federal Communications Commission for a new owner to bring the station back on the air.

WYBG 1050 AM (1 Kw-D, 66 Watts-N)

Mr. Wade said a number of factors figured into the decision to close the radio station. As the only live and locally owned and operated radio station, he was handling 99 percent of the sales, was traveling about 700 miles a week and will turn 79 years old in two months.

A transmitter problem in 2013 kept the station off the air for two months, from October to the beginning of December, and Mr. Wade said it never recovered from that.

Wade Communications purchased what previously had been a music station in 1988 and kept the music format for a while before deciding to make a switch to the talk format. Over the years, listeners found talk shows hosted by Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Roger Hedgecock and others, as well as national, regional and local news coverage.

San Antonio Radio: KTSA's Trey Ware to Be Honored

Alpha Media San Antonio, TX has announced longtime News/Talk KTSA 550 AM / FM 107.1 on-air personalities, Johnny Shannon and Trey Ware will be inducted into the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame on Saturday, August 22nd at 2pm at the Beethoven Maennerchor Hall.

Trey has also been nominated for the Texas Radio Hall of Fame which, if chosen would be the 4th Hall of Famer for KTSA; Johnny Shannon, Elizabeth Ruiz and Trey’s own father, Ricci Ware have been inducted in previous years.

Alpha Media Executive VP of Programming, Scott Mahalick commented on the announcement, “Trey is an All Star talent who’s got game and we are proud to see him named to the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame.”

Trey Ware added, “What an honor and a thrill it is to be the youngest person ever inducted into the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame, and to be nominated for the Texas Radio Hall of Fame all in the same week! I never imagined when I began my career in the mid-1970s as a preteen that this would happen to me. It’s true, with hard work and passion dreams really do come true.”

“When a friend recently called me to say, ‘Congratulations, you’ve been inducted into the San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame’, I was totally surprised and literally speechless, but mostly humbled and grateful. Over the years, when we move around in the business, we don’t just have co-workers……they usually become FRIENDS, most are lifelong friends. That is an added benefit of being in radio broadcasting,” noted Johnny Shannon.

Program Director/Operations Director Greg Martin remarked, “Both Trey and Johnny, as well as past KTSA inductees, exemplify what it means to be connected and local in a community. I’m very proud to work with such professionals who have so much heritage with KTSA and San Antonio.”

The San Antonio Radio Hall of Fame was established in 2010 to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of the personalities who created and supported Radio Broadcasting in San Antonio, Texas.

July 2 Radio History

In 1916...Radio personality Barry Gray was born, generally considered the father of the "Call-In" Radio format.

Barry Gray 1951

Initially a disc jockey, Gray was working for New York's WMCA radio station in 1945 when he, bored one evening with simply spinning music, decided to put the telephone receiver up to his microphone and share his conversation with the listening audience. The caller that evening just happened to be bandleader Woody Herman, one of the most popular celebrities of the day. This spontanenous live interview was such a hit with both his listeners as well as station bosses, that the talk radio format resulted. Gray subsequently began doing listener call-ins as well.

In 2002, industry publication Talkers magazine selected Barry Gray as the 8th greatest radio talk show host of all time.


In 1939…The radio sitcom "The Aldrich Family" began its 14-year run, originally a summer replacement program for Jack Benny on NBC. The show moved to CBS from 1944 to 1946, then back to NBC until 1953.


In 1946…Arthur Godfrey was signed by CBS Radio to host a weekly nighttime show called "Talent Scouts."


In 1951...Bob & Ray show premieres on NBC radio network.

Elliott and Goulding began as radio announcers (Elliott a disc jockey, and Goulding a news reader) in Boston with their own separate programs on station WHDH-AM, and each would visit with the other while on the air. Their informal banter was so appealing that WHDH would call on them, as a team, to fill in when Red Sox baseball broadcasts were rained out. Elliott and Goulding (not yet known as Bob and Ray) would improvise comedy routines all afternoon, and joke around with studio musicians.

Elliott and Goulding's brand of humor caught on, and WHDH gave them their own weekday show in 1946. Matinee with Bob and Ray was originally a 15-minute show, soon expanding to half an hour. (When explaining why Bob was billed first, Goulding claimed that it was because "Matinee with Bob and Ray" sounded better than "Matinob with Ray and Bob".) Their trademark sign-off was "This is Ray Goulding reminding you to write if you get work"; "Bob Elliott reminding you to hang by your thumbs".




They continued on the air for over four decades on the NBC, CBS, and Mutual networks, and on New York City stations WINS, WOR, and WHN. From 1973 to 1976 they were the afternoon drive hosts on WOR, doing a four-hour show. In their last incarnation, they were heard on National Public Radio, ending in 1987.


In 2012…Broadcasting executive Julian Goodman, president of NBC (1966-1974), died at age 90.


In Media Confidential One Year Ago...

Austin Radio: Man Arrested For Threatening KLBJ Staffers. Click Here

CBS Launches CBS Business Pulse

Today, CBS announced the launch of CBS Small Business Pulse, a new digital property aimed at providing solutions for the issues and concerns small business owners face every day. The site, http://cbspulse.com, is a cross-divisional effort across CBS Corporation being spearheaded by CBS Local Digital Media and features content from across the Company’s world-class editorial organizations including CBS News, CBS Radio, CBS Local, CBS Interactive and Simon & Schuster.

“CBS Small Business Pulse brings together the best content from across many CBS divisions plus new, original editorial on the topics that matter most to small business owners,” said Ezra Kucharz, President of CBS Local Digital Media. “CBS Small Business Pulse will provide the insights and knowledge small business owners need to immediately solve the challenges they face by delivering daily, easily digestible information across myriad topics that can easily be put into action.”

CBS Small Business Pulse is structured around six major categories that small business owners must address on a daily basis regardless of their industry: Finance, Human Resources, Legal, Marketing, Sales and Technology.

Content in CBS Small Business Pulse will be fueled by many CBS divisions and include subject-matter experts and business leaders sharing their acumen through articles, interviews, video, podcasts and infographics. Examples include:

• CBS News: In addition to curated content relevant for small business owners, CBS News will also be contributing original content. Following interviews on CBS News’ broadcasts, such as CBS THIS MORNING, producers will record additional segments with business leaders discussing small business-focused issues exclusively for CBS Small Business Pulse.
• CBS Local: Daily original and curated content highlighting small business successes and key learnings from across the country.
• CBS Radio: Video highlights from Small Business Breakfasts held by News format stations around the country.
• ZDNet and TechRepublic (CBS Interactive):  Stories about small business strategies as it relates to technology, products and services.
• Simon & Schuster: Contributions include excerpts and original content from Simon & Schuster authors as well as a small business “book shelf” highlighting special offers on relevant titles from their library.

“Small business owners are the backbone of America,” said Rich Lobel, Executive Vice President and CMO, CBS Altitude Group. “So many divisions across CBS offer content and expertise related to small business owner’s needs, it only made sense to harness our world-class editorial organizations to super-serve this vital segment in one single, robust destination.”

CBS Small Business Pulse is available today online and on the mobile web at http://cbspulse.com.