R.I.P.: Radio, TV Sports Personality Rod Simons

Rod Simons

Rod Simons, a longtime Twin Cities and former Seattle and Pacific Northwest sports personality, has died while covering the Minnesota Twins spring training in Fort Myers Fla., according to the Twins.

He was 56, according to The Seattle Times.  A cause of death was not given.

A graduate of Washington State, Simons spent more than 20 years in the sports-media profession, and he worked for multiple causes including his Golf for the Gift charity that helped raise funds to help families with adoption grants.

Before moving to Minnesota, Simons anchored the launch of FOX Sports Net’s “Regional Sports Report” in the Pacific Northwest and Detroit Regions while also hosting KOMO-AM sports in Seattle. In all, Simons spent 18 years as a lead news and sports anchor at KSTW-TV (CBS/UPN) in Seattle; KOIN-TV (CBS) in Portland; KJR-AM in Seattle and KVI-AM in Seattle. His body of work as sports director at KSTW included covering Rose Bowls, the Mariners’ AL playoff runs from 1995-2001 and the Sonics’ 1996 trip to the NBA Finals against Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.

February 21 Radio History

In 1922…WHK-AM, Cleveland, Ohio, signed-on-the-air.

WHK began on July 26, 1921 when experimental station 8ACS signed on under a license obtained by Warren C. Cox in the name of Cox Mfg. Co.  He broadcast on a wavelength of 200 meters (which translates to a frequency of 1500 kHz) from his home at 3138 Payne Avenue.   Only about 1000 listeners were able to hear the first broadcast, and most of them were members of the Cleveland Radio Association.   By 1922, licensees were barred from broadcasting on 200 meters, so Cox applied for a commercial broadcasting license.

Organist Helen Wyant circa 1931

Warren Cox received a commercial license for his station on February 21, 1922 with the callsign WHK (the Commerce Department was still issuing mostly three-letter callsigns to commercial radio stations before April 4, 1922),  and HK standing for the station's first vice-president and general manager, H. K. Carpenter.  It was only the 52nd commercial radio license issued by the Commerce Department.

The station broadcast at a wavelength of 360 meters (a frequency of 830 kHz) which was the standard broadcast frequency for entertainment radio stations at the time. The station started broadcasting on March 5, 1922 from facilities located in the rear of a Radiovox store at 5005 Euclid Avenue.  By 1924, WHK broadcasts had moved to 1060 kHz.

Warren Cox sold the station to Radio Air Service Corporation in 1925.  In the following years, the station facilities underwent a series of moves, including 5105 Euclid Avenue, the Hotel Winton at 1025 Bolivar Road (later the Hotel Carter), the Standard Building at St. Clair and Ontario, the top floor of the Higbee Company on Public Square, and Carnegie Hall at 1220 Huron Road. By 1927, the station broadcasts were heard at 1130 kHz, and the station was broadcasting with 500 watts at night. By 1928, the station was located in the Engineer's Building at 1370 Ontario Avenue.

WHK transmitter room circa 1930

WHK became a CBS affiliate in 1930 and increased its power to 5000 watts for both day and night transmission.

Amerlia Earhart

Radio Air Service Corporation sold WHK in 1934 to Forest City Publishing Company, the parent company of The Plain Dealer. Forest City then organized United Broadcasting Company as the station owner.

On March 29, 1941, WHK like most radio stations changed its frequency as a result of the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement. WHK moved from 1390 to 1420 kHz, the frequency it occupies today.

In August 1946 WHK received one of the earliest experimental FM licenses, under the call W8XUB, broadcasting at 107.1 MHz. Upon receipt of a commercial license, the station became WHK-FM at 100.7 MHz, and later in 1968, WMMS.

United Broadcasting sold WHK in 1958 to Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation, which became Metromedia two years later. The new owners soon adopted a rock and roll Top 40 format.

By the early 1960s WHK was Top 40 powerhouse, adopting the slogan "Color Radio" and "Color Channel 14." The station soared with fast-talking deejays like Johnny Holliday, who broadcast from "the glass cage" at 5000 Euclid, and dubbed the station's echo-chamber reverberation its "stratophonic sound." The "Action Central" newsroom included young reporters Tim Taylor and Dave Buckel.

When The Beatles made one of their North American tours in 1964, WHK outmaneuvered rival KYW-AM to sponsor the Beatles appearance at Cleveland Public Auditorium on September 15, 1964.  In the mid-1960s, the WHK DJs adopted the name the "Good Guys" and included Joe Mayer. On the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album, a doll wears a sweater emblazoned with "Welcome The Rolling Stones" and "Good Guys", a possible reference to the WHK DJs or maybe a reference to WMCA in NYC.

Late in 1967, WHK stopped rocking to become "The Good Life Station," with easy-listening music and phone-in shows aimed at older listeners. Possibly the biggest reason for the format change at WHK, was the pressure put on the station by newcomer WIXY, an AM station at 1260 which started playing top 40 music in 1966.

