Actor Luke Perry, known for roles in “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Riverdale,” has died after suffering a stroke on Wednesday. He was 52, according to Variety.
Born in Mansfield, Ohio, Perry moved to Los Angeles after high school to pursue acting. His TV career began when he was 16, and the actor cut his teeth acting in soap operas like ABC’s “Loving” and “Another World” on NBC, and doing voice work for animated series such as “The Incredible Hulk” and “Biker Mice From Mars.”
However, in 1990 Perry became a household name for playing the brooding loner Dylan McKay on the smash hit teen drama “Beverly Hills, 90210” on Fox. The show became a phenomenon, catapulting Perry to full-blown teen idol status. He appeared on a racy Vanity Fair cover in July 1992.
Perry had two runs on “90210,” one from 1990 to 1995 and another from 1998 to the show’s end in 2000, during which time his character struggled with alcohol abuse and drug addiction, and went through a series of tumultuous relationships with several other main characters including Brenda (played by Shannen Doherty) and Kelly (played by Jennie Garth).
WarnerMedia has announced a new organizational model to accelerate the investment in and development of content. WarnerMedia will organize its teams around entertainment networks, live programming, content production and affiliate and advertising sales.
As part of the organizational announcement, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey announced:
Robert Greenblatt, who was most recently Chairman for NBC Entertainment, will take on the role as Chairman, WarnerMedia Entertainment and Direct-to-Consumer.
Expanded roles for Jeff Zucker, who becomes Chairman, WarnerMedia News & Sports, and President, CNN
Kevin Tsujihara, who continues as Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. with additional responsibilities including a new global kids and young adults business
Gerhard Zeiler, who has been elevated from President, Turner International to WarnerMedia Chief Revenue Officer.
"We have done an amazing job establishing our brands as leaders in the hearts and minds of consumers," said Stankey. "Adding Bob Greenblatt to the WarnerMedia family and expanding the leadership scope and responsibilities of Jeff, Kevin and Gerhard – who collectively have more than 80 years of global media experience and success – gives us the right management team to strategically position our leading portfolio of brands, world-class talent and rich library of intellectual property for future growth."
Bob Greenblatt
➤WarnerMedia Entertainment led by Bob Greenblatt will include HBO, the linear cable networks TNT, TBS and truTV, and the Direct-to-Consumer business. This change will provide the company with the agility and flexibility needed to build WarnerMedia's brands across a variety of evolving distribution models with a more coordinated approach to the company's original programming.
➤WarnerMedia News & Sports will include CNN Worldwide (CNN, CNN.com, CNN International, CNN en Español, HLN, Great Big Story), Turner Sports, Bleacher Report and the AT&T Regional Sports Networks. Jeff Zucker will continue to lead CNN and now run this expanded organization to capitalize on the importance of live news and sports content, as well as helping to build on the strengths of the company's two industry-leading digital properties – CNN.com and Bleacher Report – to benefit consumers and advertisers in their respective market segments.
➤Warner Bros.' film, television, and games operations will add a new Global Kids & Young Adults business that brings together the family, kids and animation efforts from across WarnerMedia, including Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Boomerang. Additionally, Otter Media, Turner Classic Movies and all activities around licensed consumer products development for WarnerMedia properties will also reside here. Kevin Tsujihara will spearhead these efforts and continue to lead Warner Bros. which, under his direction, has become the only studio with premiere positions in television, film and videogames.
The company will consolidate all WarnerMedia Affiliates and Advertising Sales Groups under one unified structure led by Gerhard Zeiler.
Mr. Greenblatt said, "I'm honored to be joining WarnerMedia during such an exciting time for the company and the industry as a whole, and I look forward to working alongside the many talented executives and team members across the company. WarnerMedia is home to some of the world's most innovative, creative and successful brands and we're in a unique position to foster even deeper connections with consumers. And it goes without saying I will always have a soft spot in my heart for HBO going back to the rewarding experience I had producing Alan Ball's Six Feet Under."
Gen Z, the latest generation graduating into adulthood, isn't just snubbing print media, it's abandoning old media altogether.
