Cox Media Group has announced that after 31 years in radio, 29 years with Cox Media Group and 21 years leading CMG Houston content, Johnny Chiang will be joining Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts to create Red Street Records, country music’s newest record label.
Chiang started his career with CMG in Los Angeles at KFI in 1991 before moving to Houston in 2000 to launch KHPT and soon after being appointed to lead the legendary KKBQ. In 2006, he became Operations Director of the CMG Houston cluster and has racked up numerous recognitions and awards over the years including being inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame and named the Most Influential Country Program Director in America by Billboard Magazine.
Johnny Chiang
“We thank Johnny for his many years of leadership with CMG and service to the Houston community and wish him well as he sets off on this new adventure” said Keith Lawless, CMG Regional Vice President. Rob Babin, SVP and head of CMG Radio added, “His positive impact on our CMG radio brands and people will continue for many years and we wish him well in this new chapter in his career.”
Chiang added, “In my nearly 30 years at CMG, I’ve been blessed with the best teammates anyone could ever hope to have. Thank you for your trust in me to lead some of the best radio brands in America. You are my CMG family, and that will never change.”
Chiang will be assisting in this important transition and working with CMG Houston through the Houston Rodeo and Livestock show, which ends in late March. The search for CMG Houston’s next Operations Director to oversee legendary country station 93Q (KKBQ), classic rock 106.9/107.5 The Eagle (KGLK) and 97.1 Country Legends (KTHT), begins today. Applicants can submit their resume here.
Audacy announced the promotion of Dan Hardee to Brand Manager of KQMT 99.5 The Mountain in Denver.
In this role, Hardee will oversee content strategy, talent, operations and branding for the station. He will continue to serve as the station’s afternoon show host, as well as afternoon show host for Rochester sister station 96.5 WCMF (WCMF-FM).
“We’re delighted to elevate Dan and have him lead The Mountain forward in this new role,” said John Fullam, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy Denver. “Since joining us in 2016, Dan has displayed a true ability to connect with our listeners and a real understanding for what we aim to deliver on a daily basis. We look forward to watching him take this next step in his career.”
Dan Hardee
“I’ve dreamt about this day ever since my dad gave me my first FM tuner when I was seven,” said Hardee. “The Mountain is a great radio station and I’m beyond excited to be the one to keep making sure great things come out of those speakers. I want to thank the Audacy team of John Fullam, Mike Peterson, Dave Richards and Vince Richards, along with Alex DeMers for all of their guidance and wisdom on my path. I’m humbled and honored for this incredible opportunity. Let’s do some great radio!”
A Colorado native, Dan Hardee joined 99.5 The Mountain in 2016 as afternoon show host. He expanded his role to also host afternoons for Rochester sister station 96.5 WCMF (WCMF-FM) in April 2021. Hardee spent a year at Bonneville International in Denver as an on-air host for KYGO and KOSI (2015-2016) as well as for Westwood One from 2014-2015. Prior to that, he served as a production director for Wilks Broadcasting’s KIMN, KWOF, and KXKL, while also spending time with Citadel Broadcasting’s KKPK in Colorado Springs and Clear Channel in Pueblo, CO.
Bonneville Phoenix on Thursday announced the hiring of Sean Thompson as program director for KMVP 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station and KTAR ESPN 620 AM.
Thompson had been assistant brand manager for 92.9 The Game, the market-leading sports radio station in Atlanta and flagship broadcast partner of the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta United FC.
Sean Thompson
“It was going to need to be the ultimate opportunity for me to leave The Game and I’ve found it,” Thompson said.
“With the talented talk shows, flagship relationships with all the local teams and full commitment to digital content, the potential for the Arizona Sports super brand is limitless.”
Thompson will replace Rod Lakin, who left Phoenix for Philadelphia in October.
“Sean is the perfect person to lead Arizona’s Sports Station to new heights,” Bonneville Phoenix SVP and market manager Ryan Hatch said Thursday.
“He’s strategic, creative, collaborative and we can’t wait to see what he will do to continue to grow the Arizona Sports brand on all channels.”
Arizona Sports partners with the Arizona Cardinals, Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Coyotes, Phoenix Rising FC and the Arizona State Sun Devils.
Arizona Sports’ lineup of shows features Bickley & Marotta from 6-10 a.m., Wolf & Luke from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and Burns & Gambo from 2-6 p.m.
Tim Byrd, also known as "The Byrdman," died early Thursday morning, according to his agent. He was a longtime radio personality in South Florida.