Metromedia sold WHK and WMMS in 1972 to Malrite Broadcasting of Ohio (later Malrite Communications), and Malrite moved its headquarters to Cleveland. WHK dropped the beautiful music and tried a modified Top 40 format briefly again in 1973, called Cover Hits and developed by consultant Mike Joseph. The station ended up settling on a country music format in 1974 featuring controversial morning show talk host Gary Dee and famed Cleveland disk jockey Joe Finan as the "housewife's friend" from 10 am to 2 pm, until the eventual format change in '84.

Another notorious personality, Don Imus, also returned to Cleveland in 1978 to do afternoon drive on WHK- one of the few times that he would ever host a non-morning drive position in his entire career. Imus had previously had a morning show on WGAR (AM) for 1½ years, ending in 1971, and lasted at WHK until September 1979 when he returned to WNBC in New York.

Seeking to recapture its past glory again, WHK returned to a nostalgic 1950's and 60s Top 40s music on April 24, 1984 using the designation from their dial position 1420 AM...making it "14K WHK Solid Gold", becoming the first "oldies" totally formatted station in Cleveland, Ohio.

Unable to service its growing debt, Malrite exited the radio business by selling off all their stations to Shamrock Broadcasting (Roy Disney's family-owned broadcasting company) in 1993.  Shamrock in turn spun off WHK and WMMS to OmniAmerica, headed by former Malrite executive Carl Hirsch, on April 1994. Shortly thereafter, on May 16, 1994, WHK adopted a sports talk format featuring Tom Bush, Les Levine, Tony Rizzo and Pat McCabe, and dubbed itself "The Sports Voice of the Fan."

In 1996, WHK was sold to Salem Communications, while longtime sister station WMMS was sold to Nationwide Communications – the first time ever the two stations operated under separate ownership

Today the station is owned by Salem Communications and airs a Talk Format at 1420 AM.


In 1938...Roy Acuff and his band debuted their morning radio show on WSM-AM Nashville.

In 1943…the "Blue Network" (eventually ABC Radio Network), premiered "Free World Theatre".

Chester Launch (Lum) and Norris Goff (Abner)

In 1980...actor Chester H Lauck, who for 23 years played Lum Edwards in the radio favorite Lum & Abner, died just 12 days after his 78th birthday. Lum & Abner aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show proved immensely popular. In 1936, Waters changed its name to Pine Ridge after the show's fictional town.

Lauck and Goff had known each other since childhood and attended the University of Arkansas together where they both joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. They performed locally and established a blackface act which led to an audition at radio station KTHS in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Prior to the audition, the two men decided to change their act and portray two hillbillies, due to the large number of blackface acts already in existence. After only a few shows in Hot Springs, they were picked up nationally by NBC, and Lum and Abner, sponsored by Quaker Oats, ran until 1932. Lauck and Goff performed several different characters, modeling many of them on the real-life residents of Waters, Arkansas.

When the Quaker contract expired, Lauck and Goff continued to broadcast on two Texas stations, WBAP (Fort Worth) and WFAA (Dallas). In 1933, The Ford Dealers of America became their sponsor for approximately a year. Horlick's Malted Milk, the 1934–37 sponsor, offered a number of promotional items, including almanacs and fictional Pine Ridge newspapers. During this period, the show was broadcast on Chicago's WGN (AM), one of the founding members of the Mutual Broadcasting System. Effective July 1, 1935, the program was also carried on WLW (Cincinnati, Ohio), KNX (Los Angeles, California), and KFRC (San Francisco, California). Along with The Lone Ranger, Lum and Abner was one of Mutual's most popular programs

Murray Kaufman

In 1982…Murray The K – 1010 WINS NYC, Died from cancer just before his 60^th birthday.  Kaufman's big break came in 1958 after he moved to WINS-AM to do the all-night show, which he titled "The Swingin' Soiree." Shortly after his arrival, WINS's high energy star disk jockey, Alan Freed, was indicted for tax evasion and forced off the air. Though Freed's spot was briefly occupied by Bruce Morrow, who later became known as Cousin Brucie on WABC, Murray soon was moved into the 7-11PM time period and remained there for the next seven years, always opening his show with Sinatra and making radio history with his innovative segues, jingles, sound effects, antics, and frenetic, creative programming.

Murray the K reached his peak of popularity in the mid-1960s when, as the top-rated radio host in New York City, he became an early and ardent supporter and friend of The Beatles. When the Beatles came to New York on February 7, 1964, Murray was the first DJ they welcomed into their circle, having heard about him and his Brooklyn Fox shows from American groups such as the Ronettes (sisters Ronnie and Estelle Bennett, and their first cousin, Nedra Talley), also known as Murray's "dancing girls".