According to CNBC, this generation, the oldest of which is around 22, grew up with the internet, hand-held devices and social media. They do not remember a time when these things did not exist. Because of that, their consumption habits are drastically different than even their closest generational cohort, the millennial. The members of Gen Z have all but abandoned traditional television viewing, opting to watch shows, movies and other digital content on their phones, tablets and laptops. This shift has led content producers to go where Gen Z lives — YouTube.
"They are truly endemic internet users," Jack Davis, co-founder and CEO of Crypt TV, said. "They grew up on the internet and when they turn 24 they aren't aging out of it. They aren't suddenly becoming traditional media users."
Davis along with horror master Eli Roth ("Hostel") founded Crypt TV in 2015 and have developed a slate of monster-centric IP that they distribute on YouTube and Facebook in the form of a short digital film and television series.
The channel launched on Facebook first and has gained more than 12 million fans on that platform alone, when you combine all of its different show pages. On YouTube, it has more than 2.2 million subscribers, who have tallied up more than 258 million views of Crypt TV's content.
"That's where the young people are," Davis said of the decision to bring this content to the social media platform.
The average member of Gen Z spends about 3.4 hours a day online watching videos, Wibbitz, a video creation platform, wrote in a report published in January. For this generation, YouTube is the favorite destination to watch entertainment videos, with Instagram and Facebook falling close behind.
Crypt TV's core demographic is people aged 13 to 25, Davis said.
Michael Jackson's music appears to have been dropped from BBC Radio 2's playlists following new child sex abuse claims, reports The Daily Mail.
The decision is reported to have been made last week ahead of Channel 4 News's documentary about the star's alleged crimes, Leaving Neverland, which will be broadcast this week.
In the programm, the Sunday Times reports that James Safechuck, 40, and Wade Robson, 36, claim they were sexually assaulted and raped while children by the pop star after being groomed over a number of years.
Robson said in an interview with the BBC last week that the abuse started when he was just seven.
He said: 'Every time I stayed the night with him, he abused me. Fondling, touching, my entire body and my penis.'
The late singer’s family has denied the allegations and his estate is reportedly suing HBO for $100million.
Both Robson and Safechuck had defended Jackson before his death by offering testimony in a court case that the star had not abused them.
Radio 2 hasn't played a solo Jackson track since last Saturday, when they broadcast his 1979 hit Rock With You.
Oprah
A spokesman for the corporation said: 'It is not true that Michael Jackson has been dropped off the Radio 2 playlist - which is new releases - as he hasn’t been featured on it.
Oprah faced backlash this past weekend for declaring that it is time so say goodbye to Michael Jackson -- one last time" in a social media post.
The media mogul -- who is hosting an interview with the accusers after part two of the Leaving Neverland documentary airs, posted on her Oprah Magazine page,“It’s time to say goodbye to Michael Jackson—one last time. Up until a few days ago, OprahMag.com’s digital director @ariannagab was a Michael Jackson defender and had go-to lines about separating the artist from the man or how there was never any real proof that he abused children. But then @oprah and #LeavingNeverland finally convinced her to let go of the King of Pop."
The post continued, "Her Aha-moment: Leaving Neverland is much bigger than Michael Jackson. It’s bigger than Michael Jackson’s fans, bigger than defending the soundtrack to your childhood. Instead, it is about the millions of people in this world who never got to have a childhood because of the sexual abuse they experienced before their young brains were even developed enough to know what was occurring.”
American Idol season 17 kicked off last with a whole new slate of auditions – and Ryan Seacrest back as host. Here are a few of the highlights:
⏩One of the more emotional moments of the night came when a 19-year-old songstress, who goes by the name Kai the Singer, took the stage and brought judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan to tears with her emotional back story, determination and powerful voice.
The South Carolina factory worker grew up in and out of homeless shelters. There are currently eight people living in her house, and only two of her brothers have beds. “You get tired of seeing your family struggling,” she said.
The judges agreed that Kai’s nerves impeded her performance of Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud,” but all of their doubts faded away during her second song, a beautiful rendition of “My Girl” by The Temptations that blew them away. Katy felt a personal connection to Kai, as both received their first guitars as gifts from their church congregations, and Lionel told her: “God can only do for you what he can do through you. Needless to say, Kai got her golden ticket to Hollywood.
