RIP: Frank Wilson Motown Writer, Producer

Motown's Frank Wilson wrote and produced hit records for such big names as the Supremes and the Temptations, but he was best known for a single recorded in Los Angeles that featured his own voice — and was never released.

Copies of his "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" had already been pressed in 1965 when Motown founder Berry Gordy asked him to choose between being a performer or writer-producer, Wilson's family said. When he decided on the latter, almost all of the singles were destroyed.

After the record mysteriously jumped across the Atlantic in the 1970s, it became an underground sensation in Britain and a prized collectible: A rare copy of "Do I Love You" sold in 2009 for $39,294, making it the most expensive music single sold at auction, according to Guinness World Records.

Wilson, who left Motown in the late 1970s to become a minister, died Thursday at City of Hope in Duarte. The Pasadena resident was 71, according to a story at LATimes.com.

The cause was complications from a lung infection, said a daughter, Tracey Stein. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer several years ago.

He joined Motown in 1964 soon after the Detroit-based record label opened a West Coast office in Los Angeles and helped produce a hit that year for Stevie Wonder, "Castles in the Sand."

The long list of popular songs that Wilson either wrote or co-wrote includes the 1968 hits "Love Child" for Diana Ross and the Supremes, "Chained" for Marvin Gaye and "All I Need" for the Temptations. After Eddie Kendricks left the Temptations, Wilson produced "Keep On Truckin' (Part 1)," which reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop charts in 1973.

Wilson also helped write "You've Made Me So Very Happy," a 1967 Top 40 single for Motown's Brenda Holloway that soon became an even bigger hit for Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Read More Here.

WFAN Sportsradio 66 To Simulcast On 101.9 FM

WFAN To Acquire 101.9 FM; Simulcast to Begin In Late Fall

CBS RADIO, a division of CBS Corporation, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase 101.9 FM from Merlin Media for $75 million. In late fall, CBS RADIO will begin its operation of the station under a Local Marketing Agreement, launching a simulcast of the company’s premier sports franchise, Sports Radio 66 WFAN.

This move will immediately broaden the audience and reach of WFAN’s award-winning programming, which will continue to be broadcast on-air at 660 AM, online at wfan.com/cbsnewyork.com, and via the Radio.com app for a variety of mobile devices.

“This is an extremely exciting opportunity to expand our radio presence in the nation’s largest market,” said Dan Mason, President and CEO, CBS RADIO. “Sports is a very popular format and a huge growth category for our business. As a result of this new asset, we look forward to The FAN building on its position as the leading sports radio franchise in the country.”

WFAN pioneered the all-sports format when it launched on July 1, 1987, becoming the first radio station where listeners could hear and talk about sports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It has been the most-listened-to station of its kind since it signed on the air. WFAN is home to leading personalities Mike Francesa, Boomer Esiason, Craig Carton, Joe Benigno, Evan Roberts and Steve Somers, and is the flagship station for the New York Giants, New York Mets, Brooklyn Nets and New Jersey Devils.

Additionally, WFAN is the recipient of four prestigious Marconi Awards from the National Association of Broadcasters, including most recently Mike Francesa being honored as Major Market Personality of the Year (2012).

The transaction is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory and other approvals.

Randy broke the news to Merlin staff in a memo:

Merlin Staff, 

Rumors about Merlin have been rampant. Today we are announcing the sale of WRXP/New York. Many talented people have worked hard to create a terrific Alternative station, but our obligation to retire significant debt necessitates this decision. Thanks to everyone for your hard work with New Rock 101.9. The formats initial success made the decision very difficult. 

There is a very positive impact of this sale on our balance sheet. This change allows us to increase focus on operating a successful company. Merlin is not for sale, and is looking at possible additions to our portfolio. Let’s focus building the Chicago and Philadelphia stations into great, profitable brands and great places to work. 

Let’s go! 

Randy

The RADIO DISCUSSIONS Message Board is buzzin'.

WRXP soon to become WFAN-FM....

