January 22 Radio History

➦In 1889...The Columbia Phonograph Company began selling Edison phonograph cylinders and players in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Delaware. It derived its name from the District of Columbia, which was its headquarters.

➦In 1940...“The Right to Happiness” written by radio soap diva Irna Phillips was first aired on the CBS Radio Network. The daytime serial had begun on NBC Blue three months earlier. And it would switch between CBS & NBC two more times during its 21 year run.

➦In 1956..."Fort Laramie", a CBS Radio Western series starring Raymond Burr as Captain Lee Quince, debuted.. It aired Sunday afternoons January 22–October 28, 1956, at 5:30pm ET. The 41 episodes starred Raymond Burr as Lee Quince, captain of the cavalry. One year later, Burr became a television star as Perry Mason.

➦In 2011...Radio Pioneer Ruth Ann Myer WMCA (PD), WMGM, WHN (PD), WNEW (PD) NYC died at age 80.

Ruth Meyer

In 1960, WMCA began promoting itself by stressing its on-air personalities, who were collectively known as "The Good Guys". Led by program director Ruth Meyer, the first woman to hold the position in New York City radio, this was the era of the high-profile Top 40 disc jockey with an exuberant personality aimed at a certain audience segment. With the advent of the Good Guys format, WMCA became more "on top" of new music and started to become known for "playing the hits."

In the early 1960s, the top 40 format was still young, and the field was crowded in New York City. Two major 50,000-watt stations, WMGM 1050 AM (frequency now occupied by WEPN-AM) and 1010 WINS, had battled each other, playing pop music for years. Then in 1960, WABC joined the fray and started featuring top 40 music. Ultimately, it was WMCA's earnest competition with rival WABC that forced WMGM (in early 1962) and then WINS (in spring 1965) to abandon the top-40 format. There was so much attention on the high-profile WMCA-WABC battle that WMGM and WINS were each summarily forced to find new formats.

Andy Musser

➦In 2012...Sportscaster Andy Musser, voice of the Philadelphia Phillies for 26 years, died at age 74.

He was part of a team, with Richie Ashburn and Harry Kalas, which broadcast Phillies games on both radio and television for 21 consecutive seasons from 1976 to 1997. He retired after the 2001 season.

Musser worked for WCAU radio and television in Philadelphia from 1965 to 1971. During this time, he served as the radio play-by-play announcer for the Eagles football as well as 76ers and Villanova Wildcats basketball. One of the youngest lead broadcasters in the National Football League at the time, he covered the Eagles games with Charlie Gauer for four years until the station lost the broadcast rights to WIP-AM in 1969. Musser also called various events for CBS Radio, including Super Bowl VI and Super Bowl VIII.

Musser was the lead voice for Chicago Bulls telecasts on WSNS from 1973 through 1976, pairing with Dick Gonski in the first two seasons and Lorn Brown in the third. Musser would call New York Knicks games with Cal Ramsey on WOR-TV (away) and Manhattan Cable Television (home) for the next four seasons from 1976 to 1980. He handled all the matches in the first three years, but only the home ones in the fourth.

Jim Irwin

➦In 2012...WTMJ Milwaukee Sportscaster Jim Irwin died from kidney cancer at age 87. (Born - February 7, 1934). He is probably best known as having been the radio voice of the Green Bay Packers for 30 years. He worked with former Packer Lionel Aldridge, and was paired for 20 seasons with Super Bowl I hero Max McGee. Irwin also called Milwaukee Brewers baseball, Milwaukee Bucks basketball, and Wisconsin Badgers football and basketball games.

He joined the Packers radio broadcasts as a color commentator in 1969 and assumed play by play duties in 1975, a position he held until his retirement after the 1998 season, along with morning sportscasting and commentary duties on WTMJ's morning program. He was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2003. Irwin continued to contribute occasionally to WTMJ after he retired.

Prior to his longtime career as the voice of the Packers, Irwin began his broadcast career in 1964 as sports director at WLUK-TV in Green Bay.


➦In 2016…Chicago broadcasting pioneer Jim Conway, who for nearly 40 years worked in both radio and early television, died at age 94. His career included stints in news anchoring and program hosting at WBBM and WMAQ Radio, as well as TV at WBBM, WLS and WGN. He co-anchored the first half-hour nightly news show on WGN, and hosted the first local morning talk show on WLS.

