CBS and Viacom are expected to begin seriously discussing a merger next week, culminating months of speculation about an eventual combination, according to CNBC citing people familiar with the matter.
CBS is holding a meeting of board members tomorrow, and though no formal announcements are planned, the board of directors is expected to decide to increase the level of seriousness around discussions with Viacom, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
CBS and Viacom know each other well, which could speed along discussions over the next few weeks about an exchange ratio, board composition and management leadership positions.
Still, there are still unknowns that could bog down the talks.
Bob Bakish, the Viacom CEO, is expected to be the head of a combined company, said the people. In a typical deal, the combined company would pick a CEO then let that person fill out the rest of the management team. But here, there are several reasons why the combined company would appoint and name several other top execs at the same time as picking a CEO.
First, the CBS board lacks confidence in Bakish’s team, given their dearth of experience running a broadcast network and a premium movie channel, said two of the people.
The CBS board particularly wants David Nevins, who was named CBS’s new chief creative officer in 2018, to get a high-profile job in the new regime, said the people.
While current CEO Joe Ianniello is well-liked at CBS, his ties to former CEO Les Moonves may hurt his chances to stay at a combined company, the people said. Ianniello was first Moonves’s chief financial officer and later chief operating officer.
Further, the CBS board is bracing for a possible shareholder lawsuit if a deal is consummated. Some members of the board are worried that paying a premium for Viacom and taking its CEO will be seen as overpaying for an under-performing company, one of the people said. Viacom shares are down about 58 percent over the past five years.
Taking Viacom execs along with Bakish could strengthen any such lawsuit -- the reasoning being that CBS should not take the management team of a company that has long under-performed. So CBS executives could win out over their Viacom equivalents for jobs underneath Bakish, the people said.
The same day a spokesman for Sinclair Broadcasting’s WICS-TV in Springfield IL confirmed that meteorologist Joe Crain had been “let go” from the station, a group of about 150 of his supporters gathered at the Illinois Products Farmers’ Market at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Most of the protesters on Thursday afternoon were wearing red shirts with messages like “I Support Joe Crain” and #coderedisdead, mocking the station’s controversial “Code Red” weather alerts that Crain criticized on the air June 5, the last day WICS viewers saw him on TV.
WICS news director Michael Truett showed up at the fairgrounds to field questions from the crowd, though many were left unimpressed, as chants of “Sinclair puppets” rose up.
Earlier Thursday, Robert Ford, a Sinclair spokesman confirmed for the first time that Crain had been “let go,” although there were indications over the past week he wasn’t coming back. Crain’s picture and biography were removed from the station’s website on June 6, and a want ad for the morning meteorologist job was posted to the Sinclair website on Tuesday.
Truett said it was “inappropriate (for Crain) to come out and speak about your employer on the airwaves that employer controls without permission. There are internal ways to go about (discussing) what you disagree about the station.”
Asked about the backlash WICS has taken, with about a dozen advertisers pulling commercials from the station, Truett said, “Channel 20 has been a staple of the community for years. We intend to do our best to report the news and the weather in the future.”
The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow sure knows how to get a media crowd buzzing, reports The Associated Press.
The Pulitzer Prize winner accepted a Mirror Award for media reporting from Syracuse University on Thursday for his stories on sexual misconduct at CBS, including allegations that toppled the corporation’s former leader, Leslie Moonves.
Like other award winners, he saluted fellow journalists and industry leaders at the Manhattan luncheon for bravery in producing stories that keep the media honest and transparent — even at the cost of burning bridges and losing job opportunities.
At the same time, he said “I can see people who have lied to protect power.” From both the podium and later afterward, Farrow declined to name names.
Farrow and The New York Times won Pulitzers in 2018 for stories outlining sexual misconduct allegations against former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. He has the capacity to make plenty media players nervous; his upcoming book “Catch and Kill” is being awaited for expectations he will write about leaving NBC News when it declined to use his work on Weinstein.
