Thousands Remember Elvis

Elvis Presley fans traveled to Graceland in Memphis by the thousands Thursday to recognize "The King" on the 36th anniversary of his death.

According to newsmax.com, more than 35,000 people attended the vigil, carrying lit candles as they walked silently through the Mediation Garden at Graceland, Presley's longtime Memphis home. The garden is the location of Presley's grave and also is the spot where his mother, father and grandmother are buried.

The vigil was the highlight of Elvis Week, which featured a listening party at Stax Records for the recent release of the three-CD box set "Elvis at Stax." Presley tribute artists performed and there was a screening of the "Aloha from Hawaii" television program from January 1973, according to the Associated Press.

Presley died on Aug. 16, 1977 from congestive heart failure that may have been partially caused by drug abuse.

Elvis Week events wrap up on Saturday.

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Fox Sports 1 Inks Deal With DirecTV, Dish And TWC

Fox Sports 1 has struck agreements with three major distributors that will ensure that the new cable network will be available in the majority of pay-TV homes when the network launches this Saturday, according to the LATimes.

The three carriers -- satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish and cable operator Time Warner Cable -- all have agreed to carry Fox Sports 1 when it launches. Those three distributors combined reach over 40 million homes.

Fox Sports 1 is using real estate previously held by the Speed Channel. Fox was seeking a big fee increase from distributors to carry the network. According to industry consulting firm SNL Kagan, Speed received about 23 cents per-subscriber, per-month. The price Fox Sports 1 is seeking in the first year is said to be in the neighborhood of 80 cents, which is a likely sticking point in negotiations.

For comparison, ESPN has the largest per-subscriber fee of any network. ESPN is charging providers $5.54 per subscriber

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R.I.P.: B.O.C. Founder Allen Lanier Dies At 66

Allen Lanier

Founding Blue Oyster Cult keyboardist and guitarist Allen Lanier has died.

He was 66.

Lanier had been hospitalized with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, according to the band’s official Facebook page. “DFTR sweet man,” the post reads, in apparent reference to their hit ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper.’ “We love you and miss you.”

Apart from a two year absence in the ’80s, Lanier was with B.O.C. from their inception in 1967 until his retirement in 2006. He co-wrote several songs for the group, including ‘True Confessions,’ In Thee,’ ‘Tenderloin,’ and ‘Lonely Teardrops.’

In November 2012 he rejoined his former bandmates on stage for the last time at a special New York concert commemorating the release of a career-spanning box set.

Radio Industry Delivers FM-enabled Smartphone App

Unprecedented coordination by radio broadcasters led to today’s announcement that Sprint will begin installing the NextRadio® application in a broad array of FM-enabled wireless devices over the coming years, allowing consumers to listen to their local radio stations on their smartphones.

"Today we set a new course as an industry, one that will bring exciting audience and advertiser engagement opportunities," Emmis Chairman & CEO Jeff Smulyan said.  "This announcement is a credit to the entire radio industry, which has unified to make this happen."

The announcement by Sprint also marks the official launch of NextRadio®, the smartphone app that delivers a highly interactive artist and ad experience to FM-enabled smartphones.

Data for the NextRadio app is supplied by TagStation®, the cloud-based engine that offers stations the ability to upload branding images that will display as default artwork in the NextRadio app, as well as call letters, format, station name and slogan. This basic, free level of station integration is open to all radio stations and creates a compelling experience within the app as the user is able to quickly associate their local stations with familiar visuals while browsing.

"Whether the station is large market, medium market, small market, commercial or non-commercial, this free service will provide listeners with a visual radio listening experience on the FM-enabled smartphone. Radio stations no longer have to add the cost of Internet Streaming to get local FM radio on a mobile device," said Paul Brenner, Emmis’ Chief Technology Officer and President, NextRadio, LLC.  "Adding full TagStation capabilities allows radio stations to offer listeners features like album art and artist information, listener feedback, song tagging capabilities, enhanced advertising options and social integration, which dramatically enhance the listening experience."