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

• 

  Beverley Mitchell is 40

  Actor Piper Laurie is 89. 
• Singer Steve Perry (Journey) is 72. 
• Bassist Teddy Gentry of Alabama is 69. 
• Actor John Wesley Shipp (“The Flash,” ″Dawson’s Creek”) is 66. 
• Actor Linda Blair is 62. 
• Actor Diane Lane is 56. 
• Country singer Regina Nicks of Regina Regina is 56. 
• Rapper-actor DJ Jazzy Jeff is 56. 
• Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is 53. 
• Actor Olivia D’Abo (“Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” ″The Wonder Years”) is 52. 
• Actor Katie Finneran (“The Michael J. Fox Show”) is 50. 
• Actor Gabriel Macht (“Suits”) is 49. 
• Actor Balthazar Getty is 46. 
• Actor Christopher Kennedy Masterson (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 41. 
• Jazz singer Lizz Wright is 41. 
• Singer Willa Ford is 40. 
• Actor Beverley Mitchell (“Seventh Heaven”) is 40. 
• Guitarist Ben Moody of The Fallen (and formerly of Evanescence) is 40. 
• Actor-singer Phoebe Strole (“Glee”) is 38. 
• Rapper Logic is 31. 
• Actor Sami Gayle (“Blue Bloods”) is 25.

Cumulus Makes Changes In Sales Leadership

CUMULUS MEDIA has  announced important changes to sales leadership, effective immediately.

Ron Russo is appointed President, Sales at Westwood One responsible for the network sales and sales planning organizations and reporting to Westwood One President, Suzanne Grimes. Ron has more than 17 years of sales leadership experience, most recently as Westwood One’s EVP of Sales for the Northeast region, prior to which he held sales leadership roles at iHeart and CBS Radio. Ron replaces Bryan Forbes who is leaving the company to pursue another opportunity.

Rafe D’Amico is promoted to SVP, President of National Sales, responsible for leading the Cumulus Radio Station Group’s national spot team and managing the relationship with Katz Radio Group, succeeding Bryan Forbes in this capacity and reporting to Dave Milner, EVP, Operations, CUMULUS MEDIA. Prior to joining Cumulus, Rafe was VP of Strategic Partnerships and National Sales at Beasley Broadcast Group (now Beasley Media Group).

Brandon Berman, EVP Sales and Sports Partnerships at Westwood One, expands beyond his current oversight of the Midwest region and Westwood One Sports sales, to assume responsibility for the Northeast region as well. Brandon has built his career at Westwood One, with 15 years of increasingly senior positions from his earliest days as an account executive.

Kim Bryant, EVP of Sales for the West and Southwest regions at Westwood One, picks up responsibility for the Southeast region. During Kim’s 10+ years with the company, she has held various sales leadership roles at Westwood One and the Market Manager position for Cumulus New York, prior to which she held management roles at Clear Channel and Entravision.

Adam Shifrin is promoted to VP, Sports Sales and Marketing at Westwood One. A seven-year veteran, Adam retains his current responsibility for generating sports revenue in the Midwest and West regions, and now manages all Westwood One Sports Play by Play, CBS Sports Radio, and associated shoulder inventory as well as the dedicated sports sales and operations teams.

“Westwood One is extremely fortunate to have a group of sales executives poised to lead the team forward seamlessly,” said Suzanne Grimes. “I’m thrilled to announce these well-deserved promotions that will enable us to manage through this challenging pandemic with confidence, commitment, resilience and results.”

“The station group has benefited greatly from Rafe’s knowledge and strategic approach to its National business,” said Dave Milner. “Promoting him to lead the talented team and our relationship with Katz is well-deserved.”

The New Television Landscape: Where The Viewers Are

eMarketer forecasts that in just two years, video streaming services will fully overtake cable subscriptions, and 64.4 million homes will watch streamed content exclusively. But while the predominance of streaming grabs all the headlines, the mostly untold story is the growth of advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD), according to Ad Age.