Byrd, 68, was known by his nickname for multiple decades while on South Florida radio stations, emceeing at local charities, his lifestyle network and at his voiceover company.
He died from complications of pneumonia, according to a spokesperson at VCMG Live LLC's True Oldies Radio Station in West Palm Beaches, FL.
"He always had a smile on his face and carried himself well — he had amazing hair, his hair was never out of place; I had such hair and voice envy — like Tim Byrd is just everything I wanted to be," said Kevin Rolston of the KVJ show. Rolston worked in the office next to Byrd at WRMF for years — calling him a “radio God.”
"Tim Byrd's voice – that was always the thing — he projected; he was from that era of that big boss jock that commanded the room," Rolston said.
And off-air, Tim always dressed impeccably. He got his start in radio at age 15 in South Carolina by going to a local station and confidently asking for a job.
Byrd’s radio stops included Charlotte, North Carolina, Jacksonville, Florida, Winston-Salem, North Carolina where at 21 he had the distinction of being the youngest Program Director in the state. Next was Cleveland, Ohio where he simultaneously held the number one afternoon radio show and hosted the nation’s first daily hour-long dance TV show for NBC’s WKYC-TV.
From there he went to New York City and his first stop was at WNBC where he worked with Don Imus and Howard Stern. Then on to WPIX-FM where he did both afternoon and the morning drive time show and was listed in the top 25 morning men in America according to Radio and Records.
Byrd moved to Palm Beach County about 23 years ago.
President of VCMG Live, Vic Canales. summed up their loss in this statement:
”I am deeply saddened by the passing of our Beloved ‘ByrdMan.’ Tim was the captain of our team, the Big Brother we looked up to at the “True Oldies Channel” and the voice that welcomed our listeners to our airwaves, each morning during his “Get Up and Go” Morning Show,” wrote Canales.
Ad for radio appeared in the NY Times Jan. 28, 1926
➦In 1934...Newspaper columnist Walter Winchell, in his newspaper column, paid compliments to a Washington DC disc jockey.
As a result, 30-year-old Arthur Godfrey (right) began receiving offers from talent scouts and producers, and eventually was adored by millions across the country on CBS radio and TV.
His trademark (strumming a ukulele and delivering down-home patter) endeared him to fans for the next 30 years.
➦In 1940...“Beat the Band” made its debut on NBC radio with emcee Garry Moore (below).
The band was that of Ted Weems and his 14-piece orchestra, who were joined by Elmo “The Whistling Troubadour” Tanner, and Country Washington. One other star of the show was a barber from the Pittsburgh area, who would record many hits for RCA Victor from 1943 right into the 1970s. His name was Perry Como, aged 27
➦In 1956...Elvis Presley made his first appearance on national television on “The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show” on CBS. He sang “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Heartbreak Hotel”. After the appearance, sales of “Heartbreak Hotel” skyrocketed; however the national Elvis furor did not erupt until his subsequent appearances on the Milton Berle and Steve Allen TV shows.
➦In 1959...Radio personality Randi Rhodes was born. She is a progressive political commentator, activist and talk radio host. The Randi Rhodes Show is live streamed having been previously broadcast nationally on Air America Radio, Nova M Radio, and Premiere Radio Networks.
Randi Rhodes
Rhodes' radio career began in Seminole, Texas at a country music station. Her next job was in a larger market, Mobile, Alabama. While in Mobile, she was paired briefly with a male DJ (also named Randy) for the "Randy and Randi" morning show. This was her first experience with extemporaneous dialogue other than reading cue cards between records. She used this experience as a spring-board to larger markets. In the late 1980s, she was hired out of that medium market directly to New York City by WAPP "The Apple", owned at the time by Doubleday Broadcasting. While working for WAPP, she took the name "Randi Rhodes," having previously used "Randi St. John".
While teaming with host Perry Stone at Milwaukee's WQFM, Rhodes was suspended in 1987 when their program offended the gay community and led several businesses to cancel ads.
In late September 1992, Rhodes started on WIOD in Miami, working the 8P-11P night shift. The Miami Herald described her as "a chain-smoking bottle blond, ... part Joan Rivers, part shock jock Howard Stern and part Saturday Night Live's 'Coffee Talk' lady. But mostly, she's her rude, crude, loud, brazen, gleeful self."
In 2004, Rhodes joined Air America Radio, bringing The Randi Rhodes Show to a national audience for the first time. In 2007, Rhodes was recognized by the radio industry's well known periodical, Talkers Magazine as Woman of the Year.
