Randy Travis ‘Critical’ In Hospital

Randy Travis

UPDATE 07/09/13 12NOON:   Randy Travis had heart surgery on Monday following his admission to a Texas hospital the previous day in critical condition, his sister-in-law tells PEOPLE.

"Their mother passed away at an early age with her heart, so it is like these boys are following right in their footsteps," Teresa Traywick said. "My prayers are with them. That's all I can say right now."

Earlier posting...

Country singer Randy Travis is hospitalized in critical condition with a viral heart infection, his publicist said Monday.

CNN reports, the 54-year-old Travis was admitted to an unidentified Texas hospital on Sunday because of complications related to his "recently acquired viral cardiomyopathy," Travis spokesman Kirt Webster said in a written statement.

Travis had recently been on the road, performing in Detroit on June 28 and Chicago on June 29.  He was set to do a show in Deadwood, South Dakota, on Wednesday.

He appeared well during business meetings on Friday and Saturday, Webster said.  "Then on Sunday, it hit him."

Viral cardiomyopathy is a disorder where a virus attacks the muscles of the heart, causing the heart to beat slower, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website.  In some cases, the heart can stop, it said.

"Viral cardiomyopathy can be caused by 30-plus different viruses, but it's almost impossible to pinpoint which virus it is," said Dr. Ramin Oskoui, a cardiologist and internal medicine specialist in Washington. "Hospitals use viral cardiomyopathy as a 'catch all' diagnosis."

Travis had a tough year in 2012 with arrests for assault and public intoxication, which earned him probation.

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Lancaster PA Radio: Flesh-Eating Disease Battle Continues

UPDATE Lisa Landis

UPDATE 7/31/2013:  Lisa Landis, a WJTL radio personality, was discharged from the hospital on July 22 after a month-long battle with necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria from an unknown source.

Earlier Posting...

The third time is the charm.

According to lancasteroneline.com, Lisa Landis, a gregarious radio host for WJTL, is undergoing daily surgeries to keep on top of an infection of flesh-eating bacteria in her right leg.

Two procedures this weekend showed no signs of bacterial growth or movement.  She was waiting to hear the results from the latest surgery — which she hoped would show the trend continuing.

Landis, of Strasburg, is suffering from a flesh-eating bacteria called necrotizing fasciitis, Lapp said — caused by beta-streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, the source of which is unknown.  It's not contagious.

Landis — whose full name is Lisa Landis Blowers — is co-host of WJTL's Get Up & Go Show from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. weekdays and host of the Kids Cookie Break from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. WJTL, a Christian radio station, broadcasts at 90.3 FM.

The infection struck June 22 with what Lapp described as "flu-like symptoms" and minor leg pain. It quickly progressed, however, and Landis was hospitalized 12 days ago — first at Lancaster General Hospital and then the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, which has a team specializing in this type of infection.

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Harrisburg Radio: WHP’s Bob Durgin Announces Retirement

Bob Durgin

 WHP580, Harrisburg's Talk Radio, announced Monday that afternoon host Bob Durgin will retire after 24 years on air. The last Bob Durgin Show will air on Friday, August 2, from a yet to be determined live location so that listeners and friends can say farewell.

Durgin started at WHP580 in 1989 and has been one of the top-rated shows in the mid-state since. Born in Boston, he entered the U.S. Air Force and began his radio career in AFRTS Europe in 1964. Durgin later spent 20 years in Oklahoma City as News Director for KTOK.

"It has been a wonderful run in radio," said Durgin. "I will always cherish the support that my listeners have shown me over the years. Together we have made an impact on many issues."

"This is bittersweet," said RJ Harris, Morning Host and Program Director of WHP580. "Bob is  an incredibly talented person who has had great impact on many state and local issues. Those of us who have listened since 1989 will miss him greatly."

"We have a huge set of shoes to fill with Bob’s retirement. We will never find another Bob  Durgin," said Dan Lankford, Vice President and General Manager, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Harrisburg. "We all wish Bob well with his new adventures."

Talk Stream Live Unveils Latest Top 25 Talkers

Michael Savage

The Savage Nation has lifted Michael Savage to No. 1 in Talk Stream Live's top 25 talk shows in the second quarter of 2013, narrowly edging Rush Limbaugh by two-tenths of a point and marking the second time that Savage has become the top streaming talker, according to newsmax.com.

Glenn Beck was No. 3 followed by Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham, according to TalkStreamLive.com.

Savage last ranked No. 1 in the third quarter of 2012 just before a short hiatus due to network changes and the start in a new time slot.