Up to 90% of all video ad budgets continue to go to linear spends, according to eMarketer. This imbalance of where the ad dollars go compared with where the audience goes leaves a lot of opportunity for companies that can be flexible and think outside the cable box. For advertisers in search of a younger, more diverse and nationally representative audience who can’t be reached via linear TV, AVOD will become an even more prominent complement to existing linear campaigns in the year ahead.

Network and cable TV have long been the standard for home viewing options, and in many ways, the waves of cord-cutters in the past five years have been early adopters. While live events such as the Super Bowl and the Oscars are big draws for network audiences and advertising, larger numbers of consumers are recoiling from paying for extra channels that they don’t watch, all while cable costs significantly outpace inflation. According to Broadband Search, 45 million consumers cut the cord in 2020. 

Compare that with the exponential growth of streaming services. According to Tubi’s  audience report, The Stream: 2021 Actionable Audience Insights for Brands consumers subscribe to an average of four streaming platforms per household and watch roughly 13 hours of content each week. Some 33 million monthly active users streamed more than 2.5 billion hours last year—a 58% growth in viewership over 2019—and since nearly half our streamers do not have cable, our audience represents an incremental reach of 80% over the top 25 cable networks, according to MRI-Simmons.

Streaming skews younger as well; the majority (57%) of Tubi’s younger streamers (18 to 34) do not subscribe to cable. Not only are they eschewing the traditional advertising model, but they are also becoming increasingly unreachable by linear TV. Nearly half of Tubi’s active monthly users are under 35, making them 20-plus years younger than traditional television audiences. Additionally, 36% of these viewers’ households have children, meaning there are multiple built-in demographics per home.

Pittsburgh Radio: Wendy Bell Is Back...On WJAS-AM

Wendy Bell

Controversial talk show host Wendy Bell has announced she is returning to local radio next week following her abrupt departure from KDKA 1020 AM last fall. Bell stated on social media that she will join iHeartMedia's WJAS 1320 AM beginning Jan. 25.

"America needs common sense conservatism," Bell stated in the Facebook post. "Let's roll!"

Bell said she will be on the air from 11 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon on Friday.

Entercom's KDKA took the former TV news anchor off the air in September after she suggested that park rangers should shoot people who vandalize monuments honoring historical figures. In October, the station said KDKA and Bell had agreed to mutually part ways.

WJAS is owned by St. Barnabas Broadcasting, a division of the Richland-based St. Barnabas Health System. It features conservative talk show hosts such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dave Ramsey and Mark Levin.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette To End Friday Print Edition

After Feb. 26, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will ax its Friday print version, but continue its print editions for Thursday and Sunday. The newspaper will also transfer its Local Xtra and Varsity Xtra sections, news and sports coverage of city neighborhoods, to Thursday.

Mediapost reports the move follows the announcement in early October 2019 that the publication would only deliver print copies on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. The decision is part of its transition to a digital-only newspaper.

To compensate for the loss of Friday, the Sunday edition will add more than 10 pages and new content, PPG announced. It will continue to sell a slim Saturday print edition in retail stores.

“We’ve seen over the past year increased demand for digital content,” said Kurt Franck, vice president of newspaper operations for Block Communications Inc., the Toledo, Ohio-based owner of the Post-Gazette and the Toledo Blade. "We think e-delivery is better, and we make no apologies for doing this.”

The Post-Gazette’s digital efforts include its site, a daily electronic edition and NewsSlide, a digital site accessible by mobile devices.

The newspaper claimed 101,747 paid Sunday subscribers, including 71,520 print and 30,227 digital, in Q4 2020. Paid subscribers for daily editions totaled 74,444, including 44,371 print and 30,073 digital. 

There is no word on how the move will affect staffers. The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh has remained in negotiations with Block Communications since March 2017, when its contract expired. Guild members voted to authorize a strike in August over the failure to negotiate a new contract.

Philly Radio: Talker Gary Hendler Pardoned By President Trump

It was 5:30 a.m. Wednesday when Gary Hendler shot up in bed in his Ardmore home to scroll through the list of the 73 people President Donald Trump had just pardoned.

He’d given up hope of seeing his name, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Six years ago he filled out a 90-page application to get pardoned for a drug-related crime he’d committed in the early 1980s. “I didn’t think I would get it from Trump. I’m not famous. I’m not anything.” Hendler didn’t even vote for Trump.