Burt Mustin 'Leave It to Beaver'
➦In 1977..."Burt" Mustin died (Born - February 8, 1884). Over the course of his career, he appeared in over 150 film and television productions. He also worked in radio and appeared in stage productions.
Mustin began his professional acting career at the age of 67 after director William Wyler cast him in the 1951 film noir Detective Story. Known for his dependability and versatility, Mustin went on to establish a career as a well-known character actor and worked extensively in film and television from the 1950s to the 1970s. Before he began a professional career in show business, Mustin did amateur acting and performing. In 1921, he became the first announcer for a variety show broadcast on Pittsburgh's then newly established KDKA radio station.
➦In 1986...the NASA shuttle orbiter mission STS-51-L and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-99) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members on board: flight commander Francis Scobee; pilot Michael Smith; Ronald McNair; Ellison Onizuka; Judith Resnik; Gregory Jarvis; and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who was to have been the first civilian in space.
The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39 a.m. EST (16:39 UTC).
The disintegration of the vehicle began after a joint in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The failure was caused by the failure of O-ring seals used in the joint that were not designed to handle the unusually cold conditions that existed at this launch. The seals' failure caused a breach in the SRB joint, allowing pressurized burning gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB aft field joint attachment hardware and external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft field joint attachment and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces broke up the orbiter.
The crew compartment and many other vehicle fragments were eventually recovered from the ocean floor after a lengthy search and recovery operation. The exact timing of the death of the crew is unknown; several crew members are known to have survived the initial breakup of the spacecraft. The shuttle had no escape system, and the impact of the crew compartment at terminal velocity with the ocean surface was too violent to be survivable.
➦In 2003...Stan Martin, a New York City radio personality, died at age 64. He worked at WQEW-FM and WNEW-AM, among others, and hosted the nationally syndicated “Solid Gold Country”.
Martin (right) joined WQXR in 1992 as program director when The NYTimes changed the station's format from classical music and its name from WQXR-AM to WQEW. He eventually became the station manager.
He left in 1998, when The Times leased the station to ABC, for Radio Disney.
His radio career began in 1959 at WDLC in Port Jervis, N.Y. He then worked for several other stations, including WPIX-AM, WHN-AM and WFAN-AM in New York and WPEN-AM in Philadelphia.
After leaving WQEW, Martin was master of ceremonies for cabaret shows in Manhattan and host of a website.
➦In 2015…Well-traveled radio personality Lee “Baby” Sims, who worked for 27 stations in Charleston, Orlando, San Antonio, Hartford, Cleveland, San Diego (twice), San Antonio (three times), Detroit, Los Angeles (four times), Miami, Santa Rosa, San Francisco (twice), Honolulu, and Phoenix, gave up his battle with cancer and killed himself at age 72.
Born Gilmore LaMar Simms in Charleston, South Carolina, Simms dropped out of high school at 16 and began jocking at WTMA as “Hot Toddio on the Radio.” Simms, by his own recollection, worked at 35 stations in 22 markets and was fired 25 times because he “never accepted an insult from anyone.”
Lee Simms
While Simms was at KONO in San Antonio, program director Woody Roberts gave him the nickname “Lee Baby.” Simms also worked at WMBR in Jacksonville, WLOF in Orlando, WJBK in Detroit, WSHO in New Orleans, KTSA in San Antonio, WIST in Charlotte (where he doubled as program director), WGCL and WKYC in Cleveland, WPOP in Hartford and WMYQ in Miami.
On February 9, 1971, after spending three years as afternoon host at KCBQ in San Diego, Simms joined KRLA as 9-to-midnight host. He began his first airshift just 15 hours after the 6.6 Sylmar earthquake which killed 65 people and caused $500 million in property damage.
After a few months at KRLA, Simms traded time slots with 6-to-9 host Dave Diamond. Simms briefly worked at KROQ and KTNQ before moving to Hawaii, where he jocked at KKUA, KORL, KDUK and KPOI. In the 1980s he worked at KFOG in San Francisco, WLVE in Miami, KKIS in Concord and KPRQ in Rohnert Park.
In the 1990s, Simms jocked at KOOL in Phoenix and KYA and KISQ in San Francisco. While at KISQ, his show was also heard via syndication on WUBT in Chicago.
Simms retired from radio in 2002.
➦In 2021...Longtime New York City radio personality Harry Harrison died. Harrison (born September 20, 1930 in Chicago) had been a popular American radio personality for over 50 years. Harrison is the only DJ to be a WMCA "Good Guy," a WABC "All-American," and on the WCBS-FM line-up.