The Ronettes met the Beatles in mid January 1964, just a few weeks before, when the Harlem-born trio first toured England (the Rolling Stones were the group's opening act). Murray got into the Nedw York’s Plaza Hotel after telephoning Ronnie of the Ronettes and asking her to pave the way and get him into the hotel to meet the Ronettes' new friends, the Beatles. Thanks to Ronnie, Murray got into the hotel and did his radio show from their Plaza Hotel room their first night in New York (there is a picture of "Ronnie" being interviewed by Murray the K, as Paul McCartney and George Harrison look on, in the hotel.

Cynthia Lennon, John and Murray 

 Murray also accompanied them to Washington, D.C. for their first U.S. concert, was backstage at their The Ed Sullivan Show premiere, and roomed with Beatles guitarist George Harrison in Miami, broadcasting his shows from there. He came to be referred to as the "Fifth Beatle," a moniker he said he was given either by Harrison during the train ride to the Beatles' first concert in Washington D.C. or by Ringo Starr at a press conference before that concert.  His radio station WINS picked up on the name and billed him as the Fifth Beatle.

This historical recording features interviews with the Fab Four in early 1964. The interview was mailed out through the Murray the "K" Fan Club.

Survey: 73% Oppose Eliminating Federal Funding for Public TV

A new national survey conducted jointly by leading Republican and Democratic researchers reveals that voters across the political spectrum overwhelmingly oppose eliminating federal funding for public television and that more than 7 in 10 see public television as a good or excellent value for their tax dollars, on par with investments in highways, roads and bridges.

The telephone survey of 1001 registered voters was conducted in early January by a bipartisan polling team from American Viewpoint (R) and Hart Research Associates (D) on behalf of public television.

In a joint memo released today, the pollsters write, “Our survey finds that while the country may be deeply divided on many issues, the importance of federal funding for public television is not one of them. In fact, with remarkable consistency, majorities of voters of all political stripes support federal funding for public television and do not want to see it eliminated. Voters see public television as a good value proposition for the American taxpayer, and express high levels of concern about the consequences should federal funding for public television be eliminated.

Key findings of the survey include:

• 73% of voters oppose eliminating federal funding for public television and GOP voters oppose it by almost a 2-1 margin (62%-32%).
• Public television is rated as an excellent or good value for their tax dollars by 72% of voters, on par with highways, roads and bridges (73%). Among GOP voters, public television received higher taxpayer value ratings than unemployment benefits, federal aid to college students, agricultural subsidies, environmental protection, and foreign aid
• 3 in 4 voters want federal funding for public TV increased or maintained at current levels. 66% who voted for President Trump favor increasing or maintaining federal funding for public TV, as do 86% of those who voted for Hillary Clinton.
• 83% of voters – including 70% of those who voted for President Trump and 93% of those that voted for Hillary Clinton – say they would tell their elected representatives to find other places in the budget to save money if asked their opinion about eliminating federal funding for public television. This holds true regionally in the Northeast (88%), South (80%), Midwest (82%) and West (84%). Notably, this number is even higher among voters in states that flipped from blue to red in the 2016 election, with 85% of voters wanting savings to come from somewhere other than public television.
• More than 8 in 10 voters have a great deal or fair amount of concern that ending federal funding for public television could eliminate local stations’ public safety communications services like AMBER Alerts and severe weather warnings. Similarly, 76% of voters express concern about public television having to significantly cut educational shows that help children prepare for success in school.
• PBS/public television enjoys a very high image rating among the electorate (69% positive v. 7% negative). Among those that voted for President Trump, PBS/public television has a much higher positive image rating (60%) than the traditional broadcast networks (37%), cable TV networks (41%) and newspapers (24%).
• 2 in 3 voters think it is very or fairly important for America to have a strong public television system.
• A top reason for protecting federal funding for public television is that it provides more than 120,000 trusted learning tools and free resources for teachers, parents, and caregivers to use in the classroom and at home. 67% of Republicans, 73% of independents, and 87% of Democrats found this to be a convincing reason.

Arguments for eliminating federal funding for public television do not resonate strongly with voters of any political affiliation. Common arguments for eliminating federal funding for public television, such as the number of channels available on cable and other pay television services, were found convincing by just 21%-26% of voters.

“These results show that Republican and President Trump voters overwhelmingly support public television and strongly oppose eliminating its federal funding,” said Linda DiVall of American Viewpoint. “The voters that elected the President, including a majority of Republicans, put the taxpayer value delivered by public television on par with building highways, roads and bridges. Both are seen as high-value investments in America and its future.”

“The enormous benefits that public television delivers in terms of public safety and children’s programming are recognized across party lines,” said Geoff Garin of Hart Research Associates. “In a time of deep division in Washington and around the country, the strong bipartisan support for continued federal funding of public television is remarkable.”

iTunes Called Most Popular Music Platform

At this point, it seems clear that streaming services will be the dominant way people consume music going forward. If anything, BusinessInsider reports we might have hit that point already: A January report from Nielsen found that Americans got more music from on-demand streaming than from digital downloads in 2016.