“Then I saw Gary Evan Hendler and I got all choked up. I couldn’t believe it,” he said, his voice cracking. “It’s a miracle.” He turned to his wife, Marjorie. “This must be what it feels like when you hit the lottery.”

Hendler, a 67-year-old father of two daughters, has spent the last 38 years helping others recover from addiction. In 1985, he started AA meetings at Main Line Reform Temple and they continue today. He hosts the Clean and Sober Radio show on WWDB 860 AM and Gov. Tom Wolf recently appointed Hendler to serve on the Pennsylvania Advisory Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

In 1982, he faced local drug charges and his attorney told him he’d look good in court if he went into rehab. “A bulb went off and I said I’d had enough,” he said.

Wake-Up Call: Biden Urges National Unity

Joe Biden made an appeal for unity to a divided nation the central theme of his inaugural address Wednesday after he took the oath of office administered by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to become the 46th U.S. president. Declaring in the wake of the attack two weeks earlier on the U.S. Capitol, the same place where he was sworn in yesterday, that, quote, "democracy had prevailed," Biden spoke about the scope of the crises facing the country, led by the coronavirus pandemic, and urged Americans to unite to face them together, saying, "We must end this uncivil war." 

"I pledge this to you: I will be a president for all Americans." - @POTUS #InaugurationDay pic.twitter.com/iTqcfC7y2D

— Biden Inaugural Committee (@BidenInaugural) January 20, 2021

Biden also said that he'd be a president for all Americans, pledging to, quote, "fight as hard for those who did not support me as for those who did." There was also history made yesterday when Kamala Harris was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the first female vice president.

Here's Lady Gaga's stunning National Anthem in full.#InaugurationDay pic.twitter.com/kox1wGXlK4

— The Recount (@therecount) January 20, 2021

The inaugural ceremony also included Lady Gaga singing the national anthem, Jennifer Lopez performing, "This Land is Your Land," and Garth Brooks singing, "Amazing Grace." Additionally, 22-year-old poet Amanda Gordon read a poem she'd written for the occasion called, "The Hill We Climb." 

Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton with there with their spouses, as was outgoing Vice President Mike Pence, representing the departing administration since Donald Trump broke more than 150 years of tradition by not attending.

Lady Gaga and Amanda Gordon

There were fewer people than normal attending because of the coronavirus pandemic, and for the same reason, people weren't packed on the National Mall to watch in celebration, instead 200,000 Americans flags had been planted. Some 25,000 National Guard troops were in the lock-downed streets of Washington to provide security in the wake of the attack on the Capitol. Although there had been warnings of potential violence in Washington and at the capitols in all 50 states surrounding the inauguration, demonstrations never materialized.

After the ceremony, Biden and Harris laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Ceremony, joined by their spouses as well as the three former presidents and their spouses. A "virtual parade" took place with events from across the country since a traditional parade couldn't be held due to the pandemic. But Biden, Harris and their families did walk part of the way as they proceeded to the White House. In the evening, an event called Celebrating America aired on all the major networks, hosted by Tom Hanks and with musical performers including John Legend, Katy Perry, Jon Bon Jovi, Demi Lovato and more, instead of the traditional inaugural balls. Biden and Harris also spoke during it, and it concluded with a fireworks show around the Washington Monument as Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, watched from the White House.

Biden Signs Executive Orders:

After being inaugurated, President Biden signed some 15 executive orders, including rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, requiring the wearing of face masks on federal property, reversing former President Trump's removal of the U.S. from the World Health Organization, and extending eviction and foreclosure moratoriums amid the pandemic. Biden also revoked the permit for controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, halting its construction.

Trump Leaves for Mar-a-Lago

President Trump left the White House yesterday morning and held a brief farewell celebration at nearby Joint Base Andrews before flying Air Force One for the final time to Florida, where he plans to live at his Mar-a-Lago resort. He wished the incoming administration well, while never mentioning Biden's name, and suggested a potential political return of some kind, saying, "we will be back in some form." He also stated, "I will always fight for you. I will be watching. I will be listening and I will tell you that the future of this country has never been better." He also left with the words, "Have a good life." Although Trump never phoned Biden to congratulate him and concede, never invited him for a post-election White House visit, and didn't attend his successor's inauguration, he did honor one tradition, and left a note for Biden in the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. Biden told reporters it was a, quote, "very generous letter."