Harrison had a number of "trademark" phrases, such as "Morning, Mom", "Every brand new day should be opened like a precious gift", "Stay well, stay happy, stay right here" and "Harry Harrison wishing you the best... because that's exactly what you deserve!” Also, on the last day of every year, Harrison would bring his four children to work with him and at the end of his shift, he would join them in giving listeners New Year's wishes.
Barbi Benton is 72
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Nicholas Pryor (“Risky Business”) is 87.
Actor Alan Alda is 86.
Actor Susan Howard (“Dallas”) is 80.
Marthe Keller (“Marathon Man”) is 77.
Actor Barbi Benton is 72.
Director Frank Darabont (“The Green Mile,” “The Shawshank Redemption”) is 63.
Guitarist Dave Sharp of The Alarm is 63.
Singer Sam Phillips is 60.
Guitarist Dan Spitz (Anthrax) is 59.
Bassist Greg Cook of Ricochet is 57.
Ariel Winter is 24
Gospel singer Marvin Sapp is 55.
Singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan is 54.
Rap artist DJ Muggs with Cypress Hill is 54.
Rapper Rakim is 54. Actor Kathryn Morris (“Cold Case”) is 53.
Humorist Mo Rocca is 53.
Keyboardist Jeremy Ruzumna of Fitz and the Tantrums is 52.
Singer Anthony Hamilton is 51.
Singer Monifah is 50.
Actor Gillian Vigman (“The Hangover” films) is 50.
Keyboardist Brandon Bush (Train) is 49.
Actor Terri Conn (“One Life To Live”) is 47.
Rapper Rick Ross is 45.
Singer Joey Fatone of ’N Sync is 45.
Actor Angelique Cabral (“Life in Pieces”) is 43.
Actor Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”) is 43.
Singer Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys is 42.
Actor Vinny Chhibber (“The Red Line”) is 42.
Actor Elijah Wood (“The Lord of the Rings”) is 41.
Rapper J. Cole is 37.
Actor Alexandra Krosney (“Last Man Standing”) is 34.
SiriusXM announced today the return of Neil Young Radio, a satellite and streaming music channel featuring music and exclusive stories from Neil Young. Following its launch in December as a limited-run channel, Neil Young Radio now returns to its limited engagement home on SiriusXM's Deep Tracks, channel 27, for 7 days starting today, and for a month streaming on the SXM App.
Neil Young Radio is dedicated to the legendary and ever-evolving rock icon and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, and will provide fans access to the entire musical world of Neil Young. The channel will include rarities and exclusives, every new song from his latest album Barn, epic hits and fan favorites from his solo music, collaborations with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby Stills Nash & Young, plus Neil sharing the insights behind writing and recording the music.
SiriusXM listeners will also hear special programs including weekly concert broadcasts from Young's vaults, celebrity guest DJs and a Barn track-by-track album special featuring Neil Young sharing stories about each song on his latest album.
As Neil said, "I want to introduce you to some stuff that no one's ever heard before."
"When you have an opportunity to present an iconic artist still at the height of his creativity, you don't hesitate to do it, again," said Steve Blatter, SiriusXM Senior Vice President and General Manager, Music Programming. "Outspoken, brave, and a true music icon, Neil Young is in a rare class of artists, and we are honored to collaborate with him to create a special audio experience for his fans."
Listeners can hear Neil Young Radio beginning today on channel 27 and streaming online on the SXM App.. SiriusXM is available to subscribers in their car, on their phone and connected devices at home with the SXM App. Streaming access is included for most subscribers. Go to www.siriusxm.com/ways-to-listen to learn more.
Comcast, the Philadelphia-based company, owner of Xfinity-branded broadband and cable services, the NBCUniversal media empire and the U.K.’s Sky TV business, reported a 9.6% decline in fourth-quarter net profit to $3.06 billion, or 66 cents a share, from $3.38 billion, or 73 cents a share, a year earlier.
The Wall Street Journal reports revenue rose 9.5% to $30.34 billion as Comcast’s media and theme park businesses continued to rebound.
Comcast added 212,000 broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter, down 61% from the same quarter last year. Its cellphone business, Xfinity Mobile, added 312,000 customers, while Comcast’s pay-TV business continued to shrink, losing 373,000 subscribers.
Even with the slowdown in broadband subscriber growth, the Comcast Cable segment, comprising the broadband, cable-TV, landline and mobile units, made up the bulk of revenue with $16.41 billion, up 4.5% from the same period last year.