The Talk Stream Live report tracked talk radio show metrics gathered on the Internet and collected through TalkStreamLive.com's website, gadgets, iPhone app and “click2listen” links on social networks from April 1 through June 30 and ranked only talk show hosts listed at TalkStreamLive.com. The sample size was 869,144 listener sessions.

Following are the rank and audience share of Talk Stream Live's top 25 programs:

1 Michael Savage 12.5

2 Rush Limbaugh 12.3

3 Glenn Beck 9.2

4 Mark Levin 6.7

5 Laura Ingraham 6.0

6 Sean Hannity 4.4

7 Tammy Bruce 3.7

8 George Noory 2.6

9 Dennis Miller 2.3

10 Alex Jones 2.2

11 Bill Bennett 1.7

12 John Batchelor 1.4

13 Michael Medved 1.3

14 Andrea Tantaros 1.2

15 Red Eye Radio 1.1

16 Jerry Doyle 1.0

17 Dennis Prager 0.9

18 Rusty Humphries 0.9

19 Monica Crowley 0.9

20 The Dana Show 0.7

21 Hugh Hewitt 0.7

22 Quinn and Rose 0.7

23 IMUS 0.6

24 Larry Kudlow 0.6

25 Dave Ramsey 0.6

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B’more Radio: 98 Rock Shuffles On-Air Duties

Hearst’s WIYY  98 Rock in Baltimore, made some changes in their lineups Monday.

In the wake of Mickey Cucchiella leaving 98 Rock as a result of his battle with depression, the station introduced a re-tooled morning show featuring Justin Schlegel, Scott Reardon and Josh Spiegel, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Schlegel had been doing afternoon drive-time at the station, while Reardon was the executive producer of the morning show. Spiegel has been a co-host on mornings since 2005 at 98 Rock.

Amelia Ryerse, who had been one of Cucchiella's co-hosts, moves into Schlegel's afternoon spot today

"Amelia had been doing afternoons before she joined the morning team, " said David Hill, program director for 98 Rock. "So, it's as much a return to afternoons as it is a new time period for her."

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Cleveland Radio: WMMS’ Rover Arrested For Shoving Cop

On Monday's Show, Rover addressed the events of the weekend:


Rover from Rover’s Morning Glory radio show on Clear Channel’s WMMS 100.7 FM was arrested at Whiskey Island in Cleveland early Friday morning.

According to  newsnet5.com, an off-duty Cleveland police officer asked Rover, whose real name is Shane French, and another man to stop shooting off illegal fireworks at about 3:40 a.m.

The officer stepped on the lighter the men were using for the fireworks and that’s when the 37-year-old French grabbed him by the shirt, according to a police report. The officer identified himself as a police officer while both French and his friend starting pushing him, police said.

Rover in court

The officer fell to the ground then showed the men his badge, while their friends agreed to take them home. According to police, French started to walk away, then turned around and pushed the cop in the back.

“I don’t believe you’re a police officer,” French reportedly said.

The officer told a nearby security guard to call police then told French he was under arrest. The police report said French got free and ran with the other man back to their boat.

French and the other man were arrested for disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, possession of fireworks and assault.

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Les Moonves Sells $22 Million Worth of CBS Stock

Les Moonves

As CBS stock bumped against record highs last week, CBS CEO Les Moonves cashed in stock options, earning about $11.6 million in profit, according to a regulatory filing.

According to THR, the filing indicates that Moonves sold 450,000 shares in three lots, one for an average of $49.02 a share, another at an average of $49.10 and a third at an average of $49.51. In all, the CEO sold about $22 million in stock on Monday and Tuesday.

The same regulatory filing says Moonves acquired 450,000 shares Monday and Tuesday at $23.19 apiece, or about $10.44 million, via the exercise price on stock options he receives under a long-term incentive plan. A CBS spokesman said the sale, too, was part of a regularly scheduled plan.

Shares of CBS closed fractionally higher Friday to $50.06. They reached an intraday high of $52.46 on May 22.

Moonves was the highest-paid CEO of a Hollywood conglomerate in 2012, earning $62.2 million.

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Tom’s Take:  Many prominent execs use automatic triggers for their estate trading to avoid sending an unintended signal to investors who keep an eagle eye on insider trades to see when the people who know a company best believe that the stock price is about to change its trajectory.  And remember talk of a CBS-Cumulus deal?  Is some announcement coming?

SLC Radio: Todd and Erin OUT at KBEE B-98.

Todd, Eric Collard

Salt Lake City’s longest-running morning show is out.   Todd and Erin are no longer at KBEE B-98.7 FM, the station they’ve called home for 11 years.

Their show has been replaced by the nationally-syndicated Kidd Kraddick Show. 