But while the future of music downloads may look bleak, this chart from Statista suggests it’s still too soon to write off the format completely. According to a recent survey of roughly 10,000 consumers by PayPal and SuperData Research, the service that popularized digital album sales, Apple’s iTunes, is still the most popular music platform in the US. Leading streaming services Pandora and Spotify come in second and third.

The finding might not mean much — PayPal points to iTunes’ popularity among “non-millennials” for its place atop the list, and Apple itself continues to invest in its own streaming service — but it does go to show just how enduring Apple’s changes to the music business have been.

NJ/NY Radio: WNYM's Joe Piscopo Considering Running For Governor

A new poll that has the potential to shake up this year's race for New Jersey governor shows still-undeclared comedian and WNYM 970 AM morning host Joe Piscopo is just six points behind Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno among Republican primary voters.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll released on Thursday found at least half of Republican and Democratic primary voters in the state haven't made up their minds about who to support in this very early going.

But it gives Guadagno, the Republican frontrunner, just an 18 percent to 12 percent edge over comedian Piscopo.

Joe Piscopo

"This is likely to grab attention, because you've got someone who's been in statewide elective office for two terms and remains within the margin of error with someone who has no political experience and hasn't even declared his candidacy," said Krista Jenkins, the poll's director and a political science professor at FDU. "That's gotta hurt."

Piscopo, who's considering a run as a Republican but lately has been leaning towards running as an independent, told NJ Advance Media he was "intensely humbled" by the positive voter reception, and that "this very well might make me re-think the approach I am going to take."

He's got until April 3 to declare himself as a Republican but GOP officials from each county will be meeting in the next few weeks to make endorsements and award the favored party line that usually makes a big difference with primary voters. He has until June 6 to declare himself an independent candidate.

But whether Piscopo, who rose to national prominence in the 1980s alongside Eddie Murphy on "Saturday Night Live," can parlay his name recognition into a meaningful political advantage remains to be seen.

According to The NYTimes, Piscopo has formed the skeleton of a platform: a focus on increasing manufacturing for distressed communities; resuscitating the state’s once-booming pharmaceutical industry; a property tax cap; using public-private partnerships to rebuild the state’s infrastructure; eliminating the state income tax for teachers, firefighters and the police; and, with his show business roots, working to “make Atlantic City the film capital of the Northeast.”  Despite a relatively conservative platform, Mr. Piscopo is very pro-union.

FCC Call Sign Activity For January 2017

Manchester Radio: Binnie Media To Cease WBIN-TV Operations

WBIN-TV announced Friday that it has been sold to the FCC in a recently completed auction. The total proceeds from the complex transaction are estimated to be nearly $100 million dollars.

In a process called the “Spectrum Auction”, the FCC is purchasing local TV stations and reselling their over-the-air rights, or spectrum, to mobile telephone and wireless communications companies. These airwaves will be used to create lightning fast 5G wireless internet.

WBIN-TV sold its television broadcast rights in the auction for $68.1 million dollars. Additionally, it entered into a sale of its remaining television license rights to a major television group for an undisclosed amount but estimated by insiders to be an additional $10-30 million dollars. The total proceeds from these transactions are estimated to be nearly $100 million dollars. WBIN-TV was purchased a little more than five years ago for $9 million dollars.

WBIN-TV and its television operations will cease broadcasting in the coming months. The proceeds from the sale will be used by the company to acquire other media assets in the digital, outdoor and radio areas as well as for continued investment in its 19 radio stations and its digital news web business NH1.com.

Bill Binnie, President of the company said:

"I am incredibly proud of the people in our television, radio and digital media businesses. Many of our employees at WBIN-TV and NH1 News will be transferred to our new division. The sale of our television business makes strategic and financial sense. As a result of this sale, we will be making major new investments in our radio and digital businesses. We have the fastest growing news web site in the state NH1.com with millions of page views per month and we will invest heavily in this area. Our 19 radio stations have experienced huge ratings increases and revenue growth. What we have achieved as a media business in the State of New Hampshire in the last few years is incredible.

“The deal makes WBIN-TV one of the most valuable media properties in the history of New Hampshire media. The FCC commenced the biggest assembly of airwaves to connect and build a nationwide mobile platform for handheld and wireless devices. We recognized it and will reinvest the proceeds with an eye to future growth. Our commitment to New Hampshire and local news has never been stronger. We look forward to a bright future.”

Robb Atkinson will now be the General Manager of the newly expanded NH1 News digital business, which includes NH1.com and NH1 Radio News.

Atkinson said, “NH1 Radio News and NH1.com will continue to provide breaking news and information to our viewers and listeners. We are investing significantly in new technologies so we can deliver content where people want it--digitally--on their mobile phones and devices, tablets and home computers. The days of running home to watch news on a television set are quickly disappearing.”