Comcast’s results since the third quarter show how consumer habits changed drastically at the height of the pandemic lockdowns—when Americans relied heavily on home broadband connections for work and school—and are now slowly going back to normal.
Industry analysts are forecasting cable broadband providers will continue to face pressure and see slowing growth as telecommunications competitors such AT&T Inc. build out their broadband strategies.
The company said its theme parks, which have suffered and slowly rebounded during the pandemic, recorded their most-profitable fourth quarter ever. Theme park revenue nearly tripled to $1.89 billion during the quarter. Comcast has said that while there is an influx of domestic visitors at its parks in the U.S., China and Japan, it is still missing out on international visitors due to various travel restrictions.
Here are the key numbers:
Earnings per share: 77 cents, adjusted vs. 73 cents estimated per a Refinitiv survey of analysts
Revenue: $30.34 billion vs. $29.61 billion estimated, according to Refinitiv
High-speed internet customers: 212,000 net additions vs. 220,000 estimated, according to FactSet
Comcast said its dividend increased 8% to 27 cents per quarter and that it increased its stock buyback authorization by $10 billion.
The company warned about lower-than-expected broadband customer growth in the fourth quarter at an event last month, according to CNBC.
Here’s how Comcast’s divisions did in the quarter compared with a year earlier:
Cable Communications contributed $16.41 billion in revenue, up 4.5%
Media brought in $5.83 billion in revenue, up 8.4%
Studios contributed $2.42 billion in revenue, up 36.4%
Theme Parks brought in $1.89 billion in revenue, up 191.3%
Sky contributed $5.08 billion in revenue, down 2.5%
NBCUniversal’s ad-supported streaming platform, Peacock, ended 2021 with 24.5 million monthly active accounts. As of July, the company said it had 54 million sign-ups to the platform, which entered a crowded field of competitors including Netflix, Disney and Amazon.
Comcast has yet to disclose other details such as how many customers pay for Peacock’s premium tiers or use the free ad-supported version.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, one of three members of the court's liberal wing, is retiring, and there's expected to be a joint event at the White House with President Biden today to make a formal announcement, according to multiple reports yesterday. The 83-year-old Breyer, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, is expected to step down this summer. The retirement will give Biden his first opportunity to appoint a justice to the high court, and he pledged during the 2020 presidential campaign to name its first Black woman. However, it won't change the Supreme Court's current 6-3 conservative balance. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said whoever Biden nominates, quote, "will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee and will be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed."
➤U.S., NATO TELL RUSSIA WON'T CONCEDE ON ITS MAIN RUSSIA DEMANDS: The U.S. and NATO told Russia in separate written responses yesterday that they won't concede on Russia's main Ukraine demands, saying they won't permanently ban Ukraine from joining NATO. The written responses reflected what U.S. and NATO officials have been saying for weeks and were expected. There was no immediate response from Russia, which has massed some 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, raising fears of invasion. But Russia had warned of, quote, "retaliatory measures" if their demands were rejected. However, the U.S. and NATO did lay out ways some of Russia's security concerns could be addressed, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying, "All told it sets out a serious diplomatic path forward. should Russia choose it."
💸FED SIGNALS WILL BEGIN RAISING INTEREST RATES: The Federal Reserve signaled yesterday that it will begin a series of interest-rate increases in March as they move to tackle inflation, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell saying at a news conference that inflation has gotten, quote, "slightly worse" since they last met in December, and that raising the benchmark rate will help prevent the higher prices from becoming entrenched. At the same time, Powell sought to allay fears that moving to reverse pandemic policies that have helped fuel growth and hiring, but also inflation, would hurt the economy, saying, "I think there is quite a bit of room to raise interest rates without threatening the labor market."
➤TEXAS MAN CHARGED IN SALE OF GUN TO TEXAS SYNAGOGUE HOSTAGE-TAKER: A 32-year-old Texas man is facing federal charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, accused of selling a gun to the man who held four hostages for hours at a Colleyville, Texas, synagogue earlier this month, according to the Justice Department yesterday. It's alleged that Henry "Michael" Williams sold Malik Faisal Akram the semi-automatic pistol Akram used in the hostage-taking at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue two days before the incident. One hostage was eventually released and the other three managed to escape as an FBI team moved in and fatally shot Akram. Williams was convicted in 2005 of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and in 2013 with attempted possession of a controlled substance, and he told investigators he knew he wasn't allowed to have a gun and that selling it to Akram was illegal.