Smulyan noted that more than 1,500 stations signed up for the free services offered by TagStation and thousands more are expected following today’s product launch. Additionally, industry leaders like Beasley, CBS Radio, Entercom, Greater Media and Hubbard registered for the additional services through TagStation.

Boston Radio: Jason Wolfe OUT At WEEI

Entercom Boston announced today that Jason Wolfe, Vice President of Programming and Operations at WEEI & WRKO, is leaving the company.

Entercom Boston also stated that they would make an announcement about Wolfe’s replacement shortly.

“Jason Wolfe has defined sports talk radio, not only in Boston, but around the country as well. There are very few people who have influenced an industry like Jason has,” said Jeff Brown, VP/Market Manager at Entercom Boston. “From his work with the Jimmy Fund and the Red Sox's historic championship run to WRKO's engagement with politics, Jason’s behind-the-scenes work has made an impact few people will ever understand. We thank Jason for all his hard work, dedication to Entercom, and his commitment to the Boston community.”

Jason Wolfe

“Being involved in the growth of WEEI has been a tremendous honor. WEEI went from a single radio station, to a regional sports network, added a world class digital platform because the demand for our content is so strong; and today, is one of the biggest radio brands in any format, anywhere in the country. We were #1 for six straight years through the fall of 2008. 

We’ve won four Marconi Awards and have given back so much to the community, helping to raise millions and millions of dollars for charity, including over $31 million for the Jimmy Fund. I couldn't be more proud to have played a role in all of the station's success,” said outgoing WEEI & WRKO Vice President of Programming and Operations, Jason Wolfe. Wolfe had been at the station 22-years.

“I am thankful to everyone at Entercom for all they’ve done to support me, and I wish them all the best in the future. It's now time for me to move on and begin the next chapter of my career,” added Wolfe.

Kidd Kraddick Public Memorial To Be Held

North Texans will gather today to remember a radio legend. Friends, family members and fans are all set to participate in a public memorial and star-studded tribute concert for the late Kidd Kraddick. The radio personality was 53 years old when he passed away at one of his charity events in New Orleans nearly three weeks ago.

In addition to his work on the air, Kraddick was also known for his Kidd’s Kids organization, which helps children who are battling an illness by taking them on fun trips to DisneyWorld.

But most listeners connected with Kraddick through his radio show on KHKS 106.1 KissFM, which has continued even without his presence.

The free public memorial for Kraddick starts at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday at the American AirlinesCenter in Dallas. His family members and his closest friends are expected to be in attendance. This includes a special live performance from Ben Folds, who was Kraddick’s favorite artist according to his daughter, Caroline.

After that celebration, at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, there will be the first-ever Kidd’s Kids concert at the House of Blues in Dallas.

Public Celebration For KEZR’s Bill Kelly To Be Held

Two weeks ago, the KEZR My Mix 106.5 FM family lost their morning host Bill Kelly.

He was 55 and had been battling cancer for quite some time.

SEE ORIGINAL POSTING: Click here

Co-workers, friends and fans today will celebrate Kelly’s extraordinary career with a celebration and a tribute.  The memorial will be held Thursday starting at 6pm in San Jose Civic Auditorium,135 West San Carlos Street, San Jose, CA 95113

Then on Friday morning from 5am to 9am Mix 106.5 will broadcast a celebration of Bill Kelly, as they pay fond tribute to his remarkable 30 year morning show career.

Arbitron Releases New Hispanic Radio Study

About 95% of Hispanic consumers tune to the radio in an average week, underscoring a strong relationship with an important and growing listener segment. Radio listenership among Hispanic consumers is bigger than other ethnic groups measured by Arbitron. Radio remains a reliable entertainment and information source for Hispanic listeners, regardless of their language preference, country of origin, age, gender, income, or listening location.

Radio’s reach among 25-54 Hispanic listeners is even better, reaching nearly 97% of women 35-44 weekly. In an era where all consumers are presented with many media choices, time spent listening to radio among Hispanic persons is holding steady (and in some cases, increasing) in key demographics.