Media General, Inc. Sells The Tampa Tribune

Media General, Inc. , a Richmond-based broadcast television and digital media company, announced today that it has sold The Tampa Tribune and its associated print and digital products to Tampa Media Group, Inc., a new company formed by Revolution Capital Group.  The sale closed today.  The sale price was $9.5 million, subject to adjustments for working capital and other items, yielding net proceeds before expenses of approximately $2 million.

“It’s a bittersweet day for Media General to complete the sale of its last remaining newspaper group,” said Marshall N. Morton, president and chief executive officer.  “The Tampa Tribune was our largest and second oldest newspaper.  Many Tribune employees have decades of service.  The Tribune staff has been extraordinarily dedicated to providing their readers with excellent journalism, creating value for their advertisers and supporting the local community.”

Morton said, “With this transaction, we complete the transformation of Media General’s business model to one focused on broadcast television and digital media.”

“We have an attractive economic model, fueled by revenue growth, including Political, Retransmission and Digital revenues. For example, Political advertisers prefer top-ranked stations like ours.  In the third quarter of 2012, Media General generated Political revenues of nearly $20 million, which brings our year-to-date total to more than $33 million.  Media General has stations in four of the key battleground states for the presidential election:  Ohio, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina.  Our Virginia, Rhode Island and Ohio stations are also benefiting from hotly contested Senate races.  We have increased our outlook for Political revenues for the full year 2012 to $57-58 million,” said Mr. Morton.

 “Plans are underway to increase Broadcast cash flow and EBITDA margins. At the market level, we are focused on ratings and share increases as well as expense management.  As we’ve said previously, corporate expense will decrease from $32 million to $20 million, a run rate we are already close to achieving.  Since June, our corporate staffing has been reduced in half, including employees who went to work for World Media Enterprises, the Berkshire Hathaway company that bought our newspapers in June, and a staffing reduction we implemented in the third quarter that affected 75 employees.”

According to a Media General news release, The Tampa Tribune has been Tampa’s hometown newspaper for more a century. TBO.com, the newspaper’s associated web site, was one of the first local media internet sites when it launched in 1994. Media General purchased The Tampa Tribune in 1927 in a partnership.  In 1966, Media General acquired control of The Tribune Company, which included The Tampa Tribune, The Tampa Times, WFLA-TV and WFLA Radio. In 1969, Media General acquired an additional 29% of The Tribune Co. and by the next year owned 100%. In 1975, the two newspapers moved into a new facility on Parker Street, where the newspaper operations reside today.  The Tampa Times, an evening newspaper, merged into The Tampa Tribune in 1982.

Media General continues to own WFLA-TV.

Clear Channel Rescinds GNN Closing Decision

Apparently, Clear Channel-Atlanta has had second thoughts about shuttering its longtime operation of its Georgia News Network.  Clear Channel had sent out 90-day cancellation notices to affiliates last week.  The notices went out shortly after Clear Channel flipped its Atlanta WGST 640 AM from N/T to ESPN Deportes. 

Then, Cox Media announced its intention to start-up a statewide new service.  They expected to be up and running by January 1, 2013.

Now, CC/Atlanta President and Market Manager Matt Scarano has rescinded the notice. Scarano now says GNN will continue, and even expand utilizing resources of CC’s TTN.

Next move...Cox.

See Original Post, Click Here.

Opinion: Insider's Take On What Happened At WGST

Don’t Blame Bain Capital for WGST’s Collapse Writes A Former GM

Jim Galloway’s Political Insider column at ajc.com last week featured a letter from Eric Seidel, who managed WGST Atlanta in the ‘90s.  Seidel now operates a media training firm.

In an open letter of sorts making the round in Atlanta, Seidel opines what happened to WGST over the years:

"I’ve been getting questions about the latest iteration of WGST. If you’re not in Atlanta, WGST is a station owned and operated by Clear Channel. 

It’s primarily an AM station (it does have a weak FM simulcast), although it was, at one time, a very competitive AM/FM combination. That specific FM simulcast was removed in 1999, or so.

