A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators has reintroduced a bill, dubbed the “Workforce Mobility Act of 2023,” that would largely ban the use of employer non-compete agreements nationwide as a matter of federal law. This follows on the heels of the proposed rule by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that would make most employment non-compete agreements, as well as “de facto” non-competes, an unfair or deceptive trade practice under federal law.
The Act, previously introduced in 2019 and 2021, was reintroduced by Senators Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) and is co-sponsored by Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.).
If passed, the Act would codify the use of employment non-competes as an unfair trade practice under federal law. The Act provides that, with certain limited exceptions, “no person shall enter into, enforce, or attempt to enforce a noncompete agreement with any individual who is employed by, or performs work under contract with, such person with respect to activities of such person in or affecting commerce,” and that noncompete agreements will have no force or effect.
Rescuers worked through the night to rescue people clinging to life beneath the rubble eight days after Turkey's worst earthquake in modern history but hopes of finding many more survivors were fading on Tuesday. A boy and a man were rescued in hard-hit Kahramanmaras early on Tuesday, 198 hours after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck on Feb. 6. A young girl was pulled from the rubble of a building in Turkey on Monday, a week after devastating earthquakes and aftershocks struck the region. The child, named Miray, who was found in Adıyaman, was carried away by rescue workers on a stretcher, video from the scene showed. Government officials said the girl was four years old, but media reports later said she was six years old.
4 yaşındaki Miray depremden 178 saat sonra enkazdan sağ olarak çıkarıldı.
Elsewhere in Kahramanmaras, rescuers were attempting to reach a grandmother, mother and daughter, all from one family, who appeared to have survived the quake and aftershock that killed more than 37,000 in Turkey and Syria.
Death toll 31,643 in Turkey, more than 5,700 in Syria
At least eight people reported rescued on Monday
Rescue phase 'coming to a close', says U.N. in Syria
Syria's Assad agrees to more border crossings for aid
➤TWH SHORT ON BALLOON DETAILS: The United States said on Monday it still did not know the origin or purpose of three aerial objects that its military shot down over the weekend, as Washington and Beijing traded accusations about high-altitude balloons. While American and Canadian officials struggled to explain the presence of the objects, a White House spokesperson stressed that there was no reason to believe that they were anything other than human-made. "There is no, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. The saga began with a suspected Chinese spy balloon that drifted across the United States and was shot down by the U.S. military off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. Since then, U.S. fighter jets have downed three more mysterious objects over North American airspace starting on Friday.
MSU Gunman
➤GUNMAN KILLS 3 EPOPLE AT MSU: A gunman opened fire Monday night at Michigan State University, killing three people and wounding five more, before fatally shooting himself miles away amid an hours long manhunt that forced frightened students to hide in the dark. Police announced the man’s death early Tuesday, four hours after shootings broke out, first at Berkey Hall, an academic building, and then nearby at the MSU Union, a popular hub to eat or study. “This truly has been a nightmare we’re living tonight,” said Chris Rozman, interim deputy chief of the campus police department. Hundreds of officers had scoured the East Lansing campus, about 90 miles northwest of Detroit, for the suspect, whom police described as a short Black man with red shoes, a jean jacket and ball cap.
Daily Mail Composite 2/14/23
UKRAINE CLAIMS HUGE RUSSIAN LOSES: It reports many enemy troops have been killed, wounded and captured in Putin's failed attempts to seize the Donetsk hamlet of Vuhledar. They say that one marine brigade of 5,000 men was almost entirely destroyed, for the third time since the Kremlin launched the full-scale invasion nearly a year ago. The carnage - and loss of at least 130 armored vehicles - led Russian hardliners to call for public show trials to punish incompetent generals responsible for the repeated battlefield massacres of their soldiers.
President Joe Biden's pick for a key fifth seat on the FCC will tell lawmakers industry opponents have sought to scuttle her nomination to prevent more lower-priced broadband service.
Gigi Sohn, who was nominated in October 2021, will have her third hearing for the job before the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday, reports Reuters.
"I believe deeply that regulated entities should not choose their regulator. Unfortunately, that is the exact intent of the past 15 months of false and misleading attacks on my record and my character," Sohn said in written testimony she planned to deliver, seen by Reuters.
Sohn formerly served as a senior official advising FCC Chair Tom Wheeler under President Barack Obama.
The Grand Canyon State delivered a grand finale for the ages with a preliminary average audience of 113 million tuning in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles (38 – 35) in Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium in Arizona.
Kansas City’s victory in the Valley delivered the best Super Bowl audience in six years ranking as the most-watched Super Bowl since 2017 on FOX, per Nielsen Media Research Fast National data and Adobe Analytics. Final Nielsen data will be available tomorrow.