The Mirror Awards have become a venue for impassioned speeches about the industry. Lois Beckett of WNYC radio accepted a trophy Thursday for her reporting on the white nationalist movement while scolding media executives for a failure to be more diverse in hiring. Davey Alba of BuzzFeed News, honored for a story on using Facebook as a tool in a drug war in her native Philippines, urged her company and others to be more accepting of unions.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, a fierce loyalist of President Donald Trump who channeled his combativeness toward the news media, will leave her job at month’s end for a possible political future in her home state of Arkansas, Trump said on Thursday.
Reuters reports Sanders, who has worked with Trump since the early days of his unconventional run for office and became a national public figure in her own right, is the latest in a long line of senior advisers to leave the White House.
Sanders, 36, often compared the antics of the press corps to the behavior of her three young children and had largely backed Trump’s dismissal of the news media as “the enemy of the people.”
While ending her daily press briefings, she was often helpful to reporters behind the scenes.
She called the job “an honor of a lifetime” but said she was eager to spend time with her children, who are just getting out of school for the summer.
“I’ve loved every minute, even the hard minutes,” Sanders said at a White House event, called onstage by Trump to a standing ovation, her voice trembling with emotion. “I have three amazing kids and I’m going to spend a little more time with them.”
“She’s a warrior,” said Trump, who announced her departure on Twitter shortly before the event. “We’ve been through a lot together, and she’s tough, but she’s good.”
Sanders’ role had developed into that of a senior adviser and confidante of the president, one who is regularly brought into senior-level meetings.
She told reporters she told Trump of her decision on Thursday and that “he couldn’t have been nicer, more supportive, more understanding, more encouraging than he was.”
She did nothing to squelch speculation she might someday run for governor of Arkansas, a position once held by her father, Mike Huckabee, who twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination, including in 2016.
The local radio workforce of color is the highest it’s been in more than 20 years – the third highest level ever – and the gap in representation is at a 14-year low.
The percentage of radio news directors of color is at the highest level in five years.
Overall, less than a quarter of radio newsrooms have at least one person of color, and commercial and smaller market radio stations are the least diverse.
Women made significant gains in local radio news, making up 44.4% of the workforce compared to last year’s 34.3%.
The latest RTDNA/Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University Annual Survey finds the workforce of people of color in local radio news at its highest level in more than 20 years. However, the big, long term picture for people of color in local radio news still shows an industry well behind an ever-increasing population of people of color in the U.S.
The workforce of color in radio shot up by 3.2 points. At 14.5%, the radio workforce of color is the highest it’s been in more than 20 years, and at its third highest. In 1998, it hit its all-time peak of 16%.
In a complete reversal from a year ago, the numbers are almost all up for people of color in local radio news. After falling by 2 points a year ago, the percentage of radio news staffs with people of color rose almost 8 points this year. The percentage of news directors of color is up by 2.3, and the workforce of color is at a 20+ year high.
As usual, the South and West led the way with the Midwest lagging well behind. Also as usual, non-commercial stations remain far more diverse than commercial ones, but all the numbers are up for both groups except the workforce of color which fell nearly 2 points at commercial stations.
Along with fireworks, pool parties, barbecues, and the beach, Westwood One is celebrating Independence Day with its annual Celebrate the USA holiday music special. RCA Records’ multi-platinum band Old Dominion will host this year’s all-star birthday party for America.
Westwood One's holiday music specials, with Country’s biggest and brightest star hosts, have become a welcome tradition with hundreds of programmers, millions of listeners, and local advertisers.
Old Dominion – featuring lead singer Matthew Ramsey, lead guitarist Brad Tursi , multi-instrumentalist Trevor Rosen, bassist Geoff Sprung, and drummer Whit Sellers -- has invited some of their all-star friends to help with the playlist and share their July 4th memories, from Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, and Florida Georgia Line to Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett, and many more. The special will also include some of Old Dominion’s biggest hits, including their new single “One Man Band.”
Proving that they are not your average country band, Old Dominion blends lyrical wit, and rock‘n'roll grit into radio-friendly, hook-heavy pop nuggets.
Old Dominion’s latest single “Make It Sweet” reached No. 1 on Billboard Airplay and Mediabase charts, marking the Platinum-selling country quintet’s seventh No. 1.
They won back-to-back ACM Group of the Year honors (2018, 2019) and took home the award for Vocal Group of the Year at “The 52nd Annual CMA Awards.”