I was station manager there for 10½ years, leaving to start my own business in 1997. 

Its format was converted last week from newstalk to ESPN’s Spanish language, all-sports network. 

[I]f you are not familiar with WGST, in the late 80s and much of the 90s, it was a thriving newstalk station with a significant amount of influence in the metro Atlanta market. Playing to the realities of the market, WGST targeted the large conservative-listening audience, running the Rush Limbaugh syndicated show. And it was Sean Hannity’s second radio job—strictly as a locally-originated host—before he went national, first with Fox News Channel and his own syndicated radio show, based in NYC. 

I’ve seen some statements on Facebook bemoaning the fact that Clear Channel is now owned by Bain Capital, and that’s the reason for WGST’s demise. 

Wrong! Bain is the private owner of Clear Channel. But WGST’s demise started years ago, before even Clear Channel bought the station. The owner before CC was Jacor Communications, based in Cincinnati. For me, working with and for Jacor was a great experience. 

But Jacor was one of the original consolidators when Federal law changed and radio groups could harvest huge numbers of radio stations. Once that happened, the [publicly held] broadcasting companies became much larger, and much more beholden to Wall Street. Bean counters took on greater importance and programming, especially at the local level, was reduced in importance in direct proportion to the importance of finance departments. 

Certainly, before consolidation, we believed in making a profit, but creative, intelligent risk-taking programming was behind the wheel of our bus. Jacor encouraged its programmers being on the edge and leading the way for the industry. We were constantly told that programming would lead the way and, done well, sales would follow. It was an unusual, unique attitude, but it worked. 

The ebb and flow of the economy forced us to make cuts as necessary over the years, of course, but the programming always was paramount and protected. 

And then came the Internet and all the various technological strides that were swept in with it. Syndication took wing. With music formats radio groups could have one announcer do the voice tracks for shows on any number of stations. 

News and newstalk formats are the most expensive formats for the simple reason that they are people-intensive. Syndication made sense to meet cost efficiencies. News departments were either reduced in size or dismantled. 

Today, a major market station in a radio group often does the local news for stations the group owns in other markets, typically within the geographical region. For instance, Clear Channel’s Tampa newstalk station has been doing newscasts for a number of their stations in other Florida markets. Those other stations might have one or two reporters who feed stories into Tampa that are then played in the smaller station’s “local” newscast. 

Further, AM radio has been losing audience for years. Nationally, AM accounts for about 18-20% of the listening audience, and most of those listeners are beyond desirable demographics for advertisers. You may have noticed that many AM stations today, especially with news and newstalk (even sportstalk) formats are gravitating to FM. It only makes sense; that’s where most of the audience is, especially the demographically attractive listeners. 

This is some of what led to WGST’s eventual surrender. But there are other reasons, as well. Losing its first FM frequency simulcast was a big blow. WGST’s AM signal, especially at night and in the first hours of morning drive, is very limited. Our FM simulcast (at 105.7) gave us significant coverage in the northern suburbs where much of our desired audience resided. The FM addition was a big boost to our audience. But, Clear Channel decided to yank that signal and make it a music station. 

The Atlanta Braves were very important to us, too. We got the rights to the Braves just as their 14-year run in the post season was getting started. But, we lost the Braves after the 1994 season and that definitely was a hit to listenership. 

However, our news and talk lineups still were solid. We had a superlative news staff that was aggressive, and clearly separate from our talk programming, as it should’ve been. And, we had solid talk talent, too. But panic set in after the Braves left us. And the result was, looking back, the beginning of the end. 

WGST kept changing in big, and even small, ways and newstalk stations cannot survive like that. They are habit and appointment listening stations. Newstalk listeners feel very possessive of their stations. 

They feel like the station is part of their family, and they do not like a lot of change. Constant change creates churn. That, coupled with no FM simulcast, were a prescription for disaster. Plus, the market has a fair amount of newstalk competition, and the big dog is WSB Radio, with a big signal, an FM simulcast, and deep pockets. 