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, their departure was not something they expected. Nor were they anticipating the outpouring of support.

Tell everyone thank you for the good wishes," Erin Collard said. "This is an amazing community. I’ve been really touched by how amazing everyone’s been on Facebook already."

Todd Collard and Erin Fraser first worked together on air in 1994 when Erin joined the team of Fisher and Todd at KISN 97.1 FM. Three years later, Collard and Fraser married.

The duo left KISN in 2001. After sitting out a six-month non-compete period, they joined B-98.7 in 2002.

"We’ve already gotten some phone calls," Erin Collard said. "And we can work right away. They can’t hold us to a six-month no-compete."

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SLC Radio: Danny Kramer Launches iNet Station

Danny Kramer

At noon on Friday, March 1, Danny Kramer disappeared, according to The Deseret News.

The one-time king of Salt Lake City radio, who led KSL 1160 AM/102.7fM Radio to unprecedented market dominance during the early 1980s and who subsequently created a tidal wave of controversy when he jumped to rival KALL 700 AM Radio, was suddenly, inexplicably gone.

In the rough and tumble of the radio business, where today’s ratings hit is tomorrow’s format change, Kramer has died several deaths only to be resurrected by new opportunities to reinvent himself — most recently as the owner/programmer/technician/headline talent of an Internet radio station that features his music, his way.

LISTEN-LINE: Click Here. 

“This is beyond exciting for me,” Kramer says over a cup of coffee in his comfortable South Jordan home that doubles as his studio and operating base, complete with computers, monitors, modems and an affectionate Yorkie named Sonny-Dog.

But it wasn’t so exciting on March 1, when KKDS-LPFM 97.1 FM management called him and other station employees in for a 10 a.m. meeting to announce that the station was changing its format at noon that day and many of them — including Kramer — would be out of a job.

“When you’re in the media, you like to think that your listeners or your viewers or readers really care about you and that they will come looking for you when you are gone,” he says in that calm, comfortable, friendly tone that has been his trademark since he got his first job in radio in 1962.

“And they do,” he continues. “They’ll look around a little. But if they can’t find you easily, they’ll find something else and move on with their lives.”

Which is precisely what Kramer has been doing throughout his five decades-plus in radio: finding something else and moving on.

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BBC Radio: May Punish Broadcaster for Sexist Comment

John Inverdale

The BBC faced growing pressure yesterday to punish high-profile sports announcer John Inverdale for his sexist comment about the appearance of France's Marion Bartoli, who won the women's Wimbledon title a day earlier. Before Bartoli's win over Germany's Sabine Lisicki.

Inverdale asked radio listeners if people thought Bartoli's father told her when she was little that she was never going to be, quote, "a looker" like Maria Sharapova, so she'd have to fight harder for success.

The BBC apologized after there were furious protests on Twitter, calling the remark "insensitive." 

Marion Bartoli

Inverdale said on Sunday that he'd written to apologize to Bartoli and told listeners ahead of the men's final that he used what he described as a "clumsy phrase" in trying to make a point that not all players need to be, quote, "six-foot-tall Amazonian athletes."

Many are saying that's not enough, however, and want there to be some punishment of Inverdale by the BBC.

Bartoli herself shrugged off the remarks, telling reporters late Saturday, "It doesn't matter, honestly. I am not blonde, yes. That is a fact. Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. I'm sorry. But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes."

Alex Jones Rips Mediaite Over Ratings Story

On his radio show Friday, the conservative talker Alex Jones took exception with an article about him on Mediaite, decrying it as part of a campaign of “disinformation” against himself and Infowars.com.

The article covered an earlier segment of Jones’s, in which he claimed to occasionally “destroy” Rush Limbaugh in head-to-head matchups. 

“I’ve been up against Limbaugh, toe to toe, hundreds of times. There are at least twenty occasions that we have come up to him in ratings, or destroyed him…I’m not up against Limbaugh on purpose. This was the slot I was offered in 1998, they said, you wanna go weekdays on this little network, we’re putting you right here, that’s where we have a slot…I’m not trying to destroy him physically, get him off the air. It’s just that I will defeat Rush Limbaugh in the free market of ideas. People like this show more than his.”

 Jones claims he was specifically referring to cases in which he was picked up by small market radio stations and built an audience until he was competitive with Limbaugh, only to have the stations change format.

“That turns into ‘I wanna bring Rush Limbaugh down, and I’m a liar, saying I have a bigger total audience than him,’” Jones said. “Rush Limbaugh probably has five times the terrestrial radio audience I do, probably more. Because he not only has five times the stations, most of them are the bigger ones, the marquee stations. I’m not about this!”

