Garth Brooks Is Back With Tour, New Album

Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks‘ music will be going digital. The singer made the stunning announcement during a press conference on Thursday (July 10), according to A Taste Of Country.

In addition, fans can expect new music, released on Sony Music Nashville. The new studio album will be the legend’s first since 2001 — the same year he “retired” from the road.

For a long time, Brooks has declined to put his music online, as he insisted albums be released in their entirety. It’s not clear if that’s how he’ll release his music moving forward, but all digital sales will be handled through his official website, not iTunes.

Brooks has been teasing a world tour for nearly seven months. In December, he let the news slip during an interview with ‘Good Morning America’ host Robin Roberts. Fans had not heard anything about an itinerary since, aside from five shows in Ireland that have been canceled.

Now fans know that on July 14, the first date of his world tour will be announced.

The ‘Friends in Low Places’ singer hasn’t embarked on a full scale tour since 2001. At that time, he retired to be a full-time father while his daughters were in school, promising to come back after the youngest graduated. There has been no shortage of projects and concerts in recent years — most notably his long-term residency at the Wynn in Las Vegas.

Atlanta Radio: Ebony Steele Leaving The Ricky Smiley Show

Ebony Steele

That distinctively sexy and raspy voice has been silenced on the “Rickey Smiley Morning Show” permanently, according to the Atlanta Daily World.

Ebony Steele, cohost beside Rickey Smiley Show for the past seven years, reporedly is leavin to start her own business. She is going to reportedly be replaced by former model and current actress Claudia Jordan.

Fans of Steele have noticed that she had been conspicuously absent from the show as well as “Dish Nation” without any explanation. Steele, whose irresistible estrogen energy provided balance to the testosterone-heavy morning show, was not provided a reason why she was abruptly axed from the show.

Post by Ebony Steele.

The timing of her departure is extremely curious: the “Rickey Smiley Show” is syndicated in 50 markets nationwide and is the No. 1 urban-based show in the city of Atlanta, outperforming its rivals, including the “Ryan Cameron Morning Show,” the “Tom Joyner Morning Show” and the “Steve Harvey Morning Show” in the prime viewing demo advertisers crave.

Furthermore, it is the No. 2 show in the coveted 18-34 demographic in Atlanta, trailing only another Atlanta-based syndicated show, Q100′s Bert Show.

NAB Show To Explore Hybrid Radio

Jeff Simpson

Hybrid radio is poised to become a critical component of radio stations' overall digital strategy. To address this topic, the 2014 Radio Show will feature a Super Session presented by NAB Labs titled "Hybrid Radio – What's In It for You?," to be held September 11 at 11:00 a.m.

The Radio Show, held September 10-12 in Indianapolis, is produced by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).

The super session is targeted to station decision-makers and brings together executives from radio, mobile phone carriers and the recording industry.

Panelists include

• Eric Williams, product manager, Sprint Corporation
• Dave Kelly, researcher, Big Machine Label Group
• Ginny Morris, chairman and CEO, Hubbard Radio Group
• Paul Brenner, chief technology officer, Emmis Communications

Jeff Simpson, board member of Deseret Management Corporation, will moderate.

Speakers will discuss the benefits of hybrid radio, including increased revenue and listenership potential, a more interactive experience for listeners without additional data or streaming charges, integration with connected cars and the support of select wireless providers to offer FM-enabled smartphones.

Hartford Radio: Feds Say Rowland Sold WTIC Show Influence

John G. Rowland

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they intend to tell a jury that when former Gov. John G. Rowland sold his political consulting services, he was secretly selling the muscle behind his long-running political talk show on WTIC 1080 AM radio, according to the Hartford Courant.

The prosecutors make the assertion in new legal papers filed in advance of Rowland's trial on charges associated with his consulting agreement with former congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley and her husband and financial backer, Brian Foley. The government said it will present evidence that, as part of the deal, Rowland used the radio station to build up Wilson-Foley and annihilate her opponents.

The witness who the government said can make its case is Andrew Roraback, a former state representative and state senator from northwest Connecticut, who now is a Superior Court judge. Roraback, if allowed to testify, is expected to say that he wound up in Rowland's crosshairs because he was one of the candidates competing against Wilson-Foley in the 5th Congressional District Republican primary in 2011 and 2012.