⏩The show started on a feel-good note with Walker Burroughs, a 20-year-old from Alabama. Walker first sang “Love Like This” by Ben Rector on the piano, and earned a comparison to Billy Joel from Katy. She also told him she thought he was “top 10 material.” Walker also sang a few bars of Lionel Richie’s “Hello,” and his die-hard fan of a mom got to meet the man himself. Walker left with a golden ticket to Hollywood.
⏩Margie Mays, a 25-year-old from Delaware with a bundle of energy and bird sounds and burps impressed the judges. Katy questioned whether Margie Mays is her real name, and advised her not to drink coffee. Once she finally started singing, the judges were impressed, making Margie cry – and burp out of nervousness. Katy and Luke both voted to send her to Hollywood, but Lionel gave her a no just to “scare” her and make her understand the “seriousness” of the competition.
⏩Myra Tran, a 19-year-old aspiring singer from Vietnam, has been living in the United States for just one year. She told the judges that it’s been her dream to perform on American Idol since she was a kid. She blew them away by singing “One Night Only,” performed by Idol alum Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls. Luke said she was “up there with the Kelly Clarksons of the world.” All three judges sent her to Hollywood.
⏩Johanna Jones, a 23-year-old Las Vegas native bonded with Katy over In-N-Out. Johanna works there and Katy met Orlando Bloom there. They also bonded over their habit of eating potato chips before performing. She impressed the judges with her take on Sam Smith’s “I’m Not the Only One,” accompanied by a guitar player. Lionel called her “the package,” adding that she has “the touch.” They voted to send her to Hollywood.
The truly bad auditions didn’t get too much screen time, save for a Buffalo, New York, self-described “gas station creature” named Vokillz. He invented a genre of music noise called Mystic Death Trap Metal, which he demonstrated through an original song titled “American Creature.” Perry said yes, but Bryan and Richie said no, so he did not advance.
After only two months on the air, the "Pete and Sarah in the Morning" show on WVMT 620 AM has come to an end.
According to sevendaysvt.com, Cohosts Pete Belair and Sarah Mitiguy were informed after their Friday broadcast that they were being fired. A new local talk show featuring Burlington City Council President Kurt Wright and DJ/podcaster Marcus Certa will take over the 6 to 9 a.m. broadcast on Monday.
Sarah Mitiguy and Pete Belair
Belair and Mitiguy had been cohosts of a morning music show on WXXX-FM 95 Triple X until late last year. They moved to WVMT at the beginning of January, taking the place of longtime morning hosts Charlie Papillo and Ernie Farrar, who both retired. Now, with their new show coming to an abrupt end and their Triple X time slot filled by a nationally syndicated show, Belair and Mitiguy are looking for work.
"They told me how good I was at music but [that] I didn't have the chops for political talk," Belair said.
WVMT and WXXX were sold in October by Paul Goldman to Burlington-based Vox AM/FM, which already owned WEZF-FM Star 92.9, WCPV-FM 101.3 The Game, WXZO-FM 96.7 MeTV FM and two other stations. Vox owner Ken Barlow wanted to keep "Charlie + Ernie in the Morning," but the two men decided it was time to step away. Barlow then shifted Belair and Mitiguy from the FM station to the AM.
Westwood One has announced that Country Radio Hall of Famer Steve Harmon takes over mornings on its Mainstream Country format as of Monday, March 4, 2019.
Harmon’s impressive resume includes stints at KPLX/Dallas, WXTU/Philadelphia, KNIX/Phoenix, and his extensive work with “Sheet Happens Prep.” Plus, his fireplace mantle is home to a CMA “Major Market Personality of the Year” award, an American Women in Radio Service Award, and more.
Era Balance
George King, VP, Westwood One Country Formats says, “I’m extremely excited to be working with Steve again. He brings his vast experience and incredible personality to our team and I know our affiliates will love him.”
Harmon added, "George King and I worked together at KNIX, so when he talked about the position I jumped in! Working with great talent and management, combined with music I love, makes me a lucky guy."
For more information on Westwood One’s 24/7 Formats, contact Pat Crocker at (720) 873-5170.
Almost all of Philadelphia is psyched about outfielder Bryce Harper’s historic contract with the Phillies, but one radio station is celebrating the deal with a name change, reports philly.com.