NH1 News Network began broadcasting on WBIN-TV in September 2014. Since that time, the organization has been nominated for four Emmy Awards and has won several highly prestigious awards from the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters.

The company also recently purchased two radio stations WBYY 98.7 FM The Bay and WTSN 98.1 FM/1270 AM in the Seacoast area and announced plans to acquire additional radio assets.

The company owns 19 radio stations, as well as outdoor and digital news platforms including NH1.com. Binnie Media is headquartered in an award-winning historic building in Concord, New Hampshire.

Fox News' Chris Wallace: Trump's Latest Attack Went "Too Far"

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace cautioned his colleagues and the network's viewers Sunday that President Trump's latest attack on the media had gone too far.

“Look, we're big boys. We criticize presidents. They want to criticize us back, that's fine,” Wallace said Sunday morning on “Fox & Friends.” “But when he said that the fake news media is not my enemy, it's the enemy of the American people, I believe that crosses an important line.”

The “Fox & Friends” anchors had shown a clip of Trump recounting that past presidents, including Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, had fought with the press. They then asked Wallace whether Trump's fraught relationship with the media was a big deal.

In response, Wallace told his colleagues that Jefferson had also once written the following: “And were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”



Context was important, Wallace said. All presidents fight with the media, but Trump had taken it a step further in making them out to be “the enemy,” he added.

“Yes, presidents have always had — and politicians have always had — problems with the press. They want good press. The press doesn't always give it to them,” Wallace said. “But what Jefferson [was saying] is, despite all of our disputes, that to the functioning of a free and fair democracy, you must have an independent press.”

Rush Limbaugh: Media Has A Formula For 'Destroying Republicans'

Conservative radio star Rush Limbaugh on Sunday assailed the news media, suggesting its efforts to “destroy” Republican President Trump are “comical” and dismissing stories about Russia purportedly influencing the 2016 White House race in Trump’s favor.

"The media did not make Donald Trump, and they can't destroy him," Limbaugh said on "Fox News Sunday."

According to Fox News, he suggested some major, liberal-leaning news agencies “have a formula … a blueprint for destroying Republican political officials they don't like."

"It's not going to work on Trump,” Limbaugh continued. “It's kind of comical to watch."

To be sure, a big part of Trump’s winning campaign strategy was to argue that the liberal media was backing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and that it failed to recognize the concerns of Trump and his supporters.

"Trump has a connection with his voters that most politicians don't,” Limbaugh said. “And that connection .. is not anything that anybody else can break."


He suggested Trump won because Americans had fears about the direction in which the country was going, not because Russia meddled in the race.

“People that voted for Donald Trump really believed they would lose the country if Hillary won,” said Limbaugh, who has an audience of 20 million people over nearly 600 stations.

“In my view, it is preposterous to believe that the Russians had any effect on the outcome of voting in this country. It's absurd. There is no evidence. Zilch, zero, nada.”

In contrast to many other conservative commentators, Limbaugh was receptive to Trump's unconventional presidential campaign from the start. Limbaugh especially delighted in how Trump marginalized the press, reports CNN.

"They, for the first time in a long time, feel utterly powerless," Limbaugh said of the news media in December of 2015. "And it's really frustrating because they can't not cover him. They can't ignore him. They have to if they hope to have or maintain whatever audience they've got now. They're really in a bind."

"The media did not make Donald Trump, and they can't destroy him," Limbaugh said. "But the media thinks -- and when I say media, let me define: ABC, CBS, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, LA Times, that cadre -- they have a formula, they have a blueprint for destroying Republican political officials they don't like. It's not going to work on Trump. He doesn't fit that mold. They're trying to everyday. It's kind of comical to watch."

ABC News Correspondent Defends The Media

An ABC News correspondent on Sunday defended the news media against President Trump’s claim that they are the “enemy of the American people” by saying reporters will continue to do their jobs even if it means “incurring the wrath of the most powerful person in the world.”

“There is a reason the founders put freedom of the press in the very first amendment to the Constitution,” host Jonathan Karl argued in an essay top closeout “This Week.”

“As long as America’s democracy remains healthy, there will be reporters willing to pursue the truth – even if that means incurring the wrath of the most powerful person in the world.”

According to the NY Post, after listing caustic comments other former presidents — including Thomas Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt — made about the news media, Karl said: “We are not about to stop doing our jobs because yet another president is unhappy with what he reads, or hears, or sees on TV news.”


Karl, ABC’s White House correspondent, praised Trump for being accessible to the media during the presidential campaign and even last Thursday when he held a rollicking press conference where he called on 17 reporters.

Jim Mattis, John McCain Weigh-In On The Media

By Phil Stewart

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Sunday distanced himself from President Donald Trump's assessment of the media as "the enemy of the American people," saying during his first trip to the Middle East that he had no problems with the press.

Mattis, a retired Marine general seen as one of the most influential voices in Trump's cabinet, did not mention his boss by name. But asked about Trump's Tweet on Friday that branded the media as America's enemy, Mattis took a different position entirely.