The 2015 game between New England and Seattle on NBC holds the record at 114,442,000 viewers (not including streaming), followed by Super Bowl 51 in 2017 on Fox between Atlanta and New England (113,668,000).
📺SUPER BOWL LVII HIGHLIGHTS:
Super Bowl LVII drew an average audience of 113 million across television (FOX and FOX Deportes) and digital (FOX and NFL properties)
FOX’s average audience represents the second most-watched non-overtime Super Bowl on record and the second most-watched program in FOX Sports history
182.6 million viewers watched all or part of Super Bowl LVII on FOX and FOX Deportes
Super Bowl LVII on FOX ran away in primetime viewership across all networks with a 40.0/77 household rating/share
📺METERED MARKETS
Local markets were led by Kansas City with a 52.0/87 rating/share and Philadelphia with a 46.3/77 rating/share. Host market Phoenix posted a +23% increase over last year’s Super Bowl with a 39.5/76 ratings/share. Top metered markets available for Super Bowl LVII:
A former MSNBC host claims she was told she needed to have the network president vet her commentary if it included any criticism of Hillary Clinton before she ran for president in 2016, reports The NY Post.
Krystal Ball, a former Democratic Party congressional candidate from Virginia, was a co-host of “The Cycle” from 2012 until 2015 for the left-leaning cable news channel owned by Comcast.
Ball, 41, recalled her MSNBC monolgue in 2014 when she urged then-Sen. Clinton (D-NY) to not seek the Democratic Party nomination for president.
“I did this whole thing that was like, ‘She sold out to Wall Street. People are gonna hate this lady. She’s like the terrible candidate for the moment. Please don’t run,'” Ball said during an appearance last week on Joe Rogan’s Spotify podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
iHeartMedia Baltimore, MD has announced that Mike Klein has been named Assistant Program Director for WZFT Z104.3, Baltimore’s #1 Hit Music Station.
Mike Klein
As Assistant Program Director, Mike Klein will be overseeing the day-to-day programming operations of Z104.3 as well as other Baltimore cluster duties. He will continue to report to Rob Kruz, Program Director for iHeartMedia Baltimore, MD.
“Mike Klein is Baltimore through and through. His commitment and dedication in executing compelling, local radio is unmatched making him the perfect choice to take on this new role at Z104.3,” said Rob Kruz, Program Director. “I look forward to continue to work closely with Mike in the quest for Baltimore domination!”.
“Having the ability two years ago to come home to Maryland to host afternoons at Z104.3 was a dream come true,” said Mike Klein, Assistant Program Director. “Now to return to the programming ranks in my hometown is even better. Thank you to Kruz, Jeff Kapugi, Lynn Polovoy and Aaron Hyland!”.
SummitMedia LLC has addedon-air talent Hanah May to 100.3 The Wolf (WCYQ) in Knoxville, TN. May joins long-time air personality Opie Joe for weekday afternoons from 3 to 7 p.m.
Hanah May
May had a brief stint in 2022 as a Promotions Assistant at SummitMedia Knoxville. Most recently, she served as a reporter and multimedia journalist for Sinclair Broadcast Group in Chattanooga.
“Hanah is a strong communicator and team builder,” said Brian “Opie Joe” Creason, WCYQ Program Director and On-air Talent. “With her dynamic personality, East Tennessee is going to fall in love with her. I’m excited to get her on the radio.”
May graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she worked on “UT Today News” and the School of Journalism and Electronic Media’s (JEM) “Morning JEM News.”
“Since I was knee high to a grasshopper, I have listened to country music, especially Hank Jr. and Chris Ledoux, and new country too,” May said. “I feel extremely blessed to join Opie and The Wolf in my hometown and am excited to start this journey!”
Blarney Stone Broadcasting (Grayling) has announced that Chad Patterson, actor, comedian, playwright, stage director, educator and the broadcast voice of Grayling High School sports, is bringing his talent to morning-drive radio with a new show on Rock WQON (Q100).
“We are thrilled to introduce Chatterson’s Q100 “Wake Up Call” show to engage and entertain our huge listening audience on-air and online weekday mornings from 6 -10 a.m.,” said Sheryl Coyne, president of Blarney Stone Broadcasting.
Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. Monday announced the sale of its Mega TV business and certain associated real estate to Voz Media for a total acquisition price of $64 Million. The transaction is expected to close upon Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval.
“I am very proud of the nearly two decades of award-winning programming, community dedication and industry accomplishments achieved by Mega TV, a network operation that succeeded in forging its own unique position among Hispanic viewers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico,” commented Raúl Alarcón, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of SBS.