Beasley Media Group’s WBEN 95.7 FM will now be known as BRYCE FM. The rebrand is in honor of the much-anticipated addition to the Phillies lineup, according to a release.
“We’re very excited about Bryce making a long-term commitment to the team and fans in Philadelphia,” morning host Matt Cord said. “We thought it would be fun to give him his due by renaming the station in tribute to him.”
A post on the station’s website, meanwhile, put it a little more enthusiastically: “We have baseballs big enough to be called 95.7… BRYCE... FM!!!”
In addition to the name-change, BRYCE FM will kick off a contest on Monday, March 4, to send a listener to see “Baseball’s LeBron” work out with the Phillies during spring training.
Further contest details were not announced, nor were any other changes at the station. BEN FM branding is still visible on the station’s website. The change will last “until further notice,” a spokesperson said.
The marketing move recalls the infamous IHOP/IHOB ad campaign from last year, in which the pancake restaurant known as the International House of Pancakes temporarily changed its name to the International House of Burgers. According to a report from Business Insider, the promotion was a “huge success” that quadrupled burger sales at the chain.
While the longevity of BRYCE FM remains to be seen, Harper’s contract is finite. As his agent told reporters this week, the right fielder “wanted one city for the rest of his career,” and now, that city is Philadelphia. At 13 years and $330 million, his contract with the Phillies is considered the “most lucrative contract in American sports history,” according to an Inquirer report.
Outfielder Bryce Harper got a record-breaking $330 million, 13-year contract this week to leave the Washington Nationals and join the Phillies.
But there’s another number that’s almost as eye-popping: $12.6 million. That’s the amount Harper could expect to pay in wage taxes if he made Philadelphia his primary residence for the duration of his contract, according to an Inquirer analysis.
Harper could save millions, however, if he lived outside the city, paying just $5.1 million in Philadelphia wage taxes in the next 13 years, thePhilly Inquirer estimated.
Philadelphia’s wage tax, long among the highest in the nation, claims close to 4 percent of income earned by Philadelphia residents, and just under 3.5 percent for those who live elsewhere but work in the city.
Why the large difference between Harper’s tax burden if he lived in Philadelphia or elsewhere?
Athletes who live outside the city have to pay wage taxes only for days that they work in Philadelphia. They don’t pay the tax for working days spent at spring training and away games — and that adds up for Phillies players.
If Harper decided to live in Philadelphia, however, 100 percent of his wages would be subject to the resident rate.
To better serve the millions of sports fans who participate in sports wagering, and to help educate general sports fans with more in-depth analysis, ESPN will launch Daily Wager, a new daily sports betting news and information show, on Monday, March 11. The one-hour program will air Monday through Friday on ESPNEWS at 6 p.m. ET, also streaming live on the ESPN App.
Daily Wager will be hosted by Doug Kezirian, ESPN sports betting analyst, who has covered sports betting for more than 15 years. He will be joined by sports betting experts as well as ESPN analysts and reporters from various sports for discussion centered on analytics and point spreads as well as how the day’s sports news affects betting.
“ESPN’s mission is to serve sports fans,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN Executive Vice President and Executive Editor, Studio Production. “The sports betting environment has changed and interest is increasing at unprecedented levels. ESPN is going to have a strong and vibrant presence across our platforms, and the launch of Daily Wager is the next step in what has already been underway for some time.”
Stanford Steve and The Bear podcast (football season).
“Bad Beats” on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt.
Sports betting content on ESPN.com.
Among contributors who will be part of Daily Wager:
“Stanford” Steve Coughlin – co-host of “Bad Beats” on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt, co-host of Stanford Steve and The Bear podcast and ESPN.com columnist. Former college football player who began appearing on Behind the Bets podcast during college football season in 2014. Took over as host in 2015 when the podcast became Behind the Bets, The College Years. Podcast was renamed Stanford Steve and The Bear in 2018.
Chris “The Bear” Fallica – co-host of Stanford Steve and The Bear podcast and ESPN.com columnist. Also an avid horse racing handicapper and competitor in NHC (National Horseplayers Championship) tournaments.