Stations can air Westwood One’s Celebrate the USA with Old Dominion any time Thursday, July 4, 2019 through Sunday, July 7, 2019, between 6:00 am and 12 midnight. For more information, contact Country@WestwoodOne.com.
Two lawsuits against Amazon claim that the company's Alexa voice assistant illegally records kids without parental consent.
The federal lawsuits, both of which were filed on Tuesday and seek class action status, allege that Alexa-enabled devices, such as the Echo and Echo Dot, violate laws in nine states -- California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington -- by storing recordings of children, according to court documents.
One suit was filed in Seattle, while the other was filed in Los Angeles. The plaintiffs are a 10-year-old who lives in Massachusetts and an 8-year who lives in California, respectively.
"The privacy interest is all the more powerful in light of modern voice printing technology and the potentially invasive uses of big data by a company the size of Amazon," the Seattle lawsuit reads.
"It takes no great leap of imagination to be concerned that Amazon is developing voiceprints for millions of children" and tracking their use of Alexa-enabled devices "with a vast level of detail about the child's life."
After Alexa listens to a user's commands, Amazon allegedly "saves a permanent recording of the user's voice to its own servers," one suit reads."When children say a wake word to an Alexa Device, the device records and transmits the children's communications in the same manner that it handles adults' communications.
Neither the children nor their parents have consented to the children's interactions being permanently recorded," the lawsuit reads.Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
The lawyers are seeking monetary compensation for the plaintiffs as well as an injunction that requires Amazon to get consent before it records minors' interactions with Alexa. The lawsuit also asks Amazon to delete any existing recordings of children's voices.
Klein died Wednesday, according to Temple University, where Klein taught and mentored students for more than six decades.
He began working at WFIL-TV, now WPVI-TV, where he directed "Romper Room" and co-created "Captain Noah and His Magical Ark," two popular children's programs in the 1960s that attracted a bigger local audience than "Sesame Street."
A native of Philadelphia, Klein served as executive producer of "American Bandstand," the popular music performance and dance television show hosted by the late Clark. Klein is credited with launching Clark's career and served on the board of Dick Clark Productions.
Klein spent 15 years producing telecasts for the Philadelphia Phillies and also helped with the careers of players-turned-sportscasters including Richie Ashburn and Tim McCarver.
Only a couple years after he graduated with an English degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Klein started teaching at Temple. He stayed for more than 65 years.
"Lew could see the gleam in a student's eye who was inspired to do the work," Saget told The Associated Press in a phone interview Thursday.
Joe Conti, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters, called Klein a "titan within the broadcast community."
"He was a compassionate leader, tireless advocate and mentor to generations of broadcast television and radio professionals," he said in an emailed statement.
➦In 1908...John Scott Trotter born (Died at age 67 from cancer – October 29, 1975). He was an arranger, composer and orchestra leader.
Trotter was best known for conducting the John Scott Trotter Orchestra which backed singer and entertainer Bing Crosby on record and on his NBC Kraft Music Hall show on NBC Radio from 1937 to 1946. He also worked with Vince Guaraldi scoring some of the early Peanuts cartoons for TV.
Burl Ives
➦In 1909...Burl Ives born (Died from oral cancer at age 85 – April 14, 1995) was an singer and actor of stage, screen, radio and television.
Ives began as an itinerant singer and banjoist, and launched his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. He also performed on WBOW radio in Terre Haute, Indiana. In 1942 he appeared in Irving Berlin's This Is the Army, and then became a major star of CBS radio.
In the 1960s he successfully crossed over into country music, recording hits such as "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'". A popular film actor through the late 1940s and '50s, Ives's best-known film roles included parts in So Dear to My Heart (1949) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Ives is often remembered for his voice-over work as Sam the Snowman, narrator of the classic 1964 Christmas television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which continues to air annually around Christmas.
Warren Harding -1922 (AP Photo)
➦In 1922...President Warren G. Harding, while addressing a crowd at the dedication of a memorial site for the composer of the “Star Spangled Banner,” Francis Scott Key, became the first president to have his voice transmitted by radio, via WEAR Baltimore. The broadcast heralded a revolutionary shift in how presidents addressed the American public. It was not until three years later, however, that a president would deliver a radio-specific address. That honor went to President Calvin Coolidge.
