The news media industry grapples with several challenges, each impacting its ability to inform the public effectively. Here are some key hurdles:
Digital Transformation and Revenue Models:
The shift from print to digital platforms has disrupted traditional revenue models. Advertisements that once funded newspapers have migrated to online platforms, leading to financial strain.
Subscription-based models face challenges in convincing readers to pay for content when free alternatives exist.
Misinformation and Fake News:
The proliferation of unverified information on social media and other digital channels undermines the credibility of professional journalism.
Fact-checking and distinguishing reliable sources from unreliable ones are ongoing battles.
Lack of Trust and Polarization:
Public trust in media institutions has eroded due to perceived biases, sensationalism, and political affiliations.
The rise of echo chambers and partisan news outlets contributes to polarization.
Newsroom Cutbacks and Layoffs:
Shrinking budgets lead to layoffs, reduced coverage, and fewer investigative journalists.
Newsrooms struggle to maintain quality reporting with fewer resources.
The National Association of Broadcasters today revealed a groundbreaking lineup for the NAB Show Welcome Session, taking place on the Main Stage at NAB Show, April 15 at 9:30 a.m. PST.
NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt will lead off the event with a state of the industry fireside chat hosted by Emmy award-winning journalist Adrienne Bankert. Ms. Bankert serves as a special projects anchor for Nexstar Media Group’s NewsNation, most recently launching a series for NewsNation centered around faith in America entitled “One Nation Under God.” She previously was a co-anchor of NewsNation’s “Morning in America” and a correspondent for ABC News, where she covered historic events and co-hosted the weekend edition of “Good Morning America.”
Following the fireside chat, Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig will be joined on stage by Ameca, an autonomously AI-powered humanoid robot, to deliver an unprecedented study on audience perspectives on AI's use in broadcast media. This impressive keynote event will feature collaboration between Anstandig and Ameca as they deliver study findings pivotal to the industry's future.
Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio (MIW) has announced a three-year partnership with the Country Radio Seminar (CRS). Together, they’re launching a brand-new mentorship program called “Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Country Radio.”
This program is specifically designed for women currently working in the Country radio space. Here’s what it entails:
Year-Long Experience: The mentorship program spans a year, providing a rich learning journey.
Personalized Conversations: Mentees get to engage with some of the best minds in the business. These personalized conversations offer insights, guidance, and inspiration.
Connections and Opportunities: The program facilitates networking, opening doors to valuable connections within the industry.
CRS 2025 Attendance: As a highlight, mentees have the chance to attend the 2025 Country Radio Seminar in Nashville—the premier event for country radio professionals.
Who’s eligible? One woman currently employed full-time at a Country station within the U.S., with at least 5 years of experience in the business.
MIW Board President Ruth Presslaff added, "This is a great opportunity to strengthen and support women in Country Radio. We couldn't be more grateful to RJ Curtis, John Shomby, and the entire team at CRS for their enthusiastic partnership. A special note of thanks and remembrance to Bill Mayne for his early support of MIW and our initiatives."
Applications are open now and will be accepted through March 22. This collaboration reflects CRS’s commitment to fostering diversity and empowering women in the country radio industry.
The FCC is considering a rule that could stop domestic abusers from tracking victims through vehicles that are connected wirelessly.
The Detroit News reports chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is asking other commissioners to start the process of drawing up new regulations. Some manufacturers allow partners to disconnect their vehicles from automaker or cell phone apps.
Jessica Rosenworcel
“Survivors of domestic abuse shouldn’t have to choose between giving up their vehicle and feeling safe," Rosenworcel said in a statement.
Nearly all new vehicles have convenience features that use telecommunications to find cars in parking lots, start the engine remotely, and even connect with emergency responders. But those features can also let abusers track the whereabouts of their victims.
Last year Congress instructed the FCC to implement the “Safe Connections Act,” which gives the agency the authority to help abused partners. Early rules passed by the agency required cell service providers to separate phone lines linked to family plans if an abuser is on the account.
The commission will look into whether the act gives it the power to do the same thing with automakers. If the commission approves a proposed rule, it would get public and industry comment on connected car services.