David Purdum – ESPN.com gambling industry reporter. Has covered the industry, with a focus on sports betting, for more than seven years.
Anita Marks – Host for ESPN Radio New York 98.7 FM and ESPN Fantasy Football analyst. More than 20 years of broadcasting experience on television and radio, including football sideline reporting. Former professional football player.
Preston Johnson – Las Vegas-based handicapper known in the industry as the “Sports Cheetah.” Has Master of Science in Sports Psychology and specializes in using analytics and game theory as a sports bettor. Has appeared on multiple media platforms to discuss sports betting.
Joe Fortenbaugh — Co-founder of NationalFootballPost.com and morning sports talk radio show host on “95.7 The Game” in San Francisco. Also host of “The Sharp 600” sports betting podcast. Law school graduate.
The program will originate from ESPN’s studios in Bristol, Ct.
The Washington Post issued an editor’s note Friday over its early coverage of a viral exchange between a student from Covington Catholic High School and a Native American veteran.
Accord to The Hill, the paper said subsequent evidence, including reporting, un-surfaced video and a student’s statement clarifies the interaction and either contradicts or fails to confirm the Post's initial stories.
“Subsequent reporting, a student’s statement and additional video allow for a more complete assessment of what occurred, either contradicting or failing to confirm accounts provided in that story — including that Native American activist Nathan Phillips was prevented by one student from moving on, that his group had been taunted by the students in the lead-up to the encounter, and that the students were trying to instigate a conflict,” the Post said.
The controversy began earlier this year when video emerged of student Nick Sandmann, who was wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, and Nathan Phillips, a Native American elder, in a faceoff in Washington, D.C., while they were in town for separate rallies.
Reports surfaced that Sandmann and other students from the Kentucky high school were shouting at Phillips, with some reports mentioning racial obscenities, though those reports were largely disputed by Sandmann and online observers.
Sandmann filed a lawsuit against the Post earlier this month over its coverage, which the student said “targeted and bullied” him and included “a series of false and defamatory print and online articles.”
He is seeking $50 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages and claimed that the reporting caused “permanent harm to his reputation.”
As AT&T Inc. shuffles the executive ranks within its newly-acquired WarnerMedia entertainment empire, CNN is in for a different kind of makeover, according to The Wall Street Journal.
WSJ Graphics
John Stankey, the AT&T executive at the helm of WarnerMedia, is planning to revamp the cable news network’s digital operation, which he believes isn’t reaching its potential and requires more investment in product development and data analytics, according to people familiar with the situation.
Stankey has been steering a reorganization of WarnerMedia that resulted on Feb. 28 in the resignations of Richard Plepler, HBO’s chief executive, and David Levy, the president of Turner, the parent of cable channels CNN, TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network.
Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN Worldwide whose contract runs through 2020, is expected to continue to report to Stankey after AT&T’s restructuring is completed, the people said. He also is likely to oversee Turner Sports, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
CNN faces an intensely competitive TV news landscape. Its audience boomed during the 2016 presidential election cycle, as did other cable news outlets’, but its position has slipped in prime time since then in comparison with rivals Fox News and MSNBC.
Lifting TV viewership, which averaged just over one million in prime time in the most recent quarter, according to Nielsen, isn’t a top priority for Stankey, the people said. He told CNN staff at a recent meeting that he has no intention of getting involved in coverage, one of the people said.
Instead, he is interested in investing in product development at CNN’s digital arm, including its apps, and wants articles to surface to users based on their interests and tastes, one of the people familiar with the situation said. Stankey wants tens of millions of mobile users to be spending in the neighborhood of 10 minutes a day with CNN content.
CNN Digital missed its revenue target at the end of 2017, according to people familiar with its financials, and underwent a round of layoffs in February 2018 as part of a restructuring.
Profits for CNN were $1.2 billion in 2018, according to a person familiar with the matter, the most profitable year for CNN to date.
A CNN analyst and senior adviser at the University of Delaware's Biden Institute on Saturday charged that President Trump's call to "reclaim" America's heritage was similar to rhetoric used by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler -- but she appeared unaware that former Vice President Joe Biden himself had made a virtually identical comment in 2011.
