NuVoodoo Media Services, a data-driven media marketing, programming and content intelligence provider, presents the second installment of its spring webinar series starting Monday, March 18th with results from NuVoodoo’s latest Ratings Prospects Study.
The study of 3,084 respondents, ages 14-54, across all PPM markets. Recent data, collected in January of this year, suggest that FM Radio is losing ground as the biggest source of music discovery among most listeners, the majority of whom discover music through YouTube, with Spotify and Pandora following YouTube’s lead.
Leigh Jacobs, Executive Vice President, Research Insights, NuVoodoo Media Services, explained: “When asked, “Which of these sources would you expect to be good at helping you discover music you do not know, but fits your taste?”, the majority answered YouTube. Among likely ratings respondents and those who listen to FM at least two hours a day, FM is no better than tied with YouTube as a music discovery source.”
While these music discovery stats are not a feel-good, Mike O’Connor, Executive Vice President, Marketing, NuVoodoo Media Services, notes: “Those with a glass-half-full attitude will realize that forming a local community of YouTube channel subscribers can help boost a station's image as curator among local influencers. And, when it comes time for paid digital marketing, every YouTube interaction can be bundled as seed data for retargeting and lookalike audiences. These so-called “first party” data relationships give stations a huge advantage over their competitors.”
Carolyn Gilbert, President and Chief Executive Officer, NuVoodoo Media Services, noted: “Though these findings are dismaying - especially given radio’s long-held dominance over all other media as the place to discover new releases or artists - smart radio marketers will see a distinct opportunity to leverage YouTube’s popularity as a source for music discovery to strengthen their connections with listeners and extend their station brands in a powerful way. We invite all radio professionals to learn more about the opportunities and insights uncovered by our latest Ratings Prospects Study in the second installment of our Spring 2019 Webinar Series beginning Monday, March 18th at Noon Eastern.”
The NuVoodoo Ratings Prospects Study is conducted twice a year to learn more about those who are most likely to say “yes” to the opportunity to wear a meter or fill out a diary in order to provide NuVoodoo clients with competitive insights and advantages that they can exploit to capture higher ratings. This is the 13th Ratings Prospects Study that NuVoodoo has completed since 2011.
NuVoodoo will launch the second installment of its Spring 2019 Webinar Series, starting on Monday, March 18th at Noon EST (with two more opportunities to participate through Monday, March 25th).
Radio program directors, the men and women whose decisions govern the casual consumption of 100 million listeners every week, are currently buried under an avalanche of Ariana Grande songs, reports Rolling Stone.
“I’ve got three currents and another two in recurrent [rotation],” says Nathan Graham, program director for the Philadelphia Top 40 station WTDY 96.5 FM. “And I still want to play her older stuff — ‘Side to Side.’ I will literally play her every 15 minutes if I have all those titles in rotation.”
Grande is not the only artist forcing programmers to juggle multiple hits at once: At urban radio, which plays rap and a smattering of R&B, Cardi B is a presence on the top three singles this week, and she has a fourth release with Bruno Mars scurrying up the charts. In fact, this sort of ubiquity might be considered a prerequisite for modern stardom.
What’s the big deal? Well, radio playlists are tighter than they once were — fewer songs are in rotation, so each spot is more heavily contested. And pop programmers center their attention on a tiny handful of songs. “A Top 40 radio station is playing five songs 120 times a week every week,” one longtime radio promotions veteran told Rolling Stone last year. Those spots traditionally go to a Swift or a Grande or an Ed Sheeran.
If each of those marquee artists start pushing four or five singles at once, that would make it difficult for anyone new to get major radio play. This can be especially dangerous at Top 40 radio, further decreasing variety in a format that’s already struggling with what one former promoter calls “lack of diversity.”
There’s another issue for radio when it comes to stars spewing singles. Programmers try to apply “archaic radio rules about artist separation,” according to Michael Martin, SVP of programming and music initiatives for Entercom, which owns over 200 radio stations in the U.S. “Artist separation” is the idea that, say, “we only wanna hear one Ariana per hour, or once every 40 minutes.” If she has five hits, adhering to this rule is no longer possible.
Graham thinks urban and rhythmic radio still have a tougher time than Top 40 when it comes to achieving separation in their playlists. That’s because of features. While it’s unusual for singers like Grande or Swift to contribute a guest verse on someone else’s hit — at least for now — this practice is common in rap.