Rosenworcel began asking about automaker policies after a story in the New York Times about how connected cars are being weaponized in abusive relationships.
➦In 1893...Nikola Tesla gave the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, although he had presented his work prior to this behind closed doors. Tesla first demonstrated wireless transmissions during a lecture in 1891. Just days before the St. Louis presentation, Tesla addressed the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, on February 23, 1893, describing in detail the principles of early radio communication.
Nikola Tesla
Tesla presented the fundamentals of radio in 1893 during his public presentation, "On Light and Other High Frequency Phenomena." Afterward, the principle of radio communication--sending signals through space to receivers--was widely publicized from Tesla's experiments and demonstrations.
Even before the development of the vacuum tube, Tesla’s descriptions contained all the elements that were later incorporated into radio systems. He initially experimented with magnetic receivers, unlike the coherers (detecting devices consisting of tubes filled with iron filings which had been invented by Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti in 1884) used by Guglielmo Marconi and other early experimenters.
Radio offers another example of Tesla’s work receiving minimal or no long-term public acknowledgement. While Marconi is often credited with inventing the radio, this presentation by Tesla was recalled in courts several years later in invalidating Marconi patents.
Indeed, it, among other facts, pushed the United States Supreme Court in the 1943 case of Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America vs. the United States to state that "it is now held that in the important advance upon his basic patent Marconi did nothing that had not already been seen and disclosed."
To be true, what Tesla demonstrated had more scientific interest than practical use, but he believed that by taking the “Tesla oscillator,” grounding one side of it, and connecting the other to an insulated body of a large surface, it would be possible to transmit electric oscillations a great distance and to communicate intelligence in this way to other oscillators.
In 1898 at the Electrical Exhibition in New York, Tesla would successfully demonstrate a radio-controlled boat. For that work, he was awarded US patent No. 613,809 for a "Method of and Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vessels or Vehicles." Between 1895 and 1897, Tesla received wireless signals transmitted via short distances in his lectures. He transmitted over medium ranges during presentations made between 1897 and 1910.
➦In 1904...Alton Glenn Miller, the man whose name is synonymous with the big band era of the 1940’s, was born in Clarinda, Iowa (Died: December 15, 1944 at age 40).
He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best-known big bands. Miller's recordings include "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "A String of Pearls", "At Last", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer's Tune", and "Little Brown Jug".
In just four years Glenn Miller scored 16 number-one records and 69 top ten hits—more than Elvis Presley (38 top 10s) and the Beatles (33 top 10s) did in their careers. While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Miller's aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel.
➦In 1914...Sportscaster Harry Caray born (real name Harry Christopher Carabina..died from a heart attack just shy of his 84th birthday February 18, 1998). He covered five Major League Baseball teams, beginning with 25 years of calling the games of the St. Louis Cardinals with two of these years also spent calling games for the St. Louis Browns.
After a year working for the Oakland Athletics and eleven years with the Chicago White Sox, Caray spent the last sixteen years of his career as the announcer for the Chicago Cubs.
Caray caught his break when he landed the job with the Cardinals in 1945 and, according to several histories of the franchise, proved as expert at selling the sponsor's beer as he'd been in selling the Cardinals on KMOX.
In 1982 he began 15 years of calling the Cubs games on superstation WGN which won him a national following.
➦In 1928...KGFJ Los Angles went on-air 1926. And on this date it became the first radio station in the United States to adopt a 24-hour broadcast schedule. Today, the station is known as KYPA 1230 AM and airs Korean-language programming.
➦In 1932...radio’s first great effort of on-the-spot news coverage began as NBC and CBS radio rushed to Hopewell, NJ to cover the kidnapping of the Charles and Anne Lindbergh baby.
➦In 1932...one of daytime radio’s comedic gems Easy Aces written by and starring Goodman Ace with his ditzy wife Jane, moved from local Chicago exposure to the full CBS network, three times a week. It would delight audiences on that schedule for much of the next 15 years.
➦In 1937..This ad appeared in Broadcasting magazine...