➤THREE NEW SENATORS SWORN IN, GIVING DEMOCRATS MAJORITY: Three U.S. senators were sworn in yesterday by new Vice President Kamala Harris, giving Democrats majority control. Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock, who won their runoff races in Georgia on January 5th, and Alex Padilla, who was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to Harris' Senate seat, took their oaths of office. The Senate is now split 50-50 between the Democrats and the Republicans, but Democrats have the majority with Harris able to cast the tie-breaking vote. 

The push to inoculate Americans against the coronavirus is hitting a roadblock: A number of states are reporting they are running out of vaccine. Tens of thousands of people who managed to get appointments for a first dose are seeing them canceled. https://t.co/UzsLH1YfIg

— The Associated Press (@AP) January 20, 2021

➤STATES REPORTING COVID VACCINE SHORTAGES: Several states are reporting that they're running out of their supplies of Covid-19 vaccines, even as health officials grow increasingly concerned about mutations of the virus. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city had to cancel 23,000 appointments because of shortages, and Governor Andrew Cuomo said they expected to run out of first shot dosages in a couple of days. Complaints of shortages also came from places including the Miami area, San Francisco, Ohio, and Hawaii. The Health and Human Services Department suggested last week that states had unrealistic expectations for how much vaccine was coming. However, with the new administration now having taken office, President Biden has promised to administer 100 million shots in 100 days. 

➤VENDING MACHINES SELLING COVID TESTS FOR NEARLY $150 EACH LAUNCHING IN US CITIES:  Some Americans will be able to buy COVID tests as easily as a bag of chips. Vending machines that dispense at-home COVID-19 tests for $149 will soon debut in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, and Dallas from the health company Wellness 4 Humanity. The group says the machines are slated to pop up in cities this month. The machines will sell two types of the tests: the TRUSTPASS Rapid Antigen At-Home Test Kit (which provides results in 15 minutes, with no shipping or lab work required and is said to have 97.4% accuracy), and the At-Home Saliva RT-PCR Test, which is done through saliva collection, rather than nasal swabs, and customers can get their results within 48 hours with 99% accuracy. Those who use the latter test will be provided with a shipping label to use to send the saliva to a lab partner, and they can get their results via the TRUSTPASS app. Lian Pham, CEO and co-founder of Wellness 4 Humanity, said in a statement, “These vending machines are a significant milestone in helping to provide Americans with easier access to fast, highly accurate COVID-19 testing.”

➤AMAZON OFFERS TO HELP WITH VACCINE ROLLOUT: Amazon is really good at getting things to people as quickly as possible, so why not the coronavirus vaccine? Amazon sent President Biden a letter on Inauguration Day yesterday offering to help with his goal of vaccinating 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office, saying it can leverage its, quote, "operations, information technology, and communications capabilities." But the offer may not be entirely altruistic. CNN reports that Amazon also asked Biden to prioritize its more than 800,000 U.S. workers for getting the vaccine. Most of them work in Amazon fulfillment centers, Web Services data centers, of Whole Food stories. If you're wondering why this offer wasn't made to the Trump administration, Fox News did too, saying the company didn't respond to its request for them to comment on why they didn't.

➤CONNECTICUT MAN CHARGED FOR PINNING OFFICER CRUSHED IN DOORWAY IN CAPITOL ATTACK: A 23-year-old Connecticut man who was caught on widely-viewed video pinning an officer who was being crushed in a doorway during the attack on the U.S. Capitol has been charged with assaulting officers, federal authorities said yesterday. Patrick McCaughey III of Ridgefield was arrested Tuesday, and a federal magistrate judge yesterday ordered him detained without bail, calling his actions disturbing and saying he was a threat to the community. McCaughey is accused of hitting several police officers with a plastic riot shield, and authorities say he used the shield to pin Officer Daniel Hodges against a doorway. 

Tonight we are devastated by the crash of a New York Army National Guard helicopter in the town of Mendon that killed three of New York's bravest during a training mission.

I'm directing that flags on all State buildings be lowered to half-staff tomorrow.