55% of adults said they had an unfavorable opinion of Michael Jackson after the “Leaving Neverland” documentary.
61% of avid music fans have not stopped listening to Jackson’s music in the wake of allegations, and 54% don’t think they should.
In recent weeks, the music industry has been dealing with a series of public allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct — some including minors — against artists such as R. Kelly, Ryan Adams and the late Michael Jackson. New polling finds that the public is more likely to feel it should not stop listening to the respective artist’s music rather than boycott it in the wake of these allegations.
The Morning Consult/The Hollywood Reporter survey of 1,952 U.S. adults split the sample so that one group was shown pictures of several artists who have faced allegations of some form of sexual misconduct, and one group was shown only the artists’ names. When given just the artist’s name, 46 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of Michael Jackson, compared to 43 percent who found him unfavorable, while 13 percent had a favorable opinion of Kelly and 63 percent had an unfavorable opinion. Eleven percent had a favorable opinion of Ryan Adams, while 76 did not know or had no opinion of the Grammy-nominated artist.
The overall poll’s margin of error is 2 percentage points,
while the margin of error for each sample was roughly 3 points.
Twenty-four percent of adults said that after the release of the HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland,” they had a favorable opinion of Jackson, compared to 55 percent who said they had an unfavorable view of him. The documentary detailed allegations that Jackson sexually abused two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, when they were minors.
Ahead of the release of the documentary, attorney Howard Weitzman, who represents Jackson’s estate, said in a letter to HBO Chief Executive Richard Plepler that the estate was never contacted and that “any halfway skilled filmmaker could make a ‘documentary’ telling any outrageous story about a dead man if they can just find two people willing to tell that story and then not challenge those two at all.”
The March 6-8 poll also found that after watching a video of Kelly’s interview with Gayle King on CBS following Kelly’s indictment on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims — three of whom were reportedly minors at the time — 14 percent had a favorable opinion of Kelly.
Kelly, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, denied the allegations that he sexually and physically abused women, saying in the interview that he had “absolutely not” broken any laws regarding women and telling King: “I didn’t do this stuff. This is not me.”
HBO's new documentary Leaving Neverland, which chronicles allegations of sexual abuse by Michael Jackson, has led to a dip in sales, streaming and airplay for his catalog of music in the U.S., according to Billboard citing initial reports to Nielsen Music.
The first two hours of the four-hour Neverland film debuted on HBO on Sunday, March 3, and the second two hours bowed on the network a day later.
Michael Jackson
Jackson’s combined album and song sales -- including his work with the Jackson 5 and The Jacksons -- dipped 4 percent in the shadow of the Neverland premiere. His combined sales on March 3-5 totaled nearly 8,000, down from the little over 8,000 on the previous Saturday, Sunday and Monday (Feb. 24-26).
Breaking that down further, looking at just album sales, his total fell by 39 percent in that span (dropping to about 1,000, down from nearly 2,000). Conversely, his song sales increased by 6 percent (rising to nearly 7,000 up from 6,000).
In terms of on-demand audio and video streams, Jackson’s tunes saw a decline of 5 percent, falling to 19.7 million on March 3-5, down from 18.7 million on Feb. 24-26.
Viewing Jackson’s radio airplay picture, spins of his songs fell by 13 percent to 5,200 plays across all monitored U.S. terrestrial and satellite radio stations on March 3-5 (down from 6,000 on Feb. 24-26).
CNN is likely to be hit with a massive lawsuit worth more than $250 million over alleged “vicious” and “direct attacks” on Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann, his lawyer has told Fox News.
Lawyer L. Lin Wood discussed his decision to sue CNN for its reporting and coverage of his client during an interview that aired on Fox News Channel’s “Life, Liberty & Levin” on Sunday night.
“CNN was probably more vicious in its direct attacks on Nicholas than The Washington Post. And CNN goes into millions of individuals' homes,” Wood told Fox News host and best-selling author Mark Levin.
“They really went after Nicholas with the idea that he was part of a mob that was attacking the Black Hebrew Israelites, yelling racist slurs at the Black Hebrew Israelites. Totally false.