➤VATICAN DEFENDS POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT AFTER REPORT ON HIS HANDLING OF CLERGY SEX ABUSE CASES: The Vatican defended Pope Emeritus Benedict the 16th yesterday (January 26th) after an independent report out last week was critical of his handling of four clergy sex abuse cases when he was the archbishop of Munich, Germany. In an editorial in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, the Holy See's editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, noted that Benedict was the first pope to meet with victims of abuse and had put out strong norms to punish priests who sexually abused children. He warned against looking for, quote, "easy scapegoats and summary judgments." Benedict has said he would respond to the report, which was commissioned by the German church, in time.
➤BIDEN TO MEET WITH NYC MAYOR ABOUT FIGHTING GUN CRIME AFTER TWO OFFICERS KILLED: President Biden will meet with Mayor Eric Adams in New York City next week to discuss fighting gun crime, their meeting coming after two of the city's police officers died after being shot when they responded to a domestic disturbance call late last week. The White House says Biden plans to discuss the administration's strategy for combatting gun crime, which includes increased funding for cities and states
➤MAN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS, EIGHT MONTHS FOR ATTACKING POLICE OFFICERS ON JAN. 6TH: A 26-year-old man was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison yesterday for repeatedly assaulting police officers at the U.S. Capitol during last year's January 6th attack, one of the longest prison sentences for the Capitol rioters so far. Nicholas Languerand, who identified himself as a QAnon follower, pled guilty to felony assault in November. He is the fourth rioter to be sentenced for assaulting police, with the other three getting prison sentences ranging from 41 months to 63 months. More than 730 people so far have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol attack. More than 200 of them have pled guilty, mostly to misdemeanors with a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
➤PLANT-BASED McPLANT BURGER MORE POPULAR THAN EXPECTED: McDonald's has been testing its plant-based McPlant burger, and it's turned out to be three times more popular than expected, CNBC reported yesterday, citing Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery's early estimates. The test of the McPlant, which is made using the plant-based meat Beyond Meat, will expand from just a few McDonald's to some 600 locations in the San Francisco Bay and Dallas-Fort Worth areas in mid-February. Other fast-food chains have also recently introduced plant-based meat, with Chipotle debuting plant-based chorizo earlier this month and KFC introducing plant-based fried chicken. Burger King was ahead of all of them, putting out the Impossible Burger in 2019. Axios notes that this success of the McPlant in early testing, if borne out, could speed up even more plant-based meat products showing up on fast food and fast-casual chain menus.
➤MCDONALD’S IS ADDING 3 FAN-INSPIRED HACKS TO MENUS NATIONWIDE STARTING JANUARY 31ST: For the first time ever, McDonald’s will feature four fan-favorite hacks on menus across the US. Beginning January 31st, fans can visit any participating location or go on the brand’s mobile app to order the custom “Menu Hacks” by name and receive all the menu items needed to build them by hand. The offerings are: the Hash Brown McMuffin (Sausage McMuffin with Egg + Hash Brown—stack the hashbrown in the middle of the sandwich); Crunchy Double (6 piece Chicken McNuggets drizzles with BBQ Sauce + a Double Cheeseburger—stack the sauced nuggets on the burger); the Surf + Turf (Filet-O-Fish + Double Cheeseburger—one sandwich stacked on the other, with the bottom bun piece of the top sandwich removed); and the Land, Air & Sea (Big Mac + McChicken + Filet-O-Fish—everything stacked into one tall combination sandwich.
➤STUDY: WALKING FOR JUST AN EXTRA 10 MINUTES EACH DAY COULD ADD YEARS TO YOUR LIFE: Adding ten minutes of walking to your day each day could extend your life. Researchers looked at 5,000 middle-aged and elderly US adults and found the risk of dying from any cause dropped as exercise levels increased. Just ten more minutes of moderate activity per day—such as a brisk walk—lowered deaths among people ages 40 to 85 by seven percent annually. The scientists estimate the small lifestyle change could save 100,000 lives in the US every year.