A relatively recent addition of a much weaker FM simulcast (92.3) to WGST (640 AM) was way too little, and way too late. 

The signal weaknesses and constant change aren’t good for advertisers, either. And, yes, profit is important, even if Bain Capital were not involved. 

So, years of questionable programming decisions played a major role in leading WGST to where it is today. Looking back, WGST was not the only victim of poor programming decisions. At one time, Clear Channel owned three great brands in Atlanta: WGST (a/k/a “The News Monster), WPCH (Peach) and WKLS (96 Rock). All three have been blown up."

Tom’s Take:  Interesting insider's  perspective.  What happened to WGST was changing times, not having competitive signals and Clear Channel trying to “save” their way to profit (just gotta make that performance bonus!).  Let's face it..if you have a successful widget, but start making short cuts to save on expenses...after awhile you won't have the same widget.

WFGR-FM Grand Rapids Names New Morning Team

Dave, Andy

Two Grand Rapids talents, one from radio and the other from television, will be joining to wake up West Michigan residents as the newest morning show on Classic Hits 98.7FM-WFGR starting today.

Todd Chance at mlive.com reports Townsquare Media announced Friday that Andy O’Riley and Dave Kaechele will be the new local morning show on as "Andy and Dave in the Morning". The show will be heard weekdays from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Andy O'Riley began his radio career in Grand Rapids in 1989 at WKLQ-FM and has since held numerous broadcasting jobs in the area. His latest was as a host on WMRR in Muskegon and 101.3 The Fox in Grand Rapids. O'Riley signed off the airwaves in March of this year.

Dave Kaechele is the current traffic reporter on WZZM13's local morning programming. He will retain his role on television but leave that show to join O'Riley from 7:30 a.m.-10 a.m. once the television affiliate switches from local programming to the nationally syndicated Good Morning America.

Read More Here.

Contestant Tells Show She Was Raped To Win Cash

The co-host of KISS 92.5’s Roz & Mocha Show  in Toronto says he’s not sure if the popular radio program will issue an apology for a segment aired Thursday morning, which featured a contestant who lied about being raped in order to win a $10,000 prize.

Wendy Gillis at thestar.com reports Roz Weston said in an email to the Star that producers of the show had not yet discussed an apology, but said the contestant’s lie “took us all by surprise.”

“Having someone come in and lie about being raped was not what I had envisioned for the game,” he said.

“I would never trivialize abuse, and would never use it as entertainment. If we had known ahead of time … I’m not sure she would have been picked at all,” Weston said.

The game, called Decision Impossible, involves taking three people, asking them why they deserve the money, then forcing them to decide amongst themselves who should win.

On Thursday morning, a woman named Kristyn convinced her two fellow contestants that she was the most deserving of the $10,000 prize by talking about her life with a former boyfriend, who she claimed had been verbally and physically abusive.

“He would beat me, he would rape me,” she said. “I felt helpless, I was trapped.”

But some were suspicious about the story’s authenticity, given she had previously said on air that she would do anything to win the money — “If I have to yell and scream, I’ll do that. If I have to lie, I’ll do that too,” she said.

Read More Here.

Tom's Take: Another silly radio contest backfire all in the name of 'entertainment'.

Survey: Most Turn To Established Media For Breaking News

Most digital news consumers now get information from Web-native sources like The Huffington Post, but they turn to “established” news outlets like the New York Times, CNN or Fox News for big events and mobile news, according to new research.

Jeff Songerman at pointer.org writes that is one finding from a national survey commissioned by The New York Times that examines the cross-platform behaviors of news consumers. Brian Brett, executive director of customer research, will present the findings today at the International Newsmedia Marketing Association’s Audience Summit in Chicago.

 This data came from an online survey this spring by Knowledge Networks of 3,022 U.S. residents 18 to 65, weighted to match the general population. Eighty-five percent of the respondents qualified as “news consumers” who get some kind of news at least a few times a week.

A majority (53 percent) of digital news consumers said they get information from Web-native sources, citing their convenience and accessibility. Only 43 percent regularly use traditional news sources for digital news, but they prefer it for in-depth reporting and trustworthiness.