Jones got in a jab before the end of the segment, reminding his listeners that he vastly outperforms Limbaugh on the internet.

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OK Benefit Concert Draws 60,000

Toby Keith did his hometown proud at Saturday's Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert at the University of Oklahoma as a sold-out crowd enjoyed an oppressively overheated show packed with country music superstars and one Red Rocker.

The lineup at the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium featured Keith as headliner, plus Willie Nelson, Sammy Hagar, Ronnie Dunn, Carrie Underwood and Wade Hayes, but the coup of the day was an appearance by Garth Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood.

According to USA Today, it was well after dark when Keith was introduced to the record-breaking crowd of 60,000-plus by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin.

"We may have had setbacks here, but we will have a really strong Oklahoma comeback," she told the raucous audience before Keith strolled onto the stage wearing a guitar emblazoned with sponsor Ford 's logo and began his show with Made in America.

Rather than an encore, the audience was treated to 10 minutes of fireworks.

The concert had the largest number of paid attendees in the stadium's history, and all proceeds benefited the United Way of Central Oklahoma's May Tornadoes Relief Fund. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation committed $1 million to the fund.

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Nearly 1,300 people were treated for heat-related problems Saturday at a benefit concert for Oklahoma tornado victims, a hospital spokesperson said.

Most of the people received minor treatment at cooling stations or a medical facility within the University of Oklahoma stadium in Norman, but 170 required more treatment and 21 were taken to hospitals, Kelly Wells, spokesperson for Norman Regional Health System told NBC News.

Disney's 'Lone Ranger' Could Lead to $150 Million Loss

Disney's The Lone Ranger has ended up in the box office stockades, with the studio and even producer Jerry Bruckheimer facing a substantial loss after the meek opening of the Johnny Depp-Armie Hammer Western in North America and in its first overseas markets.

Just as Lone Ranger began rolling out in theaters July 3, Cowen & Co. analyst Doug Cruetz predicted a $100 million write-down for Disney.

Now, box office experts and rival studio insiders tell The HollywoodReporter that the loss could approach or even surpass $150 million based on final opening numbers, although they add that Disney likely can weather the storm thanks to summer box office hits Iron Man 3 and Monsters University.

Directed by Gore Verbinski, Lone Ranger — based on the 1930s radio show and 1950s television series — posted a five-day opening of $48.9 million domestically, an abysmal number considering the film's $250 million production budget and a worldwide marketing spend in the neighborhood of $175 million, the norm these days for many summer event pics.

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The Lone Ranger: The Brand Started On Radio

Earle Graser

The Lone Ranger is a fictional character: a masked ex-Texas Ranger who, with his Indian friend Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture.

He first appeared in 1933 in a radio show conceived either by WXYZ (Detroit) radio station owner, George W. Trendle, or by Fran Striker, the show's writer.  

It has been suggested that Bass Reeves, a legendary Federal peace officer in the Indian Territory (1875 - 1907), was the inspiration for this character.

The show proved to be a hit, and spawned a series of books (largely written by Striker), an equally popular television show that ran from 1949 to 1957, and comic books and movies. The title character was played on radio by George Seaton, Earle Graser, and most memorably Brace Beemer.

To television viewers, Clayton Moore was the Lone Ranger. Tonto was played by, among others, John Todd, Roland Parker, and in the television series, Jay Silverheels.

Departing on his white stallion, Silver, the Lone Ranger would shout, "Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!"

As they galloped off, someone would ask, "Who was that masked man, anyway?" Tonto usually referred to the Lone Ranger as "Ke-mo sah-bee", meaning "trusty scout" or "trusted friend," and is also Comanche for "wrong brother".

Calgary Radio: Personality's Stepson Charged In Double Murder

Billy Powers, wife

Police say a 35-year-old man is accused of killing his mother and stepfather, Billy Powers -- the couple found dead in their bed last week.

According to sunnewsnetwork.com, Derek Puffer, Donna Lee Powers' adopted son from a prior marriage was allegedly found naked on the side of the road Thursday morning leading officers to a nearby home.

There they found 71-year-old Billy Powers, a beloved Calgary radio personality and former sportscaster, and his 64-year-old wife dead.

Puffer faces two counts of second degree murder.

Homicide Staff Sgt. Grant Miller could not say if the couple was attacked while sleeping but confirmed there were no signs of struggle or indications either victim made attempts to summon help.

An autopsy showed the cause of death for both was stabbing.

Powers told a friend Wednesday afternoon he planned to get his stepson to leave the home, where he lived with him and Donna Lee.

He emailed a friend at about 1 a.m. to confirm he would emcee an upcoming event and hours later police found the couple dead.

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