One word made all the difference Wednesday on “Jeopardy!” for Amy Schneider, whose winning streak had made her among the quiz show’s all-time greats. https://t.co/QYy0HYl3S8
🏀HORNETS SCORE FRANCHISE-RECORD, SEASON-HIGH 158 POINTS IN WIN OVER PACERS: The Charlotte Hornets scored a franchise-record 158 points last night, which is also the season-high in the NBA, in their 158-126 win over the Indiana Pacers. Kelly Oubre Jr. had a career-high 39 points for Charlotte, and LaMelo Ball notched a triple-double with 29 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
🎾MEDVEDEV MAKES IT TO AUSTRALIAN OPEN SEMIFINALS: Second-seeded Daniil Medvedev made it to the Australian Open semifinals with a win in his quarterfinal match yesterday, but it took him five sets to do it. Medvedev dropped the first two sets to ninth-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, but then fought his way back to take the next three and the victory. Americans Madison Key and Danielle Collins will be playing in the women's semifinals today, with Key going up against top-seeded Ashleigh Barty, and Collins taking on Iga Swiatek.
🏀DONCIC GETS TRIPLE-DOUBLE IN MAVERICKS' 132-112 WIN OVER TRAIL BLAZERS: Dallas' Luka Doncic had a triple-double, his sixth of the season, in the Mavericks' 132-112 win over the Portland Trail Blazers last night. Doncic had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists for his 42nd career triple-double, putting him just one away from tying for 10th on the all-time list.
🏒HAT TRICK FOR STROME IN BLACKHAWKS' 8-5 VICTORY OVER RED WINGS: Chicago's Dylan Strome had a hat trick last night (January 26th) in the Blackhawks' 8-5 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, their highest-scoring game of the season. Strome scored two of his three goals in the first period and got the final one in the third period. Before this game, Strome had scored four goals for the season.
New York City could see between 2 inches and 20 inches of snow this weekend. https://t.co/jpVrW7J1dc
Nielsen’s undercount of out-of-home TV viewing disclosed late last year was much worse than the measurement giant initially indicated and disproportionately missed young, Black and Hispanic viewers, according to Ad Age citing a report released Wednesday by the Video Advertising Bureau.
The VAB said Nielsen’s recount so far shows $350 million in lost network revenue and suggests the overall total will be more than $700 million.
"We reviewed the information shared by the VAB today, and while we acknowledge the understatement in a portion of our national out-of-home audiences, we stand by our prior statements that the magnitude of the issue was very small for the majority of telecasts," a Nielsen spokesperson said via email.
In a bad news dump during a holiday week, Nielsen reported on Dec. 22 that out-of-home viewing hadn’t been reported for broadband-only homes in national audience measurements from September 2020 through December 2021.
Nielsen has since reprocessed half of the 16 months in question, according to the VAB, and the results show a far bigger impact than previously disclosed.
Overall, the reprocessed months so far indicate a loss of $350 million in ad revenue for networks, according to the VAB, and since those months represent less than half the total undercount period, the group estimates the total impact at more than $700 million.
The undercount resulted in 30 billion ad impressions disappearing from May through December 2021, including 10.5 billion among people 18-34. Of those 30 billion lost impressions, a disproportionate 7 billion were ads seen by Black viewers, and 5.5 billion were seen by Hispanic viewers. Black and Hispanic people made up close to 42% of the lost impressions, compared to making up 31% of the overall U.S. population in the 2020 Census.
The undercount comes at a time when Nielsen is trying to win back support from media companies, agencies and marketers to regain accreditation from the industry’s Media Rating Council, which was suspended in September over other undercounting problems.
It also comes as Nielsen is beginning to open an early version of its next generation Nielsen One cross-platform measurement platform, which is ultimately expected to replace its current TV ratings.
The VAB in its report said the errors are “cause for concern about Nielsen’s core competency, and their ability to implement complicated cross-platform products using that same foundation.”
Hope Media Group and WAY Media have announced their intention to merge into one media organization.
The formal merger is expected to close by mid-2022, following FCC approval. The Christian media organization will be headquartered in Houston and will operate under the name Hope Media Group. WayFM and KSBJ, as part of the merged Hope Media Group, will continue to serve their respective audiences under their existing brand names.
This merger combines the rich heritage of two like-minded ministry organizations currently engaging audiences totaling more than 4 million people. Hope Media Group was founded 40 years ago with one radio station, KSBJ-FM/Houston, and WAY Media was formed 35 years ago with WAYJ-FM/Fort Myers. This is a merger of equals and a cash-free transaction that received a unanimous vote from both boards of directors.
Hope Media Group’s Joe Paulo, who will be President/CEO of the merged entity, commented, “We are incredibly excited to join forces with WAY Media to not only continue our shared mission of connecting people to God, but to create even more opportunities to spread His hope for good. We know that together we can accomplish more. The board of directors for each ministry has been prayerful about this for months and we believe this will also further ignite a new trend of collaboration and unity amongst Christian ministries.”