Full statement: pic.twitter.com/ztSnTwD4V1

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 21, 2021

➤THREE NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS KILLED IN N.Y. HELICOPTER CRASH: Three New York National Guard soldiers were killed last night in a helicopter crash during a routine training mission in upstate Mendon, New York. Monroe County Sheriff Todd K. Baxter told reporters, "According to the 911 reports . . . there were calls of a sputtering, the sounds of an engine and that the aircraft was flying very low, more low than normal." First responders arrived to find the crash site in flames. The Division of Military and Naval Affairs said the incident is under investigation.

🤑POWERBALL HAS A WINNER! A single Powerball ticket sold in Maryland is the winner of an estimated $731.1 million jackpot, the first to get the top prize in months. Thanks to math and bad luck, lottery players had another shot at a giant jackpot Wednesday night that earlier had been estimated at $730 million, but it grew even further based on final ticket sales. Following the win, the new jackpot drops to an estimated $20 million for the next drawing Saturday. The winning ticket for Wednesday's jackpot was sold in Allegany County, located in northwestern Maryland, but additional details weren't immediately available, the Maryland Lottery said in a statement. The Powerball jackpot was the fifth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever, and it came only a day after nobody won the even-larger Mega Millions prize, which now stands at $970 million. Winning numbers for Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing were: 40-53-60-68-69 and a Powerball of 22.

☔RECORD RAINFALL EXPECTED IN SOME PARTS OF DROUGHT-STRICKEN CALIFORNIA, NEVADA, ARIZONA: Those living in the Southwest have been hoping for rain for a while now. CNN reports that 70 percent of the region has been dealing with severe drought. Las Vegas, for example, has only had two episodes of rain in the last 273 days. But weather models are now predicting that three or four storms are on the way to Nevada, Arizona, and California by the end of the month, and some parts of California are predicted to get more rain over the next several days than they usually get over the course of two years. Weather.com also predicts that New Mexico, Utah, and western Colorado may also benefit from the various weather systems headed toward that part of the country.

🏀IRVING RETURNS TO NET AFTER TWO WEEKS AWAY: Kyrie Irving returned to the Brooklyn Nets last night after taking two weeks away for personal reasons. Irving scored 37 points in his first game with Kevin Durant and James Harden, which the Nets ended up losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers 147-135 in double-overtime. Irving had missed Brooklyn’s previous seven games to address unspecified issues. He told reporters only that he needed space to work through some issues to find balance in his life.

🏈MAHOMES STILL IN CONCUSSION PROTOCOL, BUT PRACTICED YESTERDAY: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was still in the NFL's concussion protocol Wednesday, but he was able to practice in limited capacity. That raised hopes that he will be able to play in the AFC title game this Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. Mahomes suffered a concussion in the third quarter of last Sunday's 22-17 divisional round playoff win over the Cleveland Browns and had to come out of the game. 

The next chapter begins.

Nunc Coepi.

— Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) January 20, 2021

🏈COLTS QUARTERBACK RIVERS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers announced yesterday that he's retiring, ending his 17-year NFL career. The 39-year-old broke the news in a statement on the Colts' website and said, "Thank you God for allowing me to live out my childhood dream of playing quarterback in the NFL. I am grateful to the Chargers for 16 seasons, and the Colts for the 17th season." Rivers won 134 career games, second among quarterbacks who haven't won a Super Bowl and eighth overall. He's also fifth in career completions, yards passing and touchdown passes. Additionally, his 240 consecutive regular-season starts was the second-longest streak since 1970, behind Brett Favre.

🏀TWO MORE NBA GAMES POSTPONED DUE TO CORONAVIRUS ISSUES: Last night's scheduled NBA game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Portland Trial Blazers was postponed because of coronavirus issues, and the Washington Wizards planned Friday return after not playing for more than a week was pushed back to at least Sunday to give them more time to get game-ready. That brings the total to 17 games this season so far that have been postponed because of the virus, with teams dealing with not having enough players due to positive tests or contact tracing.

🏒CAPITALS FINED $100K FOR COVID VIOLATIONS: The NHL's Washington Capitals were fined $100,000 by the league yesterday for violating coronavirus protocols, including by having a gathering in a hotel room. Additionally, star Capitals player Alex Ovechkin and three others on the team were put on the Covid-19 list. Elsewhere in the league, five Carolina Hurricanes players are on the Covid list, and the team's games were postponed through at least Saturday.