WTIC radio, which hired Rowland following his corruption-related conviction and imprisonment in 2004, declined comment.  Rowland left the station in April, a week before he was indicted.

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L-A Radio: KSCA's New Morning Show Surges

The new morning show on KSCA 101.9 FM "El Bueno, La Mala y El Feo" appears to be gaining traction among listeners. The LA Times notes it returned to the top spot in the morning drive period, according to June numbers from Nielsen. For the weekday 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. time slot, KSCA earned a 5.1 share of radio listening in the period that ended June 18.

That share is 24% greater than the number the station earned during the previous month for the time slot that is considered prime time for radio.

This follows KSCA's previous surprise jump to No. 1 in April. KXOS' morning ratings stayed essentially flat in June compared with May by notching a 2.8 share and holding steady at 14th place, down from an inflated fourth place in April.

Worthy of note, according to LaRadio:

• Dan Kearney, CBS/LA cluster chief, was thrilled with the performance of K-EARTH. “Last month was the first time since 2009 that we were #1 with 12+.
• KEIB and Rush Limbaugh continued a slow but steady increase, from a 0.6 to a 0.8 over the last month, again surpassing heritage talker KABC which remained flat with a 0.5. This does nothing to quiet the rumors that Cumulus wants to make major changes with their AM property. 
• Despite the fact that 70% of the Southland can't watch the Dodgers on tv, fans apparently are not interested enough to listen on radio, as KLAC came in 33rd and flat from month-to-month (0.9 - 0.9). The Angels station, KLAA, came in 41st, moving from 0.5 - 0.4

NYC Radio: WFAN Winning Sports Talk War

Morning and afternoon drive time shows on wFAn 660 AM/ 101.9 FM both finished second among New York-area stations in the spring ratings quarter, with substantial leads over their sports talk competition at ESPN New Yorkm accoridng to Newsday.

In the key demographic of men ages 25-54, Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton averaged 7.4 percent of the audience in the period March 27 through June 28, behind only the music station Z-100 at 8.3.

ESPN's national morning show with Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic finished 11th with a 3.5 share in New York.

Mike Francesa's afternoon program averaged a 6.8 share from 1 to 6:30 p.m., behind only Spanish-language music station WSKQ-FM at 8.2.

During the hours in which Francesa competes head-to-head with ESPN's Michael Kay -- 3 to 6:30 p.m. -- Francesa tied for first place overall in the demographic with WSKQ at 7.0. Kay was 10th at 4.3.

Kay usually trailed Francesa by more than a 2-to-1 ratio during ESPN's years on 1050-AM, but his ratings and ranking have improved since the station switched to a better signal at 98.7-FM in the spring of 2012.

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Philly Radio: WOGL, WXTU Gain On WBEB

#1 18-34 and 18-49

WEAZ-FM Radio's AC WBEB 101.1 FM which re-branded as MoreFM at the start of 2014 remains in the top spot despite losing share 8.0—7.3, according to the June PPM's released this week by Nielsen.

CBS Radio's Classic Hits WOGL 98.1 FM is #2 inching closer 6.3—6.8. Beasley's Country WXTU 92.5 FM alos moved upward 5.9—6.4 to place #3 in June. Greater Media's Classic Rock WMGK 102.9 FM was up significantly 5.1—5.9 jumping into the Top 5 at #4. CCM+E Urban AC WDAS held on to the #5 spot 5.7—5.3.

25-54: WMMR...WMGK...WXTU...WBEB...WRFF

18-34: WXTU...WUSL...WMMR...WRFF...WBEB

18-49: WXTU...WMMR...WBEB...WUSL tied WRFF

Cume: WBEB-FM 1,633,400...WOGL-FM 1,215,200...WMGK-FM 1,131,500...WIOQ-FM 1,111,400....WISX-FM 1,000,000

  

DC: June Is Very Good For WIHT, WTOP #1 6+

#1 25-54, 18-34, 18-49, Cume

In the June PPMs released Wednesday by Nielsen, Hubbard's News WTOP 103.5 FM increased the margin over Talk WAMU registering an uptick 8.1—8.2 to remain #1 6+ in DC.

American University's non-com WAMU 88.5 FM remained in second place losing share 6.9—6.2. CCM+E Top 40 WIHT 99.5 FM Hot was down again in June 6.6—6.2 to tie WAMU for #2. Clustermater WASH 97.1 FM was up for the third consecutive month 5.6—5.8 and is in fourth place.