WAY Media’s Interim CEO Tim Dukes will serve as Chief Operating Officer of Hope Media Group. He added, “We have a vision to integrate the best of both ministries and be better together for the cause of Christ. More will be shared soon to announce the leadership team for the combined entity that will still be focused on serving our existing audiences with excellence, in addition to growing through further digital expansion and new terrestrial radio markets.”
Currently, Hope Media Group is a family of media brands that include Houston-focused KSBJ, the brand new Spanish Christian “Vida Unida”, digital content outlets NGEN Radio (Christian hip-hop and pop), Hope On Demand and Amen: The Prayer App, plus a concert and event brand, Special Events. WAY Media owns and operates a national network of more than 20 full-power CCM-formatted “WayFM” stations in markets that include Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Portland, Nashville, and South FL (West Palm/Ft. Lauderdale) and over 30 translators from Florida to Washington State, in addition to digital content outlets that include Waynation.com, WAYLOUD (Christian Rock),and Way Now (Christian Pop).
Bonneville Denver announces Parker Hillis has been elevated to the role of Assistant Program Director of KKFN 104.3 The Fan and KEPN ESPN Denver 1600.
In his new position, Hillis will oversee day-to-day responsibilities for both radio stations with all on-air talent now reporting directly to him.
“I’m excited to work with our hosts in a greater capacity on a day-to-day basis,” Hillis said. “The opportunity to lead collaborative efforts among our amazingly talented team is truly an honor.”
“Parker has been critical to the success of our Bonneville Denver sports properties,” said 104.3 The Fan and ESPN Denver 1600 Program Director Raj Sharan. “He’s absolutely earned this opportunity to take on increased responsibilities managing our sports stations on a daily basis.”
Hillis joined the company in April 2019 as Executive Producer after spending the previous five years in the Dallas/Fort Worth market at 105.3 The Fan (KRLD-FM). He will now begin a search to identify and hire his replacement as the station’s new Executive Producer.
Google-owned YouTube said it had permanently banned prominent conservative media figure Don Bongino from its site after he repeatedly broke its rules on posting coronavirus misinformation, reports The Washington Post.
Bongino, who hosts a show on Fox News in addition to talk radio shows and online broadcasts, had been given a strike and a week-long suspension from YouTube earlier in January for saying in one of his videos that masks were useless. He uploaded another video later in the month that also broke the platform’s rules on coronavirus misinformation. When he tried to upload a third video, the company banned him permanently.
YouTube has had rules against posting false or misleading information about the coronavirus and vaccines since the beginning of the pandemic, although critics have said the company enforces its rules unevenly. In September, it took down the accounts of several anti-vaccine influencers after years of research from misinformation researchers suggesting the platform played a role in the growth of vaccine hesitancy.
Bongino did not respond to a request for comment, but a Twitter account associated with one of his shows posted a tweet saying, “Good riddance to YouTube.” Bongino had around 870,000 subscribers on YouTube but has over 2 million on Rumble, a video platform popular with right-wing figures who say Big Tech is censoring them. He had threatened to leave YouTube before the ban.
Bongino and other conservative media figures have used the bans and suspensions to promote alternative social media networks that purport to have fewer rules about what can and can’t be said, such as Gettr, Gab, Telegram and Rumble.
Spotify Technology SA has removed Neil Young’s music, the company confirmed Wednesday to The Wall Street Journal, as the folk-rock star isn’t wavering in his objections to Joe Rogan’s podcast.
The “Heart of Gold” and “Harvest Moon” singer earlier this week penned an open letter to his manager and label asking them to remove his music from the service, saying it is spreading fake information about Covid-19 vaccines through Mr. Rogan’s show. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” he wrote.
Young’s record label, Warner Music WMG Group Corp.’s Warner Records, formally requested Spotify remove the music Wednesday.
“We want all the world’s music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators,” a Spotify spokesman said Wednesday. The company has detailed content policies in place and has removed over 20,000 Covid-19-related podcast episodes since the start of the pandemic, he added.
“We regret Neil’s decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon,” he said.
For Spotify, the controversy is a significant test of its big bet on Mr. Rogan, one of podcasting’s most popular and polarizing voices. Spotify struck a deal with Mr. Rogan in 2020 worth more than $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing his loyal followers and lucrative show exclusively to its service. Mr. Rogan is central to Spotify’s podcast strategy in attracting listeners and ad dollars to its platform and shows.
Before the removal, Mr. Young had 2.4 million followers and over six million monthly listeners on Spotify.
