NYC Radio: Joan Hamburg OUT At WOR 710 AM

Joan Hamburg

CCM+E/NYC and longtime talk host Joan Hamburg have parted company.  A daily fixture on WOR fir 35+ years, Hamburg was moved to weekends-only this past January.

The 79-year-old Hamburg started her radio broadcasting in 1979 with small consumer (bargain shopping) segments on the long-running Rambling With Gambling morning show, eventually earning her own show. She grew up on Long Island and attended Barnard College before embarking on an advertising career.

Hamburg has been scribbed from the WOR website and reportedly potentital advertisers have been told her show is "no longer available".

Hamburg frequently broadcast from her favorite places instead of a studio -- Sardi's, the Hamptons, Canyon Ranch, The Villages, Florida.

Report: The Hypocrisy In Performance Royalties Battle

In a blog posting over the weekend, Radio/Media writer Darryl Parks opined about what he calls the hypocrisy in radio's battle over performance royalties.

Read the full blog: Click Here.

Darryl Parks

Parks also unveils what he calls a few 'dirty little secrets'.

According to Parks, each year radio stations pay millions in music licensing fees to the composers of songs. "You may have heard of BMI, ASCAP or SECAC.  These are organizations that collect the licensing fees, which are then paid to songwriters or composers.

Not only do radio stations that play music pay these licensing fees, so do stations that are talk formats – stations that don’t play music.  Depending on the revenue a station brings in, in certain markets the radio station paying the most in licensing to BMI/ASCAP/SESAC may be an AM talk station.  Parks asks: that doesn’t seem fair, does it?"

Another dirty little secret of the music industry.  "There are times a song artist will be listed as the composer or co-writer on a song they didn’t write."

Why?

"When a song is recorded by a big star, the tune has a better chance of getting played on the radio.  The song gets that free advertising on the radio so it can be heard in hopes someone will buy the song.  To record the song, the artist demands his or her name be listed as a composer to get a cut of the music licensing fees radio stations pay.  This takes money from the true composer of the song."

Again, Parks writes: "That doesn’t seem fair, does it?"

Parks concludes: "Organized crime had its fingers sunk deep into the record industry back in the 60′s and 70′s, because they knew the good deal record labels had with radio and vice versa.

Today’s modern day crime syndicate, known as Congress, is blind to a good thing when they see it. The relationship between radio and record labels built on “mutual respect” and a quid pro quo."

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Fort Wayne Radio: Adams Names Shel Leshner Market Manager

Shel Leshner

Adams Radio Group has announced that Shel Leshner has been appointed Market Manager in Fort Wayne, IN.

Adams begins control of the Fort Wayne Cluster today and includes WBTU-FM, WJFX-FM, WXEK-FM, WNHT-FM, WGL-AM, WLYV-AM and translators 103.3 and 96.9.

Leshner most recently served as Market Manager for Artistic Media/South Bend, IN, a group he also ran from 1999 to 2003. Prior to Artistic, he served as GSM for WJLB and WMXD in Detroit for 17 years.

Adams Radio Group President/CEO Ron Stone said, "Shel and I knew each other in the 1990s in Detroit. We reconnected recently and he became the leading candidate for Fort Wayne. Shel brings to Fort Wayne a solid radio background and I cannot imagine anyone more prepared to launch the Adams cluster with. I am very excited for Shel and his family."

Leshner added, "When an opportunity like this one knocks you best answer! Fort Wayne is a very exciting and growing market. I am anxious to get started. Being part of a growing company like Adams and having the chance to lead its flagship market is a rare opportunity. I look forward to relocating, getting settled and becoming active in the community."

CA Radio: KWAV, KBOQ Sold In Monterey

Two Monterey radio stations, KWAV 96.9 FM and KBOQ 103.9 FM, have new owners in deals announced last week, according to The Herald.

KWAV 96.9 FM (18Kw) 54dBu Coverage

Mapleton Communications is buying KWAV from Buckley Broadcasting for an undisclosed price, increasing its holdings in the Monterey area that include KPIG 107.5 FM, KKHK 95.5 FM, KCDU 101.7 FM and KHIP 104.3 FM.

To clear the way for the KWAV acquisition, Mapleton is selling KBOQ to Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters of Los Angeles.