➦In 1924...WOKO signed on in 1924 IN New York City. The station moved to Mount Beacon, N.Y., in 1928. In 1930, moved to Albany, N.Y. WOKO was the first radio station licensed to that city.
The station picked up he CBS affiliation in the city. In the early 1940s, CBS moved to rival WTRY. WOKO adopted a locally-based independent format, focused largely on music. It carried a middle-of-the-road music format in the 1960s before flipping to country. In 1978, WOKO flipped to a disco format. As the disco fad passed, WOKO returned to country in 1980.
WOKO tried an all-news format in 1982, changing its call letters to WWCN. The station flipped back to the WOKO call letters in 1987 with an oldies format.
Barnstable Broadcasting bought the station in 1988 and used it to simulcast WGNA. ABC Radio purchased the station in 2002 and flipped it to the Radio Disney format as WDDY. The station went silent in 2013.
➦In 1950...After 13 years on radio, Harold Peary played the title character in "The Great Gildersleeve" for the final time. It was a radio situation comedy broadcast from August 31, 1941 to 1958.
The series was built around Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a regular character from the radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly. The character was introduced in the October 3, 1939 episode (number 216) of that series. The Great Gildersleeve enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 1940s. Peary played the character during its transition from the parent show into the spin-off and later in four feature films released at the height of the show's popularity.
After Peary. Willard Waterman took over the role for the next eight years on radio and for several years on TV.
➦In 1965...Pioneering newscaster/commentator H.V. Kaltenborn died (Born July 9, 1878). He was a pioneering radio commentator, heard regularly on the radio for over 30 years, beginning with CBS in 1928. He was known for his highly precise diction, his ability to ad-lib, and his depth of knowledge of world affairs.
He began his career as a newspaper reporter, but moved to radio when it began to establish itself as a bona fide source of news. When he was 19, he ran away from home and joined the armed forces to fight in the Spanish–American War. After that he spent some time in Europe, returning to take a job with the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. At 24, he went to college, enrolling as a special student at Harvard University. When he finished, he returned to the Eagle, traveling during summers to distant locales.
Kaltenborn was one of the first news readers to provide analysis and insight into current news stories. His vast knowledge of foreign affairs and international politics amply equipped him for covering crises in Europe and the Far East in the 1930s. His vivid reporting of the Spanish Civil War and the Czech crisis of 1938 helped establish the credibility of radio news in the public mind and helped to overcome the nation's isolationist sensibilities. Kaltenborn reported on the Spanish Civil War "while hiding in a haystack between the two armies. Listeners in America could hear bullets hitting the hay above him while he spoke."
Radio historian James F. Widner described Kaltenborn's skill as a news analyst: Kaltenborn was known as a commentator who never read from a script. His "talks" were extemporaneous[ly] created from notes he had previously written.
Kaltenborn joined NBC in 1940. On election night in 1948, he and Bob Trout, a former CBS colleague, were at the NBC news desk to broadcast the returns of the White House race between President Harry S. Truman and challenger Thomas E. Dewey. Throughout the evening, the returns were too close to call. As the evening progressed, Kaltenborn could see a swing in Dewey's favor. It was enough for him to project Dewey the winner, although the returns were still close. What Kaltenborn did not foresee was another swing in the votes going to Truman. As evening turned to early morning, Kaltenborn retracted his original projection and announced Truman as the winner.
Though Kaltenborn left full-time broadcasting in 1953, he provided analyses during NBC's television coverage of the Republican and Democratic conventions in 1956. Those live newscasts were anchored by Chet Huntley and David Brinkley in their first on-air pairing. Kaltenborn was in his mid-seventies when the television age arrived.
➦In 1983...Docket 80-90 created new FM Stations. In 1980, as the non-com band started to fill up in most major metropolitan areas there was a little pressure on the FCC and Congress to make room.
The rule grandfathered the existing short spaced stations and reduced minimum mileage separation between new changes. It also limited new licenses to a maximum ERP of 3 KW, HAAT being 328' or 100 meters. Weaker stations = more stations crammed in. But it did not increase the spacing requirements between Class A and second- and third-adjacent channel Class B stations. It also allowed full-power stations to move-in on Class D stations. forcing some off air.