“Now you say you've seen the tape; if you took the time to look at the full context of what happened that day, Nicholas Sandmann did absolutely nothing wrong. He was, as I've said to others, he was the only adult in the room. But you have a situation where CNN couldn't resist the idea that here's a guy with a young boy, that Make America Great Again cap on. So they go after him.”
Wood continued: “The CNN folks were online on Twitter at 7 a.m retweeting the little one-minute propaganda piece that had been put out. … They're out there right away going after this young boy. And they maintain it for at least two days. Why didn't they stop and just take an hour and look through the Internet and find the truth and then report it? Maybe do that before you report the lies.”
Wood filed suit last month against The Washington Post. The suit calls for $250 million in compensatory and punitive damages over the paper's coverage of the confrontation, an encounter that went viral on social media. He told Fox News that the claim against CNN is apt to be even higher.
Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson responded Sunday night to the discovery of controversial and off-color comments he made during conversations between 2006 and 2011, urging people who wanted to know more about what he thought to watch his primetime program on Fox News Channel.
Media Matters for America, a liberal advocacy group, posted excerpts from various broadcasts by Tampa-based radio personality Bubba the Love Sponge a decade ago.
During various shows, Carlson made negative, often misogynistic remarks about some celebrities and appeared to defend Warren Jeffs, the religious leader who had been placed on the FBI’s most-wanted fugitive list on charges he had arranged marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls.
The comments appear to be made while Carlson was working as a host for MSNBC or as a contributor for Fox News Channel, according to Variety.
During his radio calls, Carlson made pejorative statement about Arianna Huffington, Britney Spears and Alexis Stewart, Martha Stewart’s daughter, according to transcripts posted by Media Matters. In a statement aimed directly at Carlson posted Sunday night via Twitter, Angelo Carusone, president of the organization, said the group released the radio conversations “because the things you say on your Fox News show echo the misogyny displayed in those clips.”
Fox News on Sunday night denounced remarks by host Jeanine Pirro this weekend suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar supports Sharia law in defiance of the U.S. Constitution because she wears a hijab.
“We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro’s comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar," the network said in a statement. "They do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.”
According to Politico, Pirro's comments came on her weekly broadcast Saturday during a segment criticizing Omar, whose recent statements about Israel have provoked bipartisan repudiation and a House resolution condemning bigotry. Omar (D-Minn.) in 2018 became one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
“She’s not getting this anti-Israel sentiment doctrine from the Democrat Party. So if it’s not rooted in the party, where is she getting it from?” Pirro said. “Think about it. Omar wears a hijab, which according to the Quran 33:59 tells women to cover so they won’t get molested.
“Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?” Pirro said.
Pirro did not apologize in a statement Sunday night, insisting: "I did not call Rep. Omar un-American."
She added: "My intention was to ask a question and start a debate, but of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don’t support the Constitution. I invite Rep. Omar to come on my show any time to discuss all of the important issues facing America today.”
CNN President Jeff Zucker slammed Fox News Saturday as a “propaganda outlet” and defended the Democratic National Committee’s decision to not allow Fox to host a presidential primary debate, reports The Hill.
“I think the consternation about this is a little misplaced,” he said. “They don’t have to give one to CNN, they don’t have to give one to NBC. They have no obligation to give one to Fox,” he said at the South by Southwest Festival, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Jeff Zucker
“I think the question should be, is Fox state-run TV or is the White House state-run government by Fox TV?”
The DNC announced its decision this week following a report from The New Yorker that detailed close coordination between Fox News and the Trump campaign and administration.
“Recent reporting in The New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and FOX News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates. Therefore, FOX News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates,” DNC Chairman Tom Perez said in the statement.
Fox News senior vice president and Managing Editor Bill Sammon rebuked the move, touting the network’s high viewership and praising the journalists who work there.
“They chose to work at Fox and they don’t get to hide behind the fact that they’re excellent journalists or anchors. The fact is they work at a place that has done tremendous damage to this country,” Zucker responded.
Conservatives learned long ago how to use what were once new media — talk radio and cable television — to mobilize activists. Now they’re diving into podcasting, aiming to lure a younger generation that has largely eluded them.
They have an instant star in Ben Shapiro, according to mcclatchydc.com. The 35-year-old former Breitbart editor-at-large hosts one of the nation’s most popular podcasts, giving his conservative views on current events.