KBOQ 103.9 FM (1.5Kw) 60dBu Coverage

Mount Wilson's other Monterey radio holdings are KYZZ 97.9 FM, KMZT 95.9 FM (Big Sur) , KNRY 1240 AM and two other FM translators.

Mapleton president Jim Shea said with KWAV the company will even be more of "an impact player in the Monterey market."

In another announcement, Mount Wilson said it is expanding coverage of K-MOZART, its all-classical FM station, with the addition of KNRY as a simulcast of K-MOZART.

MI Radio: Personality Robin VanDyke Resigns WCXT The Coast

Robin VanDyke

Robin Van Dyke has resigned her position at Mid-West Family Broadcasting' Hot AC WCXT 98.3 FM The Coast, where she began in career in 1991, according to WSBT-TV.

Most recently, she was on the air with 98.3 The Coast FM where she established the "Diva Drive at Five," allowing listeners to request their favorite female artists for the ride home.

The station website posted a special message from Robin Van Dyke to her listeners:

After nearly 23 years on the air with Mid-West Family Broadcasting, I have elected to resign my position effective today, May 30, 2014. 

This has been in the works for a few weeks, so it is not a "snap" decision and management here at the Radio Stations has been fully supportive of my decision to step down. 

I have no immediate plans. At this point, I feel it is simply in my best interests to step back and evaluate a new direction. This is exciting, yet bittersweet to leave the airwaves, co-workers and YOU! 

Thank you so much for being the best part of my time on Rock 107 WIRX and 98.3 The Coast. Your loyalty and friendship is treasured beyond measure. 

So, even though you won't "hear" me any longer, I look forward to seeing you out and about in Southwest Michigan in the days to come. 

With love,
Robin Van Dyke

WCXT 98.3 FM (3.7Kw) 60dBu Coverage

Cumulus Announces Several Promotions And Moves

Cumulus Media has announced multiple promotions and moves at its Cincinnati, Topeka, Reno and Boise stations. In a move that resembled a major league baseball trade, the company transferred several programmers, and recruited several new program directors into the company.

• Cincinnati Program Director Chris Huneke of AC formatted WRRM becomes Program Director of Country formatted WNNF (NASH), replacing Mike Scott who departs the company. Huneke will continue to work with several Cumulus AC stations in a music advisory capacity. Greg Dunkin moves from Program Director of Topeka stations KMAJ (AC) and KWIC (Classic Hits) to his new position as Program Director of WRRM.
• Topeka Operations Manager and KDVV Program Director Forrest Smithkors segues to Cumulus co-owned Classic Rock KKGL in Boise as Program Director. Steve Mills joins Cumulus Topeka from Clear Channel Allentown as new Program Director of KWIC and KDVV. Amber Lee is promoted from APD to Program Director of both KMAJ and KTOP.
• WMIM Toledo/Monroe (AC) Program Director/Morning personality Ryan Nutter transfers to KNEV-FM (AC) Reno as Program Director/Morning personality. He replaces Doug Daniels.

SVP/Programming Mike McVay said “These promotions and transfers underscore the quality of programmers within Cumulus. We congratulate Chris, Greg, Forrest, Ryan and Amber on their new positions and we welcome Steve to the family.”

Aussie Mel Greig Opens Up About 2DayFM Hoax

Mel Greig

The Australian radio DJ who made the prank call to the London hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated during her pregnancy has admitted she 'should have tried harder' to stop the call going to air, according to The Daily Mail.

The hoax by Mel Greig and her colleague Michael Christian in December 2012 was linked to the death of British nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who blamed them in her suicide note.

Ms Greig's mother has since received death threats, while the former 2DayFM personality has battled depression.

'I felt like a failure as a human being,' Ms Greig said in a tearful interview with Channel Seven's Sunday Night.

'I am ashamed of myself. I should have tried harder to not let that prank call air.'



The duo were pretending be the Queen and Prince Charles during the call, when they found out the sensitive news that Kate was being treated for acute morning sickness.

Ms Greig has now revealed how she urged senior managers at 2DayFM to alter the recording but they ignored her.

The nurse at King Edward VII Hospital - who transferred Ms Greig's call to the Duchess's ward - was found hanged three days after the prank, on 7 December.