Fox News reports Samantha Vinograd, who also served on the National Security Council in the Obama administration, claimed that Trump's remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday had made her "sick, on a personal level."
Trump told a raucous crowd at CPAC in National Harbor, Md., that he would recommit to prioritizing U.S. interests and praised "patriots" in attendance.
“The men and women here today are on the front lines of protecting America’s interests, defending America’s values, and reclaiming our nation’s priceless heritage," Trump said during a fiery two-hour, expletive-laden address. "With your help, we are reversing decades of blunders and betrayals. These are serious, serious betrayals to our nation and to everything we stand for. It’s been done by the failed ruling class that enriched foreign countries at our expense. It wasn’t America first; in many cases it was America last. Those days are over, long over.”
For Vinograd, those remarks evoked not patriotism, but the systematic gassing and slaughtering of millions of Jews, Slavs, homosexuals, and other minority groups.
"Preserving your heritage, reclaiming our heritage -- that sounds a lot like a certain leader that killed members of my family and about 6 million other Jews in the 1940s," Vinograd told CNN anchor Ana Cabrera, who had prompted Vinograd by ominously arguing that Trump's language “taps into historically darker times."
But several conservative commentators quickly pointed out that Trump, in fact, sounded less like Hitler and more like Biden at the 2011 Florida Democratic Party state convention, when he was stumping for Obama's re-election.
“It’s time to stand up," Biden yelled to the crowd. "It’s time to fight back. It’s time to reclaim our heritage, and it’s time and we are ready. ... We are looking for this fight! The future of our country depends on it." Biden added: "It's long past time we get back up, that we stand up, that we reclaim what every American thought was their birthright: the American Dream."
Although Vinograd posted a video of her own comments to Twitter over the weekend, backlash was relentless not only to her Hitler remark, but also to CNN's decision to hire Vinograd as a national security analyst -- a seemingly nonpartisan title -- without clearly reminding viewers that she works at the Biden Institute.
In a new off-the-rails interview, Roseanne Barr calls originators of the #MeToo movement “hos” and attacks Sen. Kamala Harris, Christine Blasey Ford and many other women, reports Fox News.
“They’re pretending that they didn’t go to trade sexual favors for money,” Barr says, rhetorically asking why some women find themselves in men’s hotel rooms at 3 a.m.
Kamala Harris
Interviewer Candace Owens replies by pointing to the women who accused comedian Louis C.K. of sexual misconduct, prompting Barr to say, “That’s who I’m talking about, too.”
“I know a ho when I see one,” proclaims Barr.
She was kicked off the rebooted “Roseanne” show after posting a racist tweet about former President Barack Obama’s adviser Valerie Jarrett last May.
Speaking in an episode of the “Candace Owens Show”, Barr holds nothing back talking about race, religion, politics and Hollywood.
She goes on a nasty tirade against Harris, the California Dem who’s running for president.
“Look at Kamala Harris, who I call Kama Sutra Harris,” Barr snipes, pointing to the pol’s prior relationship with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. When they first met, she was 29, he 60.
“We all know what she did… she slept her way to the bottom,” the comedian says, drawing agreement from Owens, who directs comms for the young conservative group Turning Point USA.
Barr also suggests that Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of a sexual assault when they were teens, “should be in prison.”
“White women privilege” is the only thing that kept the accuser out of jail, Barr opines.
Moving on to freshman Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Barr declares, “It’s scary that we have Hamas in our Congress,” referencing the Palestinian terror group. Both pols are Muslim.
➦In 1907...Radio actor and announcer Pat McGeehan was born in Harrisburg PA (Died - January 8, 1988 at age 80 in Burbank, CA). He was most active during much of radio's classic period of the 1930s and '40s.
For many years, McGeehan was one of a series of announcers who were the brunt of some of Skelton's best known-lines. He also was an actor on the "Maisie," "Stars Over Hollywood" and "Aunt Mary" series and a guest on such programs as "The Jack Benny Program" and the "Fibber McGee and Molly" comedy series. At his peak, McGeehan did more than 40 shows a week, Mrs. McGeehan said. He was the voice of the "Hour of St. Francis," a Catholic radio show, where he gained worldwide recognition for his recitation of the peace prayer of St. Francis. ➦In 1910...Lee DeForest broadcast a live performance by Enrico Caruso at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC in order to popularize the new medium, known as radio.