This year’s Hispanic Radio Today has detailed analyses for the 12 most popular formats according to Average Quarter-Hour share, plus abbreviated analysis for five additional Spanish-language formats that achieve an AQH share of up to 2.0. For the first time, the study also shows the AQH proportion of language preference (English-dominant vs. Spanish-dominant) for each format.

Some highlights of the formats in this year’s study (listed in order of Average Quarter-Hour audience share and appearance in the study):

• Mexican Regional remains far and away the most popular choice of Hispanic listeners by nearly twice the share of the second-largest format. The format draws young listeners (mostly men) of Mexican descent and is a popular out-of-home listening choice.
• Spanish Contemporary + Spanish Hot Adult Contemporary is another strong out-of-home performer and is slightly more popular among women than men. A growing number of listeners to these formats comes from higher income households.
• Pop Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR), the No. 3 format among all audiences based on AQH, is similarly ranked among Hispanic listeners. Just like with the general market, Pop CHR is popular among Hispanic women, especially those who primarily speak English.
• Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) remains the most ethnically-diverse format among all listeners and remains very popular among young Hispanic listeners. Listeners to this format are among the most tech-savvy in this study.
• Adult Contemporary + Soft Adult Contemporary’s share of audience tapered slightly this year, matching the format’s trend in the general market. It remains a strong midday performer and its listeners are well educated and live in high income households.
• Spanish Adult Hits, which tends to be most popular in Western markets, has nearly half of its audience between 35–54 years old.
• Country + New Country, America’s No. 1 format, continues to be a popular choice among English-dominant Hispanic listeners, especially women.
• Classic Hits remains most popular with men, particularly Spanish-dominant Hispanic men.
• News/Talk/Information + Talk/Personality feature the highest proportion of English-dominant Hispanic listeners. These listeners are also the best educated and live in the highest-income households of all formats in the study.
• Spanish Tropical, a popular choice of Hispanic listeners of Caribbean descent, saw a significant rebound in this year’s study.

Arbitron subsriber's can get the detailed report here.

NYC Radio: Al Sharpton Show Moves To WLIB

Dillard, Sharpton

REACH Media Inc. has announced that Reverend Al Sharpton’s radio show, “Keepin’ it Real with Rev. Al Sharpton” is now broadcasting live on 1190 AM WLIB Monday through Friday from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.

Sharpton has been a long presence in the New York market and now will be live daily discussing current topics, news, inspiration, and issues affecting African American communities.

Skip Dillard, Operations Manager WBLS/WLIB, states “Rev Al’s weekday show is a perfect fit for WLIB, a station with a history of both inspiration and information. Rev Sharpton has a long history with WBLS and WLIB. We’re super-excited to now have him at work with WLIB listeners each weekday!”

Senior Vice President of Programming, REACH Media Inc., Gary Bernstein attests “We appreciated the tremendous support from our former affiliation with WWRL, but the opportunity of a live clearance on WLIB from 1p to 3p in the biggest radio market in the country was the motivation for us to make the switch. We are also enhancing what has been a special relationship with our friends at YMF Media and WBLS/WLIB.”

Morgantown Radio: WCLG Sale May Raise FCC Questions

In a market dominated by West Virginia Radio Corp. stations, news that Morgantown, WV radio stations WCLG 1300 AM and 100.1 FM are being sold is drawing attention.

According to wvgazette.com, the stations, locally owned by Bowers Broadcasting, are to be sold to an entity called AJG Corp. -- if the Federal Communications Commission approves the sale.

That could be critical, since FCC rules restrict the number of radio stations any one company may own in a market. If AJG Corp. had not been spun off from West Virginia Radio Corp. -- owned by Morgantown businessman and frequent political candidate John Raese -- then the original company might not meet those restrictions.

John Raese

In a market the size of Morgantown-Clarksburg, the FCC ownership limit is seven commercial stations, with no more than four in either AM or FM.

Incorporated in 2007, AJG operates three former West Virginia Radio Corp. stations: WKKW-FM in Fairmont, WFGM-FM in Barrackville, and WFBY-FM in Weston. If AJG bought WCLG-FM, it would have four FM stations in the market.