➦In 1986...after 29 years of what was considered North America’s longest-running continuously-published radio station survey, CHUM Radio in Toronto published its last weekly music chart. It’s last #1 song was “Live to Tell” by Madonna.
Music streamer Spotify is launching a new playlist called Your Daily Drive that will incorporate news podcasts.
US users can now listen to music along with some news podcast content sprinkled in. Anyone can access the playlist, regardless of whether they’re driving.
The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Public Radio International will provide the news audio clips. News and music will update throughout the day, unlike the platform’s other popular playlists.
This new playlist joins other Spotify lists in promoting podcasts. The Verge reported earlier this month that Spotify is testing five different podcast-only playlists that are human-curated. While those playlists are only in the testing phase for five percent of users in various countries, Your Daily Drive is available to all US users.
Your Daily Drive comes a month after Spotify announced its first hardware project — Car Thing — that’s designed to gather data about how people consume audio in the car. Spotify’s auto audio ambitions mean the company can’t just be good at music. This playlist is closer to the radio formula, where news enters the mix of songs every so often — though the new format doesn’t yet include weather and traffic, the two things most relevant to drivers.
According to Rolling Stone, the music industry has anticipated Spotify’s move to compete with terrestrial radio ever since CEO Daniel Ek started making comments a few years ago about wanting the company to look beyond music. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished, but what I didn’t know when we launched to consumers in 2008 was that audio, not just music, would be the future of Spotify,” the ordinarily taciturn Ek wrote in a lengthy blog post in February, when Spotify announced the acquisition of podcast companies Gimlet and Anchor.
Because Spotify has troves of data on its users’ listening habits and mood patterns, among other characteristics, Rolling Stone believe it’s arguably one of the companies best positioned to challenge terrestrial radio — a space that still commands an audience of 93 percent of all Americans each week, according to Nielsen — but other music-tech companies have also been eyeing the space for a while. SiriusXM, for instance, hinted during its acquisition of Pandora (a company known for its algorithm and advertising prowess) that it would explore ways to join various music and non-music audio offerings for more enticing products. The music-streaming field on mobile phones and computers is well-saturated by now; streaming companies see cars, though, as the next lucrative conquest.
Music streamer Pandora has announced the launch of Studio Resonate.
Studio Resonate is an in-house consultancy that provides advertisers with audio creative development, sonic branding and strategy services, as well as visual design, rich media production, web / mobile experiences, and live activations.
In a press release, Pandora states it has been at the forefront of ad-supported digital audio since its introduction. The service has one of the largest pools of data in streaming—noting trends in preferences and behaviors; particularly how listeners respond to advertising. Over the past decade, Pandora has incorporated this data and years of creative expertise to develop nearly 250,000 audio spots on its platform. Brands harnessing audio can increase attention, facilitate message recall, improve perception, drive purchase intent, elicit physiological responses, increase likability, build positive associations, and produce chemical reactions in the brain.
“We are launching Studio Resonate with the understanding that if a brand doesn't have a holistic audio strategy, it is not being heard,” said Lauren Nagel, VP and executive creative director at Pandora. “Our ears are uniquely powerful. They are active sensors that attend to our emotional and physical well-being – and they are always on. Sound is an inherently interactive experience that creates a personal connection and engagement in ways that no other medium can.”
“Digital audio has evolved in a big way over the past several years, and while advertisers are becoming more interested in audio innovation, they often default to using creative tactics that are carried over from other formats because there hasn’t been much guidance or direction in this space,” said Lizzie Widhelm, SVP of ad innovation at Pandora. “Studio Resonate’s world-class audio creative team has the experience, expertise, and data to help marketers approach audio in its own way – improving opportunities for ad effectiveness and resonance, while increasing listener satisfaction.”
Entercom Communications this week has 'restructured' at stations in Chicago and San Diego.
In Chicago, News WBBM 780-AM / WCFS 105.9-FM has laid off eight employees this week. According to Chicago Media Watcher Robert Feder, the lay-offs include five in traffic and continuity and three in sales. Another four positions in finance are expected to be cut in August.