Lee de Forest (August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. He named himself the "Father of Radio," with this famous quote, "I discovered an Invisible Empire of the Air, intangible, yet solid as granite,".
In 1906 De Forest invented the Audion, the first triode vacuum tube and the first electrical device which could amplify a weak electrical signal and make it stronger. The Audion, and vacuum tubes developed from it, founded the field of electronics and dominated it for 40 years, making radio broadcasting, television, and long-distance telephone service possible, among many other applications. For this reason De Forest has been called one of the fathers of the "electronic age". He is also credited with one of the principal inventions that brought sound to motion pictures.
He was involved in several patent lawsuits, and spent a substantial part of his income from his inventions on legal bills. He had four marriages and 25 companies. He was indicted in 1912 for mail fraud, but was acquitted.
➦In 1925... the first national radio broadcast of an inauguration occurred when President Calvin Coolidge took the oath of office on the East Front of the Capitol. Elected Vice President in 1920, Coolidge first took the oath of office when President Warren Harding died suddenly in 1923.
NY Times radio mention 3/5/1925
After winning election to a full term in 1924, Coolidge followed his predecessor’s example and insisted upon a modest inaugural ceremony. “I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people,” Coolidge said about his governing philosophy. “The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government.” The simple inaugural proceedings did, however, make headlines. The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company installed a series of loud speakers and microphones on the inaugural platform.
The new equipment, operated from a room below the Capitol's steps, enabled people in attendance to better hear the proceedings and allowed those not in the nation’s capital to “listen in” on the day’s events. For the occasion, a radio announcers’ booth was constructed on the inaugural platform. More than 20 radio stations broadcast the proceedings to an estimated 23 million listeners, including many children whose school auditoriums had been fitted with electronic equipment to facilitate the broadcast of the historic event. People who tuned in heard detailed descriptions of the Capitol grounds and the history of past inaugurations.
➦In 1930...“The ole Redhead”, sportscaster Red Barber, began his radio career on WRUF-AM, while attending the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Barber pioneered a colorful, reportorial style of play-by-play narration that generations of broadcasters have imitated: He gave his listeners a scrupulously detailed but carefully nonpartisan version of the events on the field, so that they could feel like they were sitting in the stands themselves.
Barber’s baseball-broadcasting career began with the Cincinnati Reds in 1934, when the 26-year-old announcer called the first major league game he had ever seen, and ended in 1966 when the New York Yankees fired him for noting on air that only 413 people had come to watch the last-place Bombers play. But from 1939 to 1953, his years as the play-by-play announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Barber became a citywide celebrity. He invented an entirely new vocabulary that was nevertheless almost instantly familiar to anyone who listened to his broadcasts for more than a few minutes. To Barber, the baseball diamond was “the pea patch.” An argument was “a rhubarb.” A sure-thing game was “tied up in the crocus sack” and a team that had a game well in hand was “sitting in the catbird seat.” Everyone who heard Barber say that the bases were “FOB” knew he meant that they were full of Brooklyn players; likewise, listeners knew that a player who was “assuming the ballistic burden” was coming in to relieve the pitcher.
Barber broadcast some of baseball’s most important moments: the first night game and the first televised game, for example, along with Jackie Robinson’s first game as a Dodger and Roger Maris’ record-breaking home run. During baseball season, his voice was everywhere. “People tell me you could walk through Brooklyn without a radio and still hear Red describe the game,” sportscaster Bob Costas said. “You wouldn’t miss a pitch because it would come from an apartment windowsill, from a storefront, from a car radio with its window open.”
In 1978, Red Barber and Mel Allen were the first announcers to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
➦In 1935..WOR-AM increased it power to 50,000 watts at 710 AM.
WOR was a charter member of the CBS Radio Network (CBS), acting as the flagship of the 16 stations that aired the first Columbia Broadcasting System network program on September 18, 1927. In partnership with Chicago radio station WGN and Cincinnati radio station WLW, WOR formed the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1934 and became its New York City flagship station. Mutual was one of the "Big Four" national radio networks in the United States during the 1930s–1980s. In 1941, the station changed its city of license from Newark to New York City.