"I've had some rather contentious times with the press. But no, the press, as far as I'm concerned, are a constituency that we deal with," he told reporters traveling with him in the United Arab Emirates.

"And I don't have any issues with the press, myself," Mattis added.

Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has fiercely criticized various news outlets that have reported unflattering revelations of dysfunction or other problems in the White House.

He has described them as "lying", "corrupt" and "failing," and late on Friday he said the news media was "the enemy of the American people."

Asked about the latest salvo, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told CBS's "Face the Nation" program, "I think you should take (Trump's Twitter statement) seriously."

"Certainly we would never condone violence. But I do think that we condone critical thought," Priebus said, adding the media, in some cases, needed to "get its act together."



"HOW DICTATORS GET STARTED" 

Mattis spoke after talks with European leaders at a security conference in Munich, Germany, where U.S. Senator John McCain warned that suppressing the free press was "how dictators get started."

"If you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press. And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time," McCain told NBC's "Meet the Press" program on Sunday.

On Friday McCain told the Munich forum that the resignation of Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, over his contacts with Russia reflected "disarray" in Washington.

But Mattis played down any concerns about the reshuffling within the administration.

"Welcome to democracy. It's at times wildly contentious, it's at times quite sporting. But the bottom line is this is the best form of government that we can come up with," he said.

Mattis added that the military was very ready to "hold the line" as the political process played out.

"We don't have any disarray inside the military and that's where my responsibility lies," he said.

On ABC's This Week, Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) ripped fellow Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Sunday after McCain criticized President Trump’s escalating war of words with the media.

According to The Hill, He argued that the nation is “very lucky” that Trump is president and not McCain, who won the 2008 GOP nomination but lost to Barack Obama in the general election.

Paul said that McCain’s recent criticisms of Trump are driven by his “personal dispute” with the president over foreign policy.



He added that McCain and Trump are at odds because McCain supports the wide deployment of U.S. troops to protect and promote American interests abroad while he characterized Trump’s views as closer to a realpolitik approach to foreign policy.

Internet Speech-Regulating FEC Commissioner Resigns

Ann Ravel

A Democratic Federal Election Commission official who pushed to regulate the internet and has been absent from public meetings for months is resigning, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Ann Ravel, who wanted to regulate political speech on the internet from websites such as the Drudge Report, announced Sunday that she is stepping down from her post.

“It’s been an honor to serve the FEC. I’m committed to transparency – here’s my resignation letter to Donald Trump,” Ravel tweeted on Sunday morning.

Ravel’s resignation will be effective March 1.

The Democratic commissioner has come under fire on numerous occasions in the past due to her desire to regulate online political speech—actions some viewed as targeting conservative websites.

Ravel has also been a no-show from FEC public meetings in recent months, phoning it in from California after being passed up for the attorney general spot in the state. During one meeting, Ravel seemed so distant that the Democratic chair of the commission asked if she was awake.

It's been an honor to serve the @FEC. I'm committed to transparency—here's my resignation letter to @RealDonaldTrump https://t.co/zK1AIBGjtq

— Ann Ravel (@AnnMRavel) February 19, 2017

Ravel was first appointed to the FEC by President Barack Obama in 2013 and chaired the commission in 2015.

Zuckerberg Manifesto Called Blueprint for Destroying Journalism

A sprawling new manifesto by Mark Zuckerberg, published to Facebook on Thursday, should set off new alarm bells for journalists, and heighten news organizations’ sense of urgency about how they—and their industry—can survive in a Facebook-dominated world.

According to an article at The Atlantic Monthy, Facebook’s existing threat to journalism is well established. It is, at its core, about the flow of the advertising dollars that news organizations once counted on. In this way, Facebook’s role is a continuation of what began in 1995, when Craigslist was founded. Its founder, Craig Newmark, didn’t actively aim to decimate newspapers, but Craigslist still eviscerated a crucial revenue stream for print when people stopped buying newspaper classifieds ads.

Mark Zuckerberg

Craigslist was the first signal (and became the prototypical example) of a massive unbundling of news services online that would diminish the power and reach of the news, culturally, and make it more difficult to produce a profitable news product.

Zuckerberg’s memo outlines a plan for the next phase of this unbundling, and it represents an expansion of Facebook’s existing threat to the news industry.

Facebook already has the money. The company is absolutely dominating in the realm of digital advertising. It notched $8.8 billion in revenue last quarter—more than $7 billion of which came from mobile-ad sales. One analyst told The New York Times last year that 85 percent of all online advertising revenue is funneled to either Facebook or Google—leaving a paltry 15 percent for news organizations to fight over.

Now, Zuckerberg is making it clear that he wants Facebook to take over many of the actual functions—not just ad dollars—that traditional news organizations once had.