However, business filings with the Secretary of State's Office and FCC records show that, at the very least, AJG is closely aligned with West Virginia Radio Corp.:

• AJG's office address, according to business filings with the Secretary of State's Office, is 1251 Earl Core Road in Morgantown -- the same address as West Virginia Radio Corp. offices and Morgantown radio stations, and also the location of the Dominion Post newspaper, owned by the Raese family. (FCC records list AJG's office address as 279 June Road, Stamford, Conn. A search on the real estate site Zillo shows that address is a private residence, with an estimated market value of $2.69 million.)
• Vice president and general manager of AJG is Jack Murphy Jr., who used to be sales manager for West Virginia Radio Corp. The contact number listed for Murphy at AJG is the same as the main number for the WVRC business office.

On Wednesday evening, Murphy referred questions to the company's law firm, Fletcher, Heald and Hildreth of Arlington, Va.

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Fresno Radio: Greg Hoffman OUT At KBOS

Greg Hoffman

Greg Hoffman is no longer working at KBOS 94.9 FM.

He will not say whether his departure from the local radio station was his decision or that of management. Jeff Negrete, general manager of the local Clear Channel radio stations that include KBOS, could not be reached for comment.

According to the Fresno Bee, Hoffman's been at the local radio station — better known as B95 — for more than 17 years as program director and on-air talent, including being a co-host for the "Juice Crew Morning Show" for a dozen years. 

His morning show partners, Andre Covington and Carmen, are still with the station.

Hoffman did release a statement on the end of his run at KBOS:

"I want to say thank you to all my co-workers at B95 for being such great teammates throughout the years, especially for the support they have given me the last nine and a half years that I have served as the program director of the station. I would like to give a special thank you to Andre Covington, with whom I created the 'Juice Crew Morning Show' over 12 years ago," Hoffman says. "Most importantly, I would like to thank all the people of Fresno and Central California who have loyally woken up and listened to my show each morning.

"I am going to miss interacting with all the listeners of the 'Juice Crew Morning Show.' It is my hope that I left them with some lasting positive memories."

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CNN To Place Greater Emphasis On Mobile Audience

Jeff Zucker

CNN is increasing its emphasis on consumers who get its content from mobile phones and tablets, its top executive said Wednesday, investing about $15 million so far in 2013 on reworking its digital infrastructure to make the placement of news content and advertising across different digital outlets easier, according to Variety. The maneuver, said Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, is aimed at grabbing new viewers who increasingly reach for the nearest screen when breaking news erupts, not necessarily the one that is part of a TV set.

“The future of CNN is as much about digital as it is about a television screen,” Zucker said at a media event. “I fervently believe mobile is a big part of our future,” he added later.

To that end, CNN intends to unveil a new digital face in November. Its system will free up editorial staff to focus on reporting the news while facilitating the posting of stories across a variety of devices and screens ranging from desktops to Androids, said KC Estenson, senior veep and g.m. at CNN Digital. The Time Warner cable network has seen more rapid growth in people accessing its content from social networks and mobile outlets and believes those figures are only going to increase –and more rapidly than TV viewership and even desktop viewing, he said. Additional interest from international audiences is also fueling some of the activity, he added.

The challenge has been great: CNN publishes news across 20 different media venues, supporting nine different editions in six different languages, he said.

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Paul McCartney Joins iHeartRadio Fest Line-Up

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment has announced that legendary artist Paul McCartney has been added to the line-up for the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the two-day music event hosted by Ryan Seacrest at MGM Grand Las Vegas.

Paul McCartney joins an extraordinary line-up including Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, J. Cole, Elton John, Muse, Tiësto, Chris Brown, Keith Urban, fun., Miguel, Bruno Mars, Phoenix, Zedd, Maroon 5, Tim McGraw, Ke$ha, Drake, Thirty Seconds to Mars and Benny Benassi, plus a rare live appearance by legendary rock band Queen + Adam Lambert, this year's Macy's iHeartRadio Rising Star winner, The Summer Set and other special surprise guests to be announced later.

Paul has spent much of 2013 on his Out There tour, winning unprecedented praise wherever it goes, and is currently working on new material.
 