Information about how Ms Greig tried to stop Mrs Saldanha’s voice being used has only emerged now, as she was previously legally gagged from revealing details about the day.

'I think of the Saldanha family all the time, I just want them to see that I’m sorry.’

The stunt drew widespread criticism around the world. The hospital's boss John Lofthouse said: 'This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore.'

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TN Radio: WDVW's Tom Mapes Collects The Hits

Tom Mapes (Jackson, TN Sun photo)

While some collected baseball cards for a hobby, Tom Mapes of Humbolt, TN made it his business, or passion, to collect every hit record Billboard anointed as No. 1 — all 1,075 — and growing.

The Jackson, TN Sun reports the numbers skyrocket when boxes of albums, singles, compactdiscs and eight-track tapes he has accumulated are inventoried of basically every recording artist from A to Z.

“I’ve always had a love for music, especially Top 40, and I grew up in the ’50s when rock and roll began in the summer of 1955,” Mapes said. “Bill Haley and the Comets (‘Rock Around the Clock’) had the first No. 1 record on the Billboard music charts.”

“Billboard was the Bible of the music magazines, the Sporting News of the music business industry,” Mapes said. “When I was a kid, I could not wait for the mail to come, and I would run to the mailbox.”

Mapes said history will be made today when Australian rapper Iggy Azalea does something that has been accomplished only once since Billboard began rating records.

“She will have the No. 1 (‘Trace’) and No. 2 hits (‘Problem’) this week,” Mapes said. “It was 50 years ago, March 1964, when The Beatles had two songs, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘She Loves You,’ No. 1 and No. 2.

“It was their first releases to Billboard, and the releases are her first, also.”

Mapes, an on-air personality for WDVW 105.3 FM The Dove, began his journey in the early 1970s.

WDVW 105.3 FM (4.7Kw) 60dBu Coverage

“I have collected every No. 1,” Mapes said. “Starting in vinyl with the old 45 rpms (revolutions per minute). After they stopped producing vinyl records in 1990, it became single cassettes and now the compact discs.”

Mapes has amassed over 15,000 singles and 5,000 albums — numbers that do not include hundreds of compact discs.

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NB Radio: KZMC Flips From Rock To Classic Country

On Friday, KZMC 102.1 FM radio in McCook, NB owned by Legacy Communications LLC changed formats to Classic Country from rock, according to Jesse Stevens, Operations Manager.

Stevens said "the demand for a Classic Country format is at an all-time high in our region." He added that the station's 9 O'Clock Request hour on sister station KIOD (Coyote Country 105.3) has been flooded with requests from the '80s and '90s Country Artists as of late, and that a switch to a full-time Classic Format just made sense.

The station will be playing artists like George Strait, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and artists that date back as far as the 1960s.

KZMC 102.1 FM (100Kw) 60dBu Coverage

The line-up includes a new morning show from National Personalities Big D & Bubba that will begin airing on Monday.

LA Radio: KROQ Weenie Roast Was Sold-Out

The 22nd Annual KROQ 106.7 FM Weenie Roast was staged Saturday to a sell-out crowd.  Besides hot dogs, fans enjoyed hour of music provided by 14 acts,  headlined by  LA's own Beck and Avicii.

R.I.P.: Radio, Voice-Over Artist Bill Young Has Died

Bill Young

According to a message on the Bill Young Productions website, its founder, Bill Young, has passed away.

Young was an icon in the radio and voice over industry, and author of the book 'Dead Air: The Rise and Demise of Music Radio.'

He was also the voice of ABC-13 in Houston for several years.

This is the message posted on the Bill Young Productions site:

"It is with great sadness we must inform you of the passing of our founder, leader, and mentor Bill Young. Bill was not only the driving force of our industry - he created it, and most certainly was the voice of it. We will miss Bill's incredible voice and big heart every day. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a contribution be made to the Alpha-1 Foundation, or to the charity of your choice. Tributes may be left on the website of the Settegast-Kopf Funeral Home at Sugar Creek." 

In addition to his life as a well known deejay, Bill Young programmed KILT - the McLendon Houston powerhouse for over 14 years.

The station consistently led the market in audience growth and was a programming leader in the national business of music radio.