Numerous additional staff reductions are possible, according to Feder citing insiders.
In a note to employees, Jimmy deCastro, senior vice president and market manager of Entercom Chicago, wrote: “These are longtime co-workers and friends — we want to thank them for their years of hard work and wish nothing but the best for their collective futures.”
In San Diego, Classic Hits KXSN 98.1 FM's Dave Mason, A/C KYXY 96.5 FM Program Director Mark Blackwell and an engineer has been released. Blackwell had been at the station for 37-years.
The layoffs are apparently part of Entercom's effort to make $110M in costs savings promised to lenders by CEO David Field. Entercom stock has lost more than $10 a share since the merger with CBS Radio was announced. Entercom is in the same boat as iHeartMedia and Cumulus Media. The companies are selling advertising in the face of ever-increasing competition.
“Local [advertising] still lags,” Field said on the analysts call in April, adding that there are “some fundamental issues” with advertisers shifting from radio to targeted digital ads. Field also said local companies that advertised on radio are stressed by the growth of giant retailers like Walmart and Amazon.
The radio industry generally is dealing with a crisis of its own making after station groups gorged on debt to build themselves into big corporations after the 1996 rewrite of the federal telecommunications laws. Those station groups then ran into hard times when ad growth slowed, and new platforms — satellite and digital — drained listeners away from over-the-air radio.
The future of WFAN’s “Carlin, Maggie & Bart” is in question, The NYPost is reporting.
In an odd situation, CMB’s status for the fall is unclear, even as they generate very strong ratings, including being tied for first in their time slot two-thirds of the way into the latest ratings book.
Nonetheless, FAN’s parent company, Entercom, may prefer slicing three salaries off the books and moving to the more traditional three shows rather than four during the day.
CMB’s future could be linked once again to the man they replaced and who replaced them — Mike Francesa.
Here's how the thinking goes...If Francesa can get his plans straight and commit to FAN, CMB may be in trouble, despite their success.
The Post citing sources reports Bart Scott’s contract is up at the end of the year, while Entercom has a company option on Maggie Gray and Chris Carlin.
Since they were paid as afternoon hosts doing four-and-a-half hours and now are on less than half the time in a less desirable time slot (1-3 p.m.), Entercom may prefer to renegotiate or they could just drop the show entirely.
Entercom is expected to make a decision on its programming lineup by the beginning of the fall book in September. In theory, it could wait until the end of the calendar year, but that seems less likely.
While Entercom has a chance to demonstrate that it is not a rinky-dink, strictly cost-cutting organization, some in the industry think it may just give the soaring “Joe & Evan” show another hour, as well as extending Francesa from 2 to 6:30.
After nearly 20 years, Friday’s syndicated morning broadcast of “The Bob & Tom Show” will be the final installment on Valparaiso-based WXRD XRock 103.9 FM, owned by Adams Radio Group. Because of declining ratings, management has opted to provide their own programming for the morning slot from 5-9 a.m., which will launching on Monday, reports The Chicago Tribune.
In recent years, “The Bob & Tom Show” has experienced key changes since its debut 35 years ago, including the retirement departure of Bob Kevoian from the show in 2015. Kevoian, now 68, made the surprise announcement on Nov. 5, 2015, when he joined his radio partner Tom Griswold for induction into the National Radio Hall of Fame at the Museum of Broadcast and Communications in Chicago.
Griswold, who is 66, has continued the syndicated radio show using the same show name, while also relying on longtime contributors such as news anchor Kristi Lee and fellow on-air personality Chick McGee as well as adding some new younger radio talents into the show’s mix.
Today, “The Bob & Tom Show” has 2.5 million listeners according to Nielsen Media Research and is syndicated to around 100 stations compared to the one-time peak of 140 stations during the show’s heyday of the late 1990s. And now, another station will be subtracted from the syndication total.
In December 2018, national radio syndicator Westwood One announced it had granted a “multi-year” contract extension to continue syndicating “The Bob & Tom Show,” with speculation the contract spans through 2023 to mark the show’s 40th anniversary.
First, the CBS board lacks confidence in Bakish’s team, given their dearth of experience running a broadcast network and a premium movie channel, said two of the people.