🏈CAMPBELL HIRED AS LIONS' NEW HEAD COACH: The Detroit Lions announced yesterday that they had hired Dan Campbell as the team's new head coach. Campbell had been the New Orleans Saints' assistant head coach and tight ends coach for the past four years. His only past experience as head coach was 12 games as an interim head coach with the Miami Dolphins in 2015. Campbell also played 10 seasons in the NFL.

New WH Press Secretary Jen Psaki A Hit On Twitter

President Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki, a press and communications veteran in the Obama White House, promised Wednesday night the Biden administration would change the tone — and trust level — with the media, starting with daily briefings.

“We’re building trust,” she said, and declared the way to “combat misinformation ... is accurate information and truth and data, and sharing information even when it’s hard to hear.”

But Psaki (Sa-Kee) said President Biden’s No. 1 priority now is reigning in a relentless COVID-19 pandemic.

And she signaled the president wouldn’t interfere with the Senate trial of former President Donald Trump after his impeachment in the House for his role in the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol, but suggested Biden expects Congress will act on COVID relief amid the Trump reckoning.

“[Biden] is going to leave it to members of Congress to carry out their constitutional duty and determine what the path forward is and what the mechanisms will be, what the process will be, and what the timeline will be,” she said.

Psaki also delivered a pair of slick punts on hot-button issues, including whether Biden intends to return to the Iran nuclear deal.

“The president has made clear that he believes that through diplomacy, the United States should seek to lengthen and strengthen nuclear constraints on Iran and address other issues of concern,” she said. “Iran must resume compliance with significant nuclear constraints under the deal in order for that to proceed.”

She was similarly vague on Biden’s position on federal funding for abortions.

“I will take the opportunity to remind you he’s a devout Catholic. He started his day attending church with his family but I don’t have anything more on that,” she said.

Trump’s fractious relationship with the news media began from the very first news conference held by then-press secretary Sean Spicer, and continued through the next three spokeswomen: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany.

Pai Warns Of Threats To Telecoms From China

Ajit Pai

Outgoing U.S. FCC chairman Ajit Pai said potential Chinese espionage and threats to U.S. telecommunications networks and internet freedom are the biggest national security issue that regulators will face in the next four years.

Ajit Pai told Reuters in an interview there is a "wide array" of activity from China that was of concern, including of surveillance, economic espionage and potential "injection of malware into networks here in the United States or around the world. There are a number of bad things that can happen when insecure equipment is used to handle sensitive information."

Pai was named chairman in January 2017 by former President Donald Trump and stepped down on Wednesday. During his tenure, the FCC cracked down on Chinese network manufacturers like Huawei and ZTE.

Last month, the FCC began the process of revoking China Telecom’s authorization to operate in the United States. China Telecom is the largest Chinese telecommunications company.

"The Chinese Communist Party has a very determined world view. They want to dominate this space and exert their will -- even beyond their own borders," Pai said Tuesday. "That is a serious threat not just to internet freedom but to national security for us and for many of our allies."

The FCC first warned in April might terminate U.S. operations of three state-controlled Chinese telecommunications companies including China Telecom.

In 2019, the FCC voted to deny state-owned China Mobile the right to provide U.S. telecommunications services, citing risks the Chinese government could use the approval to conduct espionage.

Under Pai, the FCC formally designated China’s Huawei and ZTE Corp as national security threats, barring U.S. firms from tapping an $8.3 billion government fund to purchase equipment from the companies. Congress approved $1.9 billion in December to pay for replacement of Chinese-made equipment in U.S. networks.

TV Ratings: Football Dominates The Top 20 Shows

NFL and college football and sturdy drama franchises including the “Chicago” shows on NBC and the “NCIS” group on CBS were among the week’s ratings winners, according to The Associated Press citing Nielsen figures out Wednesday.

The second impeachment of now-former President Donald Trump drew viewers to news shows, but not in the numbers that tuned in the prior week to bear witness to rioting inside the U.S. Capitol and gave CNN get its biggest single-day audience ever.