In 2011, Young, who was the longtime program director for Houston’s KILT 610 AM published "Dead Air, The Rise and Demise of Music Radio", a memoir of his career in radio that spanned from his first jobs on the air at his hometown station in Lufkin to his 15 years as program director at KILT, which during his heyday was one of the country’s most prominent Top-40 stations.



In 1966, KILT’s first manager, Bill Weaver, hired him as program director, where, at 25, he was given a group of air personalities at included Chuck Dunaway, Alex Bennett and Russ Knight, the Weird Beard, all who became legends in their own right. At KILT, he brought in such personalities as the original Hudson & Harrigan team and Beau Weaver.

He started Bill Young Productions in 1981 with an $88,000 loan at 21 percent interest. Young’s business was growing so fast, he paid off the loan in six months. Young sold 80 percent of BYP to employees in 1996, and for years continued to produce commercials and provide voice talent.

Media Mogul Dies In Plane Crash

WCVB Photo

Lewis Katz, 72, new co-owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com, died Saturday night in the crash of a private plane at a Massachusetts airfield, according to philly.com.

All seven people were killed aboard the private plane that crashed at Hanscom Field and erupted into a fireball, authorities said Sunday.

The Gulfstream IV crashed about 9:40 p.m. Saturday as it was departing for Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey, said Matthew Brelis, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the air field.

"There were no survivors," Brelis said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people on board and their loved ones."

Lewis Katz

The names of the other victims were not immediately released.

Just last Tuesday, Katz and H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest bought out their partners for $88 million, gaining control of the media company that owns the Inquirer.

"We all deeply mourn the loss of my true friend and fellow investor in ownership of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Daily News and Philly.com," Lenfest said. "It is a severe loss, but I am pleased to announce that Drew Katz, Lewis's son, will replace his father on the board of our new company."

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WBZ 1030 AM  reported that Katz had attended an event in Concord, Mass., Saturday afternoon at the home of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and her husband, Richard Goodwin.

Katz was also a minority-owner of the New York Yankees.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board ares continuing to investigate. The NTSB will determine the probable cause of the accident.

During a Sunday morning news conference, Director of Aviation Ed Freni said all new information will be released by the NTSB.

Hanscom Field is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Boston. It was used by the Army Air Corps and military operations dominated until it became both a military and civilian facility in the 1950s. It's now a regional airport serving mostly corporate aviation, private pilots, commuter air services and some light cargo.

June 2 In Radio History

In 1896...Marconi files full specs for first wireless patent.

Marconi operating apparatus similar to that used by him to transmit the first wireless signal across the Atlantic Ocean, 1901


In 1933...WNJ 1450 AM, Newark, New Jersey went off the air.

This station originally went on the air as WRAZ in June 1923, located at 1290 AM.
It was owned by former naval radio operator Herman Lubinsky, who established the Radio Shop of Newark at 58 Market St., for the home of WRAZ. In April 1924, calls were changed to WCBX.

Then, on October 15, 1924, Lubinsky requested the calls WNJ, which he said stood for "Wireless New Jersey," and received his third set of call letters in 16 months.

In 1925, Lubinsky built a studio in the Paradise Ballroom in Newark and operated a shortwave transmitter for local remote pick-ups.

In July of that year, WNJ moved to 1190 AM and shared time briefly with New York station WGCP.
In July 1926, WNJ broadcasted "unauthroized" on 850 and 860 AM.

In April 1927, the station moved to 1070 AM and shared time with WGCP and Newark station WDWM.

Later that year, WNJ moved to 1120 AM and finally in November 1928, the station settled on 1450 AM, sharing time with Fort Lee station WBMS, Elizabeth staation WIBS and Jersey City station WKBO.

WNJ, "The Voice Of Newark", presented programming in Polish and Lithuanian and featured some of the earliest Italian programming in the New York metropolitan area, featuring Ben D'Avella.

In November 1932, the FRC (Federal Radio Commission) denied WNJ's request for license renewal. Lubinsky fought the action in the federal courts, but lost and was ordered off the air.

(H/T: Angelfire.com)

In 1959...DJ Alan Freed did his first show on WABC 770 AM, New York after being fired from WINS 1010-AM, New York. He left WABC in November of that same year.