Read More Here.

CC-Portsmouth Re-launches Z107

Clear Channel Portsmouth today announced the launch of WERZ / Z107 on 107.1, returning the station to its roots as the Seacoast’s Hit Music station, effective immediately.  Goodbye Hot/AC.

Fosters.com is reporting Z107 will be commercial free until Tuesday, October 9, when Elvis Duran and the Z107 Morning Show, the most listened to Top 40 morning show in America, will take over weekday mornings from 6 – 10:00 a.m. ET.

The new hit music station will also feature On Air with Ryan Seacrest, with America’s most recognized entertainment personality, weekdays from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET. In addition to its new programming line-up, Z107 will also continue its long standing tradition of community engagement with events like Stuff A Bus to benefit the USMC Toys For Tots Program, Coats for Kids and Z107 for Literacy. Z107’s complete programming line-up will be announced soon.

“After seeing the significant growth of pop contemporary hit music listenership locally over the last four years and the corresponding national trend, we’re excited to launch Z107 as the Seacoast’s Hit Music station,” said Joseph Graham, Vice President and General Manager, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment New Hampshire.

Read More Here.

Tom’s Take: Love the line about complete programming line-up will be announced soon.  Expect maybe one local show (PM Drive) and that's it.  Shuffle play evenings and weekends.

Breaking: CBS Radio Buys 101.9-FM From Merlin

UPDATE Monday 1:30pm:  Merlin Media has announced it is selling WRXP/New York to CBS Radio. CBS has confirmed. The selling price is said to be $75-million and CBS plans to simulcast sportstalker WFAN under an LMA soon.

It was just over a year the station  was acquired from Emmis and mere months after it flipped from News/Talk back to a Rock format.

And it was just last week Randy Michaels insisted the Merlin stations were not for sale!

So which Merlin stations are next: Chicago or Philly?

The sale comes after Merlin fumbled an attempt to create an all-news format station in NYC. In July, the company changed the radio's format and cut most of the news staff. Merlin also reformatted one of its Chicago stations at the same time.

Earlier Posting....

WRXP Rocks PPMs In NYC

The inexpensive rock format that Merlin Media put on 101.9 FM after its very expensive all-news experiment failed has quadrupled ratings at the station.

David Hinkley at nydailynews.com writes Arbitron ratings for September give alt-rock WRXP 2.1% of the total audience, up from 0.6% when it was all-news WEMP two months earlier.

Among its target audience of 18- to 34-year-olds, it has 3.4% of the audience, up from 0.5%.

It’s hardly surprising a rock music format that features artists like the Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Junkie and the Kings of Leon would outdraw a fledgling all-news format.

No other broadcast station in New York focuses on new rock, though WAXQ (104.3 FM) does very well with classic rock.

Read More Here.

WABC’s Bob Grant 'Quit' For Attention

Wednesday, talker Bob Grant posted on his website that Sunday 10/7 would be his last radio show on WABC, NYC.

Apparently, he’s changed his mind or posting was just a PR stunt.  Now,  he’s  says  he’ll stick around for "the foreseeable future".

And he’s posted the following on his website:                

"Got Your Attention! 

October 4, 2012 

Yesterday I wrote a column that made it appear this was to be my last Sunday on WABC. It was a mistake. It was not my last show. I wanted to get your attention since last week so many of you didn’t know I was only one hour. I got your attention but I upset a lot of people. I have had a lot of practice upsetting people. But, enough about me and that erroneous message. 

Let us talk about something really important. I mean, how about the debate last night? There were people who were close to Mitt Romney who said, “Don’t sell Mitt short.” He is bright, he is smart and he demonstrated last night he has the mental capacity to lead this nation. Perhaps just as important, he demonstrated that he can think on his feet. While his opponent, Barack the Boastful, was busy attending golf tournaments and fund-raisers and whatever else a lazy detached head of state does, Romney was practicing for the debate. It was thrilling and encouraging to see this fine decent, dedicated man do what he did last night. Guys like James Carville who, in spite of the fact he is a devout Democrat who would kill for Bill Clinton back in the good old 90s, is honest enough to admit his man, Barack the Boastful, was a big embarrassment. 