"The addition of Paul McCartney to the lineup underscores the magnitude and diversity of the iHeartRadio Music Festival," said Tom Poleman, Co-executive Producer and President of National Programming Platforms, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment.  "There's no bigger icon in music."

This year, the Festival gets even bigger with the addition of the "iHeartRadio Music Festival Village" on Saturday afternoon. The Festival Village will feature live performances on two stages by nearly a dozen popular and up-and-coming artists, including Miley Cyrus, The Wanted, Jason Derulo, The Band Perry, Avril Lavigne, Krewella, Cher Lloyd, twenty one pilots, Pete Tong, AWOLNATION and a special guest appearance by Ne-Yo.

iHeartRadio Music Festival  will take place Sept. 20 and 21, 2013 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Paul McCartney will perform on Saturday evening, Sept. 21. The Festival will broadcast LIVE across Clear Channel radio stations in 150 markets nationwide, and this year will air as a two night special on The CW Network on Sept. 30 (night one) at 8-10 p.m. ET/PT and Oct. 1 (night two) at 8-10 p.m. ET/PT, to launch the network's fall season.

R.I.P.: Macon Radio Personality Don King Dead At 82

Don King

People passing by Don King on the sidewalk might not have realized he was one of the biggest names in Macon radio for more than 30 years.

According to macon.com, the broadcast legend, who stood shorter than 5-foot-5, used to joke that he started his career a foot taller but was a victim of continual downsizing.

The 82-year-old had been retired nearly 20 years when he died Tuesday evening of complications after heart surgery.

While spending a decade at television station WCWB, now known as WMGT, he created gerbil races and his “Wild Bill Peacock” television persona, complete with a huge cowboy hat, leather vest and boots.

He’d greet folks with “people, people” and sign off with a trail of “Bye, b-bye, bye, bye, bye.”

Colleagues say his creativity fueled a promotional brilliance that anchored radio station WBML’s spot on the dial.

“Just genius stuff,” said Bill Elder, who ruled morning FM radio for three decades on WMAZ. “He would paint these pictures in the theater of the mind.”

While signing off, King often would tell listeners he was going wandering along the Ocmulgee River with a MoonPie and an RC Cola.

After earning a journalism degree from Mercer University, King joined WBML as a traffic reporter in 1955, but he was promoted to become one of Macon’s first rock ’n‘ roll disc jockeys a few months later.

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Chicago Radio: Mike McConnell OFF AIR At WGN, But Not OUT

Mike McConnell

Mike McConnell is gone from the WGN 720 AM airwaves, although he is not yet gone from the station. Still working under a long term contract that was given to him in 2010, McConnell will now be working online-only for WGN Radio's website, doing live shows and podcasts, according to Chicagoland Radio & Media.

McConnell has not been heard on the air for WGN-AM since late last month. He has been "on vacation" since that time, replaced by a series of fill-ins. McConnell himself announced today on his Facebook page that he is moving online for the station. He will continue to do his radio show from 10:00am-2:00pm, but that show will only be heard on the WGN-AM website's secondary stream, WGN-2.

For the time being, WGN-AM will continue to use various personalities on the air, filling the now vacant 10:00am-3:00pm shifts.  A newly revamped on-air schedule for WGN-AM is expected to be announced in the near future, giving permanent roles to some of these fill-ins.

McConnell was hired to come to WGN-AM from Cincinnati in the summer of 2010, beginning on the air on August 9th of that year. He was brought here by the then-CEO of Tribune Company Randy Michaels. Michaels was the disgraced former CEO of Clear Channel Radio and had previously worked with McConnell in Ohio. Michaels, and some of his former Clear Channel Radio cronies, including Sean Compton and Kevin Metheny, thought that bringing the controversial McConnell to Chicago would help shake up WGN-AM. He was supposed to come along with another controversial political talk show host Bill Cunningham, but Cunningham changed his mind at the last moment and stayed behind in Cincinnati.

McConnell's in-your-face, politically conservative show was programming that was opposite of what the rest of the programming on the station offered. As it turned out, it was opposite of what listeners wanted to hear.

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