“I am especially pleased to leave this unique asset in the hands of a dedicated Hispanic owner, Orlando Salazar, the founder of Voz Media, who will continue the expansion of Mega TV and honor its unwavering commitment to faithfully serve our nation’s burgeoning Latino population. Minority ownership of the media, and the opportunities it affords to our nation’s fastest-growing constituency, is a critical component in guaranteeing a stable, profitable and promising future for America.”
The two play-by-play voices of the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to multiyear contract extensions with the team, reports The Philly Business Journal.
Scott Franzke
Tom McCarthy, who handles television duties on NBC Sports Philadelphia, and Scott Franzke, who calls games on SportsRadio 94 WIP-FM and the rest of the Phillies radio network, will both be behind their microphones when the season kicks off in April.
Broadcast partner John Kruk confirmed that he too will return to the booth this coming season while offering his congratulations to McCarthy and Frankze on social media.
The team has also zeroed in on a candidate to alternate with veteran announcer Larry Anderson as Franzke's color analyst, according to a source.
McCarthy, 54, was the Phillies radio play-by-play announcer from 2001 to 2005 before leaving for a similar role with the New York Mets from 2006 and 2007. He returned to the Phillies as a play-by-play voice in 2008, taking over the main duties upon the death of Harry Kalas in April 2009. He also calls NFL football and college basketball games for national television and radio networks.
by Felix Richter, StatistaMore than 40 years after The Buggles released "Video Killed the Radio Star", radio is still alive and well.
With all the chatter about streaming and other digital media, it’s easy to forget how powerful traditional media such as radio and television still are. Radio in particular rarely gets credited for what it still is: a true mass medium. According to MRI-Simmons, radio even trumps TV in terms of its weekly reach among U.S. adults.
According to MRI-Simmons, 91 percent of U.S. adults listen to the radio at least once a week, far exceeding the reach of live and time-shifted TV at 76 percent, social media at 70 percent an online video at 67 percent. While radio does win in terms of sheer reach, TV remains unparalleled with respect to average daily usage.
➦In 1876…Lawyers for Alexander Graham Bell filed for a patent for the telephone. Bell's patent 174,465, was issued to Bell on March 7, 1876, by the U.S. Patent Office. Bell's patent covered "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound.
In this first telephone, sound waves caused an electric current to vary in intensity and frequency, causing a thin, soft iron plate–called the diaphragm–to vibrate. These vibrations were transferred magnetically to another wire connected to a diaphragm in another, distant instrument. When that diaphragm vibrated, the original sound would be replicated in the ear of the receiving instrument. Three days after filing the patent, the telephone carried its first intelligible message–the famous “Mr. Watson, come here, I need you”–from Bell to his assistant.
➦In 1894...Comedian and radio/TV host Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky (Died: December 26, 1974 at 80).
Jack Benny - undated
Benny had been a minor vaudeville performer before becoming a national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show that ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. It was among the most highly rated programs during its run.
Benny's long radio career began on April 6, 1932, when the NBC Commercial Program Department auditioned him for the N.W. Ayer agency and their client, Canada Dry, after which Bertha Brainard, head of the division, said, "We think Mr. Benny is excellent for radio and, while the audition was unassisted as far as orchestra was concerned, we believe he would make a great bet for an air program." Recalling the experience in 1956, Benny stated that Ed Sullivan had invited him to guest on his program (1932), and "the agency for Canada Dry ginger ale heard me and offered me a job."
With Canada Dry ginger ale as a sponsor, Benny came to radio on The Canada Dry Program, on May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing for six months until October 26, moving to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933.
Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did The Chevrolet Program until April 1, 1934. He continued with sponsor General Tire through the end of the season. In October, 1934, General Foods, the makers of Jell-O and Grape-Nuts, became the sponsor strongly identified with Benny for ten years. American Tobacco's Lucky Strike was his longest-lasting radio sponsor, from October, 1944, through to the end of his original radio series.
Life magazine ad April 1949
The show switched networks to CBS on January 2, 1949, as part of CBS president William S. Paley's notorious "raid" of NBC talent in 1948–49. It stayed there for the remainder of its radio run, ending on May 22, 1955. CBS aired repeat episodes from 1956 to 1958 as The Best of Benny.
Sportscaster Mel Allen
➦In 1913...Mel Israel was born. He is better known as Mel Allen, sportscaster for the New York Yankees, and This Week in Baseball; ‘How about that!’ … Mel died June 16, 1996 at age 83.
Allen best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions.
➦In 1971...WABC 95.5 FM NYC changed call letters to WPLJ.