Howard University's UrbanAC WHUR 96.3 FM lost a bit 5.6—5.5 to end up at #5.

25-54: WIHT...WASH...WTOP...WHUR...WWDC

18-34: WIHT...WKYS...WPGC...WWDC...WIAD

18-49: WIHT...WASH...WHUR...WIAD...WWDC

Cume: WIHT-FM 1,319,600...WTOP-FM 1,227,700...WASH-FM 1,214,700...WIAD-FM 895,700...WPGC-FM 870,400

Nielsen Releases More June PPMs

Nielsen Wednesday released June PPMs for 12 more markets Wednesday.  Released were:

• Washington DC
• Boston
• Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood
• Detroit
• Seattle-Tacoma
• Phoenix
• Minneapolis-St. Paul
• San Diego
• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
• Denver-Boulder
• Baltimore
• St. Louis

To see the Topline numbers for subscribing Nielsen stations, Click Here.

Chicago Radio: Jane Monzures OUT At WILV 100.3 FM

Jane Monzures

Jane Monzures, who had been hosting afternoons on WILV 100.3 FM since late January of this year, has exited the station.

Cara Carriveau, who has been hosting nights on the station since January 2013, now takes over in afternoons.

According to CRM, Chicago radio fans will know Monzures from her years at WLUP-FM/The Loop. From 2004-2007, she worked at WLUP-FM, with the last two years as co-host to Zakk Tyler in the afternoons, where she picked up the nickname "Sweet Baby Jane."

She returned to WLUP-FM in 2010 as a frequent fill-in morning news/traffic anchor and co-host to Pete McMurray, taking over that role full-time in October 2011. WLUP-FM made a change in the morning show in July 2012, taking McMurray and Monzures off the air there, but soon after placing them on sister-station WIQI-FM/i101. McMurray was later released, but Monzures remained at WIQI-FM as a voice-tracking DJ, heard throughout the day. She was among the first released from Merlin Media when the company assigned complete operations of WIQI-FM, WLUP-FM, and WKQX-LP to Cumulus Media in January 2014.

Cara Carriveau

Carriveau began her radio career at a station in Clare, MI/ In 1989, she began working at suburban WABT-FM/The Wabbit, where she was an on-air talent and Program Director. After the station was sold in 1995, she joined Shadow Broadcast/Shadow Traffic as Program Director. There she was heard most often as a news anchor/sidekick to Kevin Matthews on WLUP-FM. Additionally, Carriveau also took on part-time roles at WIIL-FM, WRCX-FM, and WTMX-FM.

Carriveau may be best known for her eight years as a highly-rated midday host on WLUP-FM (1998-2006).

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Chicago Radio: Ramonski Luv OUT At V103

Ramonski Luv

Ramonski Luv, one-half of Chicago’s most popular nighttime radio team, is suddenly out at Clear Channel’s top-rated urban adult-contemporary WVAZ 102.7 FM.

According to Chicago Media Blogger Robert Feder, word of Luv’s departure comes one day after ratings for “The Real Show” he hosted with Joe Soto had returned to No. 1 in the market. In the Nielsen Audio report released Tuesday, evenings on V103 had a 5.9 percent share and a cumulative weekly audience of 475,900.

His last broadcast on V103 was Friday, and his last public appearance was at the Chosen Few Old School Reunion Picnic, a house music festival Saturday in Jackson Park.

Derrick Brown, director of urban programming for Clear Channel Chicago, referred an inquiry to a Clear Channel spokeswoman, who said: “It’s our policy not to discuss employee matters for privacy reasons. Joe Soto will continue to host evenings on V103.”

Luv, 50, whose real name is Ramon Wade, is a 30-year veteran of urban radio in Chicago.

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Chicago Radio: Mark Zander OUT As PD At WERV

Mark Zander

Digity Chicago General Manager Brian Foster has announced the immediate exit of Mark Zander -- the Program Director of both WERV 95.9 FM The River and WRXQ 100.7 FM Q Rock, as well as afternoon drive on WERV-FM, according to CRM.