CBS’ news magazine “60 Minutes,” which included reports on the Capitol attack and security measures for President Joe Biden’s inauguration, was the week’s top non-sports broadcast despite competition from a NFL divisional playoff game.

That contest, between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints was the week’s No. 1 program. It helped make Fox the most-watched network with an average 9.1 million viewers, followed by NBC with 6.4 million. CBS had 4.1 million, ABC had 3.5 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Telemundo had 1 million and Ion Television had 940,000.

ESPN was the most-watched cable network in prime-time, averaging 3.2 million for the week. CNN had 3.1 million, MSNBC had 2.7 million and HGTV had 1.1 million.

For the week of Jan. 11-17, the 20 most-watched programs in prime time, their networks and viewership:

👉Top 20 Prime-Time TV Show (Total Audience):

1. NFC Playoff: Tampa Bay at New Orleans, Fox, 35.5 million.

2. NFL Playoff: Baltimore at Buffalo, NBC, 26.2 million.

3. College football championship: Ohio State at Alabama, ESPN, 18.5 million.

4. NFL Pregame, NBC, 18.3 million.

5. NFC Postgame, Fox, 18 million.

6. College football pregame, ESPN, 12.8 million.

7. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.57 million.

8. “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune,” ABC. 7.8 million.

9. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 7.6 million.

10. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.3 million.

11. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 6.6 million.

12. “Great North,” Fox, 6.1 million.

13. “NCIS: Los Angeles,” CBS, 5.6 million.

14. “Magnum P.I.,” CBS, 5.5 million.

15. “This Is Us,” NBC, 5.46 million.

16. “The Chase,” ABC, 5.45 million.

17. “NCIS,” CBS, 5.2 million.

18. “NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS, 5.1 million.

19. “MacGyver,” CBS, 5 million.

20. “The Price is Right,” CBS, 4.9 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening news ratings contest, averaging 10.3 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 8.5 million and the “CBS Evening News” had 6.3 million.

Syndication:   Beloved Jeopardy host Alex Trebek ended his more than 36-year run on a high note in the session ending Jan. 10, taking the game show to a 29% increase from the week before and a new season high 6.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating. Trebek taped his final programs just 10 days before he died on Nov. 8 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Wheel of Fortune, which is often paired with Jeopardy, also hit its best ratings of the season, shooting up 18% to a 6.0.

Ocala FL Radio: WMFQ Adds Elvis Duran For Mornings

JVC Media of Florida announces the addition of Elvis Duran and the Q92.9 Morning Show on Gainesville-Ocala’s Top 40 WMFQ Q92.9 beginning Monday January 25th, 2021 at 6am.

JVC Ocala-Gainesville Operations Manager Ben Burris says, “The Q92.9 listeners demanded more hit music and a content-rich show for their morning drive, and that is what we found in Elvis Duran and his outstanding cast of characters. Elvis Duran and the Q Morning Show will be the only show of its kind in our part of Florida playing all of today’s biggest hits, while adding in up to the minute pop culture news, celebrity guests, and hilarious fan-favorite segments every single day!”

“We are so excited to welcome Elvis Duran, Danielle, Gandhi, and the entire cast to North Central Florida’s airwaves… our loyal Q listeners are going to love the Phone Tap, the 3 Things You Need to Know, the Danielle Report, and all the huge celebrity guests,” adds Stevie DeMann, JVC Florida’s Director of Programming.

“Q92.9 has been a top choice for listeners and our clients in the Ocala-Gainesville market for so many years,” adds JVC Ocala-Gainesville GM Sam Gerace. “Elvis Duran and the Q Morning Show will add what this area of Florida needs – a direct connection to the world of hit music and the biggest celebrities on the planet. We look forward to Elvis and the gang being the most entertaining morning show and giving JVC an even bigger competitive edge.”

JVC Broadcasting was formed in July 2009. The company operates 16 radio stations, Long Island Events, and Long Island Community Hospital Amphitheater at Bald Hill, a 7,000-person outdoor concert and event facility on Long Island. We broadcast and present with the mindset that by under promising and over delivering, having integrity in all of our relationships, and creating an atmosphere of high energy fun and excitement, our results will be exceptional for our clients, listeners, and families. For additional information, visit www.jvcbroadcasting.com