More on this tomorrow. And, don’t worry about me leaving the radio. . . at least not just yet. 

Bob Grant 

Straight ahead!"

Boortz’s Producer Gets WSB Weekend Show

Skelton, Boortz

Belinda Skelton, Neal Boortz’s producer for 16 years, has nabbed her own weekend radio show.

Rodney Ho at ajc.com reports the program called “Belinda Skelton’s Atlanta Lifestyles” will air from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays after Boortz retires on Jan. 21, 2013 according to Condace Pressley, AM750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB’s assistant program director.

“Think of Pinterest, Martha Stewart or the Oprah brand where lifestyle can be defined by everything from food, wine and design to family, entertainment and local events,” according to a written statement by Ben Reed, vice president and general manager of Atlanta-based Cox Media Group, which includes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Though Skelton will not be producing Boortz’s replacement show hosted by Herman Cain, she will remain a full-time employee of CMG, handling Boortz’s schedule after his retirement as he will continue to do daily commentaries for the station. “I’m going to do research on his daily minutes and produce those. And when Herman’s off and Neal subs in, I’ll produce that,” she said.

Read More Here

6 Tips On How To Use Twitter For Show Prep

From Stephanie Winans, Social media strategy & content curation for Radio, Artists, Brands.

While Twitter provides a personal way to connect with listeners, it’s also a great resource for show content. Here are five tips on how Twitter can help you plan your show:

1. Use Lists

Create Twitter lists to organize the accounts you follow and use for show prep. That way if you’re looking for a specific type of content, you can view only the accounts that you’ve listed under that category (for example, “entertainment news,” “news” or “parenting”).

2. Use Favorites

When viewing your Twitter stream, use favorites to bookmark a tweet for later reading. If you see a tweet you want to come back to, click the star icon. The star will turn from grey to yellow, and you will be able to view it in your favorites, located on the left side of your Twitter profile page.

3. Follow Local Sources

Add local news stations, broadcasters, newspapers, and magazines for tweets about what’s going on in your market.

4. Follow Other Stations and Shows

Follow stations and shows you admire for topic and promotion ideas. Keep your eye on successful shows that produce strong content. You might learn from them, and often their ideas will jumpstart your creativity.

5. Follow Artists

Follow the artists you play on the station, so you can share the latest music news, retweet interesting celeb tweets, and connect with artists who come to your market.

6. Keep Your Eye on Trends

Whether your show has a daily feature for trends or not, keeping your eye on them will ensure you don’t miss of-the-moment hot topics. Twitter has recently updated the algorithms to tailor Trends based on your location and who you follow on Twitter. You now have the option to view tailored trends or view the worldwide list. Viewing the tailored trends will help you localize by talking about what matters in your market.

Do you have other tips to add for using Twitter as a resource for show prep? Share with a comment or tweet to @StephanieWinans.

Read More Here.

If You Thought Sunday Was a Slow News Day

...you were not alone!

RIP: Wayne Brown Loses Battle To Cancer

Wayne K. Brown, one of the most influential African-Americans in the radio business, lost his battle with liver cancer this past weekend, according to a story  atnewsone.com.

With more than three decades of experience across broadcasting and marketing, Brown, 55, was considered a true industry pioneer.

“Wayne was a wonderful human being,” said Ms. Catherine L. Hughes, Chairperson & Founder of Radio One, Inc., “he made you feel like you were the most important person in the world when you were with him.”

Brown who was the VP/GM of Radio One’s Atlanta market for eight years, was most recently the general manager of Atlanta’s Streetz 94.5 FM.

Brown also served as senior partner and associate publisher of Who’s Who publishing company. Prior to Radio One he spent 13 years at CBS Headquarters in New York City working for network TV & radio.

Read More Here.