Zander, a Chicago radio veteran of such stations as WLUP-FM, WCKG-FM, and WXXY-FM, had been with the company (then owned by NextMedia) since October 2010, beginning as a weekend host on WERV-FM. From there, he began doing weekday fill-in shifts at both WRXQ-FM and WERV-FM, which lead to full-time roles, and a few months later, the Program Director job for each of the rock stations.

Under Zander's leadership, classic rocker WERV-FM is having its best ratings ever, while hard classic rocker WRXQ-FM underwent a successful re-branding to Q Rock 100.7 and saw its ratings increase, as well. Both stations have also been able to keep fairly stable line-ups since Zander took over, after years of of having DJs come and go through a revolving door.

No official reason is being given for Zander's release. CRM reports insiders say that personality conflicts and disagreements about station directions between Zander and Digity management may have played a role in the parting of ways.

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Two More CCM+E Veterans OUT Due To Restructuring

Gus Swanson

Gus Swanson, an 18-year veteran of Clear Channel Seattle, has exited as Digital Program Director for the cluster.

His position has been eliminated.

Swanson posted this message on his Facebook page, which read, "I feel so blessed to have had such an amazing run. So many great events, promotions, marketing campaigns, concerts, memories, laughs and true friendships that I have the opportunity to take with me. I don't know what's next. But I'm excited to create a new chapter! Cheers!"

In Memphis,  Eileen Collier has exited as PD of CCM+E Urban AC KJMS 101.1 FM V101 and Inspirational WHAL 95.7 FM after nearly two decades of service.

Seattle Radio: Mike Salk Joins Morning Show At KIRO-AM

KIRO 710 AM ESPN Seattle wdebuts a new and expanded weekday lineup on Monday, July 14.

The changes include a new morning show and two additional hours of local programming as Mike Salk will reunite with Brock Huard on "Brock and Salk", which will return to 710 ESPN Seattle in a new timeslot, 7-10 a.m.

Michael Grey will host "The Michael Grey Show" from 10-noon followed by "Bob and Groz" with Bob Stelton and Dave Grosby, which will still air from noon-3. Danny O'Neil will host "Danny, Dave and Moore" from 3-7 along with Dave Wyman and Jim Moore. "Nightwatch" with Tom Wassell will remain in the 7-9 timeslot.

ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" will air from 3-7 a.m. before giving way to "Brock and Salk".

Salk and Huard teamed up on "Brock and Salk" from the station's inception in 2009 until 2012. Salk returned to 710 ESPN Seattle in March (from Boston) as the station's program director, a role in which he will continue to serve.

"These changes make an already strong lineup even stronger and this is just the beginning," Salk said. "I'm thrilled with where the station is going and couldn't be more excited to get behind the mic."

In addition to 710 ESPN Seattle's revamped lineup, 710Sports.com will also debut a new design that will feature a cleaner look and improved functionality for mobile users.

"After five years, we have established ourselves as the preeminent sports network in Seattle," said Dave Pridemore, 710 ESPN Seattle's general manager and vice president. "These moves will strengthen our product on all platforms."

LA Radio: Nielsen Ends Univision Investigation

NielsenAudio has concluded its investigation into inaccurate ratings in the Los Angeles radio market, but stopped short of sanctioning Univision Communications for alleged unethical conduct by a former station executive, according to The LA Times.

Last month, Nielsen discovered that a high-ranking Univision Radio programming executive at the company's Los Angeles station, KSCA 101.9 FM, had access to several of Nielsen's portable people meter devices that pick up audio signals. Nielsen uses data transmitted from the devices to determine which radio stations have the most listeners.

It is a violation of Nielsen rules for a station employee to have access to the devices. Univision quickly fired the executive and announced more rigorous ethics training sessions for its employees. No other station executives were reprimanded.

Nielsen notified radio stations on Wednesday that despite the problems it found with two households that were removed from its sample audience in Los Angeles, the agency would not go back and reissue the ratings for last year or the first quarter of 2014.

The ratings agency said its review found that the only dramatic swings in ratings were for KSCA, the Univision station.

"The analysis revealed that significant differences in the estimates from April 2013 to March 2014 were isolated primarily to a single [Univision] station ... and that there were minimal differences in the estimates for the overwhelming majority of other stations in the market," Nielsen said in a memo sent to L.A. radio stations that was reviewed by The Times.

For the other stations, "we found that 98.8% of the records had less than a 5% difference between the originally published" data.

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