Zuckerberg uses abstract language in his memo—he wants Facebook to develop “the social infrastructure for community,” he writes—but what he’s really describing is building a media company with classic journalistic goals: The Facebook of the future, he writes, will be “for keeping us safe, for informing us, for civic engagement, and for inclusion of all.”

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February 20 Radio History

In 1906..character actor Gale Gordon was born Charles T. Aldrich Jr. in New York City.

He is perhaps best remembered as Lucille Ball‘s longtime television foil, and for his role as school principal Osgood Conklin in the early ’50s  radio & TV hit Our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden. Gordon was also a respected and beloved radio actor all over the dial, making regular weekly appearances on Fibber McGee & Molly, plus assignments on Burns & Allen, The Great Gildersleeve, The Cinnamon Bear, Mr. & Mrs. Blandings, The Joe E. Brown Show, etc., and starring in title roles on Flash Gordon, Granby’s Green Acres and The Casebook of Gregory Hood.

He died of lung cancer June 30, 1995 at age 89.

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In 1914...broadcast journalist/TV host John Daly was born in Johannesburg South Africa.

Although best remembered as host of the CBS TV game show What’s My Line, he had a distinguished newscasting career on CBS radio, bringing first word of both the Pearl Harbour attack & the death of President Roosevelt.

He died Feb 24, 1991 at age 77.


In 1922...WGY-AM, Schenectady, NY went on the air. As early as 1912, General Electric company in Schenectady began experimenting with radio transmissions, being granted a class 2-Experimental license for 2XI on August 13, 1912 by the Commerce Department.

WGY signed on on February 20, 1922 at 7:47pm at 360 meters wavelength (about 833 kHz), with Kolin Hager at the mike, or as he was known on the air, as KH. Hager signed on with the stations call letters, explaining the W is for wireless, G for General Electric, and Y, the last letter in Schenectady.

The first broadcast lasted for about one hour and consisted of live music and announcements of song titles and other information. The early broadcasts originated from building 36 at the General Electric Plant in Schenectady. The original transmitter produced an antenna power of 1,500 watts into a T top wire antenna, located about 1/2 mile away, also at the GE plant.

WGY led the way in radio drama. In 1922 Edward H. Smith, director of a community-theater group called the Masque in nearby Troy, suggested weekly forty-minute adaptations of plays to WGY station manager Kolin Hager. Hager took him up on it and the troupe performed on the weekly WGY Players, radio’s first dramatic series.

Kolin Hagar

During their initial broadcast—of Eugene Walter’s The Wolf on August 3, 1922—Smith became the electronic media’s first Foley artist when he slapped a couple of two-by-fours together to simulate the slamming of a door, and radio sound effects were born. While the invisible audience could not see that the actors wore costumes and makeup—which were expected to enhance performance but didn’t and were soon discarded—they could hear the WGY Orchestra providing music between acts.

By May 15, 1923 the station was operating on 790 kHz with a frequency/time share agreement with RPI's WHAZ. Later, WHAZ moved to 1300 kHz allowing WGY to operate full-time on 790 kHz.

In 1924, the transmitter site was moved to its current location in the Town of Rotterdam known as South Schenectady. From this site, the station's power levels were increased first to 5,000 watts, then 10,000 watts and finally to 50,000 watts on July 18, 1925. Temporary broadcasts were carried out at the 100 KW (August 4, 1926) and 200 KW (March 9, 1930) power levels. From those broadcasts, the station received reception letters and telegrams from as far away as New Zealand. Plans were to make those power increases permanent, but were never carried out.

WGY also used the first Condenser microphone, developed by General Electric for radio studio applications, on February 7, 1923.

Amelia Earhart

In 1923, WGY formed the first radio network with WJZ and WRC, however the station also broadcast programs from rival station WEAF. Later in 1925, the New York State radio network was formed with WMAK, WHAM, WFBL, and WGY. In 1926, WGY affiliated with the WEAF-based NBC Red Network, and after the split of the sister NBC Blue network into today's ABC Radio, WGY remained with NBC Radio until it folded in 1989.

To add to their laurels, six years later the Players performed an old spy melodrama titled The Queen’s Messenger in the world’s first dramatic program to be broadcast simultaneously over both radio and the new medium called television.

“Radio station WGY had cornered the market on talk and music by 1928,” the Daily Gazette recalled. “Scientists from the General Electric Co. could have winked to their audience and said, ‘You ain't seen nothing yet.’ The smart guys who developed amplifiers, transmitters and bright lights were working on that next step—sound and pictures. On Tuesday, Sept. 11, 1928, they succeeded. WGY became the first radio station in the world to televise a drama on separate radio channels.”

In 1941, WGY changed frequency from 790 kHz to 810 kHz to comply with the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement also known as NARBA. In 1942, during World War II, a concrete wall was built around the base of the tower to prevent saboteurs from shooting out the base insulator on the tower and taking the station off the air.