Shapiro is editor of The Daily Wire, which bills itself as an “irreverent news and commentary site for a new generation of conservatives.” He routinely tries to build arguments with talking points and data.
Shapiro has soared because he’s not only attracted the younger demographic but has methodically built his brand. He was writing a syndicated column as a teenager. He got notice for his books, including “Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth,” which was published when he was 20, and another alleging many in Hollywood were promoting a liberal agenda.
Shapiro’s show in January ranked sixth among all podcasts, trailing the top-rated “The Daily” from The New York Times; “This American Life,” the public radio show and podcast; “Stuff You Should Know” from iHeartRadio and “Up First” and “TED Radio Hour” from NPR, according to Podtrac.
Conservatives for years have benefited from being more adept at talk radio and cable television. But those audiences skew older.
That’s why conservatives are now slowly building support among the younger demographic with podcasts, and the more relaxed format is seen as an important way for building that audience.
“What many listeners appreciate about the podcast format is that it seems to be a refuge from all the yelling. Unlike talk radio or cable news shows, we are one of the few spaces where smart, reasonable dialogue happens, without talking points, and often between people who disagree politically,” said Madeline Orr Osburn, producer of “The Federalist Radio Hour,” a daily podcast.
On Monday, NBC News is announcing the first of several hires this year for its digital audio and podcasts group, which was formed in November 2018. That group, just two people at present, could grow up to 10 people by the end of the year, according to Steve Lickteig, the executive producer of audio and podcasts for NBC News and MSNBC.
According to digiday.com, the group will not only help NBC News and MSNBC TV and digital producers develop podcasts around existing shows, but dream up standalone podcast shows tackling daily news and deeply reported narrative non-fiction.
A group of four will serve as a kind of in-house advisory team to existing NBC News and MSNBC TV and digital operations; a separate group of up to six will focus on producing and conceiving original shows. The centerpiece of the second group’s efforts next year will be a podcast focused on the 2020 election.
That show will start out weekly before eventually becoming a daily show as the election season builds momentum. The long-term goal is to turn the momentum and habit the publisher builds with the election show into the foundation of a daily news show, an increasingly competitive category that’s attracted news publishers including The New York Times, Vox, Slate and the Washington Post.
While NBC News and MSNBC have had podcasts for years, until recently they were mostly audio-only versions of the broadcasters’ linear TV shows, including “Meet the Press” and “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
You will find more infographics at Statista
by Felix Richter, Statista
Over the past decade, podcasts have seen a steady rise in popularity. According to Edison Research, 70 percent of Americans are now familiar with the term “podcasting” and more than 5 in 10 have listened to a podcast themselves.
The format’s rise in popularity clearly coincides with a general increase in digital media consumption, specifically on mobile devices, but it was also helped by the fact that the selection of quality podcasts is virtually limitless these days.
Covering anything from politics and sports to pop culture and investigative journalism, both major media organizations and independent producers are embracing podcasts as a way to reach an engaged audience with long-form content.
Newspapers are closing or being consolidated at an astounding rate, often leaving behind what researchers label as news deserts — towns and even entire counties that have no consistent local media coverage.
According to an Associated Press analysis of data compiled by the University of North Carolina, more than 1,400 towns and cities in the U.S. have lost a newspaper over the past 15 years. Many of those are in rural and lower-income areas, often with an aging population.
The loss of a reliable local news source has many consequences for the community. One of them is the inability to watchdog the actions of government agencies and elected officials.
Newspapers typically have played the lead role in their communities in holding local officials accountable. That includes filing requests to get public records that shine a light on government action — or inaction — or even filing lawsuits to promote transparency.
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Notre Dame found that municipal borrowing costs increase after a newspaper ceases publication. They found the increase had nothing to do with the economy. Rather, the demise of a paper leaves readers in the dark and emboldens elected officials to sign off on higher wages, larger payrolls and ballooning budget deficits, their study found.
Stanford University’s James Hamilton applies a wider lens to the problem of newspaper closures, examining the benefits that come with investigative journalism — and what is lost when it disappears.
In his book “Democracy’s Detective,” he examined several case studies of newspaper investigations, including police shootings of civilians, and found that each dollar spent by the news organization generated hundreds of dollars in benefits to society.