Shirley Temple
➦In 1942...Child actress Shirley Temple, now a teen, debuted on her own radio series on CBS Radio. 'Junior Miss' debuted March 4, 1942, in which she played the title role. The series was based on stories by Sally Benson. Sponsored by Procter & Gamble, Junior Miss was directed by Gordon Hughes, with David Rose as musical director. The show, costing $12,000 a week, was found to be too expensive to produce and ended after 6 months. ➦In 1982...After a series of lawsuits and accusations, the FCC decides to let the marketplace decide and revokes the Magnavox certification as the AM stereo standard for political reasons. Belar had dropped out of the AM stereo race due to receiver distortion problems, leaving Motorola C-QUAM, Harris Corporation, Magnavox, and the Kahn/Hazeltine independent sideband system.
➦In 2004...Clear Channel Communications paid a $755,000 fine imposed by the FCC for objectionable comments from July 19, 2001. The fine consisted of the maximum $27,500 fine for each of the 26 stations that aired the segments, plus $40,000 for record-keeping violations. The segment involved sexual discussions among the cartoon characters Alvin and the Chipmunks, George Jetson, and Scooby-Doo. Clem was fired on February 23, who at the time had the number one show in the Tampa area in the 18–54 year old male demographic.
➦In 2008...Radio program director Fred Horton died at age 56. In the 80s he hosted the Saturday Night Oldies Party on WYYY Y94 FM in Syracuse. Among some stations he greatly impacted were WBEE Rochester, WGNA Albany, WYNY NYC and WRUN Rome-Utica.
Peter Tork
➦In 2009…Peter Tork of the Monkees Tork reported on his website that he had been diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare, slow-growing form of head and neck cancer. A preliminary biopsy discovered that the cancer had not spread beyond the initial site. Tork underwent radiation therapy to prevent the cancer from returning.
On March 4, 2009, Tork underwent successful surgery in New York City. On June 11, 2009, a spokesman for Tork reported that his cancer had returned. Tork was reportedly "shaken but not stirred" by the news, and said that the doctors had given him an 80% chance of containing and shrinking the new tumor.
The cancer returned in 2018. Tork died of complications from the disease on February 21, 2019, at his home in Mansfield, Connecticut. He was 77.
Joel A. Spivak
➦In 2011…75-year-old Joel A. Spivak, who was a popular Washington radio personality before becoming press secretary for the nonprofit Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, died. Spivak had metastatic cancer, the result of a decades-long smoking habit.
Spivak got his start in radio as a disc jockey and talk-show host in some of the country’s biggest markets. In 1996, after a long radio career — and after he had quit smoking — he joined the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and helped direct media coverage for the nonprofit group.
Mr. Spivak was a forceful voice against the tobacco industry, said Julia Cartwright, an executive at the anti-tobacco American Legacy Foundation.
He became such an effective spokesman in large part because of his previous career in radio. He moved to the Washington area in 1980 as a talk-show host for WRC-AM and was best known for his signature introduction, “This is Joel A. Spivak speaking.”
In 1983, Mr. Spivak was voted most popular talk-show host by Washingtonian magazine. A year later, he moved to San Francisco and spent two years there as a radio personality before moving back to Washington to become an anchor on WRC-TV (Channel 4) in 1987.
He was a co-anchor for the “Live at Five” news show on NBC for one year. Station managers said bringing him to television had been an experiment to boost ratings that ultimately failed.
Spivak then moved back to radio full time as a talk-show host for WRC-AM.
➦In 2016…Arthur Worth "Bud" Collins Jr. died at age 86. (Born - June 17, 1929). He was an American journalist and television sportscaster, best known for his tennis commentary.
Collins started writing for the Boston Herald as a sportswriter while he was a student at Boston University. In 1963, he moved to The Boston Globe and began doing tennis commentary for Boston's Public Broadcasting Service outlet, WGBH. From 1968 to 1972, he worked for CBS Sports during its coverage of the US Open tournament, moving to NBC Sports in 1972 to work that network's Wimbledon coverage. He also teamed with Donald Dell to call tennis matches for PBS television from 1974 to 1977.
He was inducted in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2002.