WGY was the flagship station of General Electric's broadcasting group until 1983 when it was sold to Empire Radio Partners, Inc. General Electric also owned pioneering sister stations in television (WRGB-TV, signed on as WGY-TV in 1928) and FM radio (W2XOY, later WGFM, then WGY-FM, and today WRVE, signed on 1940).

As the golden age of radio ended, WGY evolved into a full service middle of the road format, slowly evolving as programming tastes changed. The station changed from full service to news/talk on Memorial Day Weekend, 1994.

Dame Media, Inc acquired WGY and WGY-FM the during proceedings in the Philadelphia bankruptcy court, late 1993. Dame moved the studios to One Washington Square at the end of Washington Avenue Extension, in the west end of Albany, New York late 1994, where they remained until 2005.

In 1999, Dame Media sold its entire radio group to Clear Channel, whose ownership remains to this day. Clear Channel combined all of its radio station studio operations into the former CHP (Community Health Plan) building on Route 7 (Troy-Schenectady Road) in Latham August, 2005.

On September 20, 2010, WGY began simulcasting its programming on 103.1 FM (the former WHRL, which took the calls WGY-FM, previously on 99.5 FM). WGY 103.1 FM broadcasts at 5,600 watts power.


In 1949...future teen singing idol, Ricky Nelson, began performing on his parents' Radio show. (Ozzie and Harriet Nelson).


In 1950...WOL-AM in Washington DC swaps calls with WWDC




In 1971...Natl Emergency Center erroneously orders US radio & TV stations to go off the air. Mistake wasn't resolved for 30 minutes.

Walter Winchell

In 1972..gossip columnist & iconic radio star Walter Winchell died of prostate cancer at age 74.  His weekly broadcasts in the 30’s, 40’s & 50’s began: “Hello Mr. & Mrs. North America & all the ships at sea, let’s go to press.”  A later generation would only know him as narrator on the TV series The Untouchables.

Rosemary DeCamp

In 2001...actress Rosemary De Camp succumbed to pneumonia at age 90. She shine in many roles on bigtime radio, including the longrunning part of nurse Judy Price on CBS’ Dr. Christian. On TV she was Peg Riley on Life of Riley, and also had feature roles on The Bob Cummings Show & That Girl.




In 2006...Sportscaster Curt Gowdy, who spent 15 years with the Boston Red Sox, 13 years at NBC, had brief stays at CBS and ABC, and is enshrined in 22 sports Halls of Fame, died of leukemia at age 86.

In November 1942, Gowdy made his broadcasting debut in Cheyenne calling a 'six-man' high school football game from atop a wooden grocery crate in subzero weather, with about 15 people in attendance. He found he had a knack for broadcasting, and worked at the small KFBC radio station and at the Wyoming Eagle newspaper as a sportswriter (and later sports editor). After several years in Cheyenne, he accepted an offer from CBS's KOMA radio in Oklahoma City in 1946. He was hired primarily to broadcast Oklahoma college football (then coached by new-hire Bud Wilkinson) and Oklahoma State college basketball games (then coached by Hank Iba).

Curt Gowdy

Gowdy's distinctive play-by-play style during his subsequent broadcasts of minor league baseball, college football, and college basketball in Oklahoma City earned him a national audition. Gowdy began his Major League Baseball broadcasting career working as the No. 2 announcer to Mel Allen for New York Yankees games on radio and television in 1949–50. There, he succeeded Russ Hodges, who departed to become the New York Giants.

In April 1951 at the age of 31, Gowdy began his tenure as the lead announcer for the Red Sox. For the next 15 years, he called the exploits of generally mediocre Red Sox teams on WHDH radio and on three Boston TV stations: WBZ-TV, WHDH-TV, and WNAC-TV (WBZ and WNAC split the Red Sox TV schedule from 1948 through 1955; WBZ alone carried the Red Sox from 1955 through 1957; and WHDH took over in 1958). During that time, Gowdy partnered with two future baseball broadcasting legends: Bob Murphy and Ned Martin. Chronic back pain caused Gowdy to miss the entire 1957 season. He also did nightly sports reports on WHDH radio when his schedule permitted.

He left WHDH after the 1965 season for NBC Sports, where for the next ten years he called the national baseball telecasts of the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week and Monday Night Baseball during the regular season (and the All-Star Game in July), and the postseason playoffs and World Series in October.

In 2012...Longtime Seattle radio personality (KOL, KBSG) Danny Holiday died at the age of 68. Always filled with tenacity, vim and vigor, Dan began his career sweeping floors at KRKO at 8 and the rest is history. Dan's career was marked with lasting friendships and encounters with the greats of R&R. He knew the history first hand. Dan was an inductee into the NW Music Hall of Fame in 1990, creator of the Danny Holiday Rock and Roll Time Machine


In 2014…Professor of broadcasting and journalism at the State University of New York at Oswego/former television network newsman (NBC, ABC, CNN)/moderator (Meet the Press)/PBS opera program host (Live from the Met) Garrick Utley died of prostate cancer at age 74.