“When investigative scrutiny declines, stories go untold, which means waste, fraud, and abuse will be less likely to be discovered,” said Hamilton, director of the Stanford Journalism Program. “News outlets will still have stories about a bad doctor, identified through court cases or patient complaints. The story about a bad hospital, which would require more resources and analysis to document, will be less likely to be told.”
A Salt Lake City radio producer who frequently appears on his father’s show has been charged with enticing a minor over the internet. reports sltrib.com.
Dylan R. Allred, 31, is free on $10,000 bond. He has not yet entered a plea to the charges.
Allred was a video producer for Radio From Hell, the radio show starring his father, Bill Allred, on Alternative KXRK 96.3 FM, as well as a podcast and often appears on air. Bill Allred on Friday read a brief statement on his show saying his son was charged with a crime and described the situation as a private matter.
Court documents say the younger Allred was arrested by an FBI child exploitation task force on Feb. 21. A detective from the Lehi Police Department, working undercover online, was on a social media app when Allred contacted him, the documents say.
The documents allege Allred asked “Are you looking?” and that he wanted to “watch porn.” Allred also suggested he perform a sex act on the detective; he asked the detective to meet, prosecutors claim.
The charging papers say the detective “told Allred he was 13 years old and Allred stated he was okay with that.”
Allred later mentioned that he could get in trouble for meeting a 13-year-old. Yet he arranged to meet in a church parking lot, documents say. Police arrested him there.
➦In 1903... Lawrence Welk born in Strasburg, ND (Died May 17, 1992). He was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted the television program The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large audience of radio, television, and live-performance fans (and critics) as "champagne music"
During the 1920s, he performed with various bands before forming an orchestra. He led big bands in North Dakota and eastern South Dakota, including the Hotsy Totsy Boys and the Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra. His band was also the station band for the popular radio programming WNAX in Yankton, South Dakota.
When he settled in for 10 years at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, his dance remotes developed a national radio following. In 1951 Welk began weekly appearances on KTLA Los Angeles, which led to an ABC television show beginning in 1955. His show was near the top of the ratings throughout the 1950’s and ’60s.
His big hit was the 1961 million seller, Calcutta.
➦In 1969...After several failed auditions for Motown Records, Berry Gordy Jr. signed The Jackson Five to a contract. Gordy sent them to Hollywood in July, hiring Suzanne de Passe to become their mentor.
Starting in August, the Jackson Five performed as the opening act for the Supremes, whose lead singer Diana Ross was planning to leave for a solo career at the end of the year. The group then recorded their first single "I Want You Back", written by the Corporation which consisted of Freddie Perren, Deke Richards, and Alphonzo Mizell with Gordy as a fourth partner. In October, their first single for Motown was released and the group promoted it while performing at the Hollywood Palace with Ross hosting. In December, the brothers made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, and their debut album Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5 was released that same month
➦In 2009...WXRK 92.3 FM NYC changed to Top40.
At 5PM on March 11, 2009, WXRK changed to a Contemporary Hit Radio format known as "92.3 Now FM". The last song played on K-Rock was "Right Now" by Van Halen. It was followed with the sound of a ticking clock, an announcement that K-Rock was moving to 92.3 FM HD2, and a montage of bumpers from stations such as WNBC, WABC, WMCA, WXLO, WQHT, and WHTZ, with a promotion saying in the following minutes, "it will be now".
An introductory montage was then played, followed by the launch of "Now" with the commitment to play "10,000 songs in a row, with zero minutes of commercials", beginning with "Boom Boom Pow" by The Black Eyed Peas. It has been speculated in online forums and trade journals that CBS Radio will continue to unfold or tweak towards similar Top 40 radio stations in other major markets in the coming months leaning towards younger listeners. The station ended the "10,000 Songs in a Row" promotion in early April 2009.
WXRK/WNOW had only held a 2 share trailing Hertiage Top40 WHTZ. In addition, WXRK/WNOW has had a constant turnover of program directors and airstaff, including the sudden releasing of all the then-current airstaff (with the exception of midday host Niko and evening host Toro) on May 21st, 2014, as rumors of a complete rehauling of 92.3's format abounded. The following day at 2 PM, after stunting by giving away $1,000 to callers every 9 minutes for 2 hours, WNOW-FM relaunched as 92.3 AMP Radio, launching with commercial-free weekends until Labor Day weekend.
The final song on "Now" was "Lose Yourself" by Eminem, while the first song on "AMP" was "Summer" by Calvin Harris. On June 23, 2014, WNOW-FM changed its call letters to WBMP to match the "AMP" branding.
On February 2, 2017, CBS Radio announced it would merge with Entercom. The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was completed on November 17. On that day, at 10 a.m., after playing "Too Good at Goodbyes" by Sam Smith and "Encore" by Brooklyn native Jay-Z, WBMP flipped back to alternative as Alt 92.3, launching with "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters.
The switch marked the return of the format to the market for the first time since 2012, when WRXP switched to a simulcast of WFAN as WFAN-FM after its sale to CBS. On June 12, 2018, the call letters were changed to WNYL to match their format.
➦In 2011...Danny Stiles died at age 87 (Born - December 2, 1923). He was a radio personality at WNYC, WNSW, WJDM and WPAT in the New York City market. He worked on the radio for 63 years in the New York City area, up to the time of his death.
Stiles's first radio job was at WHBI in Newark on December 2, 1947, buying the air time for $65 a week. His career took him to WHOL in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and stations in New Jersey before returning to Newark on WNJR (AM) as the "Kat Man." At WNJR, Danny met Robert Smith, a young Brooklyn native working as a gofer, who would later move to the border blaster XERB-AM and broadcast as Wolfman Jack.
Stiles, who among other alliterative monikers called himself The Vicar of Vintage Vinyl, had a loyal fan following and a distinctive radio presence. At the end of his life, Danny was being heard on four stations in Metro New York, on WRCA 1330 AM, serving the Boston area, and was streaming 24 hours a day on the Internet. The broadcast material came largely from his personal collection of over 250,000 albums, many in their original 78 rpm format.
After his death, Stiles continued to be heard on the airwaves, with vintage shows re-aired Saturday nights at 8 PM Eastern time on WNYC 820 AM, until its final broadcast on January 3, 2015. His website dannystiles.com still offers a stream of archived shows.
➦In 2015...Donald E. "Don" Weeks died at age 76 (Born -November 23, 1938). He was the longtime host of the WGY Morning News on news and talk radio station WGY in Schenectady, New York. Prior to working for WGY, Weeks was a weatherman for WAST-TV (now NBC affiliate WNYT in Albany) and a DJ for Top 40 station WTRY, now sports station WOFX.
Weeks joined WGY as a morning host in 1980, and won numerous accolades, including the NAB Marconi Award for Medium Market Personality of the Year in 2005. Weeks was also inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2009.
Known as "Uncle Don" to two generations of WGY listeners, he brought an avuncular presence and a folksy style to a variety format. His conversation with on-air sidekicks meandered across news items, weather updates, school closings and zany comedy bits. Fans found his homespun humor as welcome as a freshly brewed cup of coffee early in the morning.
Weeks retired in 2010 after 30 years on WGY and his 50-year broadcast career included stints as a TV weatherman and in marketing and copywriting.
"He was the most well-known radio personality in the Capital Region and his storied career was known on a national level, too," said David Donovan, president of the New York State Broadcasters Association, which inducted Weeks into its Hall of Fame.
Weeks wanted to be on the radio since he was a young boy, his daughter said. "He used to pretend he was a radio host when he was really little. It was his dream job," she said. His single-minded drive earned him his first job at WSNY of Schenectady just out of high school and he later was hired as a Top 40-format disc jockey on WTRY.
He moved to TV in 1965 and earned a following on WNYT Ch. 13 as a weatherman who used his cartoon drawing skills to create an endearing character known as "Wally Weather." He was a talented artist who also worked as art director at WRGB and as a copywriter for an Albany ad agency. He moonlighted on WABY before joining the morning show at WGY in 1980.
While these music discovery stats are not a feel-good, Mike O’Connor, Executive Vice President, Marketing, NuVoodoo Media Services, notes: “Those with a glass-half-full attitude will realize that forming a local community of YouTube channel subscribers can help boost a station's image as curator among local influencers. And, when it comes time for paid digital marketing, every YouTube interaction can be bundled as seed data for retargeting and lookalike audiences. These so-called “first party” data relationships give stations a huge advantage over their competitors.”