KOY was the first radio station in the state of Arizona, signing on in 1921 as Amateur Radio station 6BBH on 360 meters (833 kHz). Earl Nielsen was the holder of the 6BBH call sign (there were no country prefixes for hams prior to 1928). At that time, broadcasting by ham radio operators was legal.
In 1922, the station received its broadcast license, under the Nielsen Radio & Sporting Goods Company business name, with the callsign KFCB. While the KFCB call letters were sequentially assigned, the station adopted the slogan "Kind Friends Come Back" to match the callsign.
A Phoenix teenager and radio enthusiast named Barry Goldwater was one of the new station's first employees.
When the AM broadcast band was opened in 1923 by the Department of Commerce, KFCB moved around the dial, as did many stations at the time. It was on 1260, 1230, 1310, and 1390 before moving to its long-time home of 550 kHz in 1940. KFCB became KOY on February 8, 1929.
From 1932 to 1949, KOY was the CBS Radio Network affiliate for the Phoenix area.
In 1936, Earl Nielsen sold KOY to Prairie Farmer, dba Salt River Valley Broadcasting Company. He remained Station Manager for a couple of years. Prairie Farmer was the owner of WLS radio in Chicago at the time.
➦In 1941...The National Life and Accident Insurance Company, owners of WSM-AM , became the first commercial broadcaster in the U.S. to receive an FM license from the FCC in 1941. Originally known as W47NV, the station operated for about 10 years, until NL&AI realized that few area households had FM radio receivers and that its commercial potential was lacking. NL&AI shut down WSM-FM in 1951 and returned the license to the FCC.
iHeartMedia, Inc. today reported financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2023.
Q4 2023 Consolidated Results
Q4 Revenue of $1,067 million, down 5.2%; slightly better than the guidance range of down high-single digits, Excluding Q4 Political Revenue, Q4 Revenue flat
GAAP Operating income of $80 million vs. $173 million in Q4 2022
Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of $208 million, within previously disclosed guidance range of $205 million to $215 million, compared to $316 million in Q4 2022
Cash Flows from operating activities of $154 million
Free Cash Flow of $142 million, Free Cash Flow including net proceeds from real estate sales was $145 million
Q4 2023 Digital Audio Group Results
Digital Audio Group Revenue of $318 million up 6%
Podcast Revenue of $132 million up 17%
Digital Revenue excluding Podcast of $186 million down 1%
Segment Adjusted EBITDA of $117 million up 17%
Digital Audio Group Adjusted EBITDA margin of 36.7%
Q4 2023 Multiplatform Group Results
Multiplatform Group Revenue of $684 million down 7%Excluding Multiplatform Group Q4 Political Revenue, Multiplatform Group Q4 Revenue down 3%
Segment Adjusted EBITDA of $142 million down 39%Multiplatform Group Adjusted EBITDA margin of 20.7%
Continued Proactive Capital Structure Improvement
Cash balance and total available liquidity2 of $346 million and $772 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2023
Repurchased $15 million in principal balance of 8.375% Senior Unsecured Notes (at a discount to par) for $10 million in cash; expected to generate approximately $1 million of annualized interest savingsAs of December 31, 2023, since Q2 2022 combined Notes repurchases of $534 million at a discount to par for $447 million cash; in aggregate expected to generate approximately $45 million of annualized interest savings
Cumulative reduction of the outstanding principal balance of these Notes from $1.45 billion as of March 31, 2022 to approximately $0.9 billion as of December 31, 2023
Received cash proceeds of $101 million from sale of equity interest in BMI in February 2024
Full Year 2023 Highlights
Revenue of $3,751 million, down 4%; excluding Full Year 2023 Political Revenue, Revenue down 2%Multiplatform Group Revenue down 6%Excluding Multiplatform Group Political Revenue, Multiplatform Group Revenue down 4%
Digital Audio Group Revenue up 5%Podcast Revenue up 14%
Digital Revenue excluding Podcast flat
GAAP Operating loss of $797 million decreased from GAAP Operating income of $57 million in the year ended December 31, 2022, as a result of the $965 million of non-cash impairment charges recorded in Q2 2023, primarily related to our goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets balances. Full Year 2022 GAAP Operating income included $311 million of non-cash impairment charges, primarily related to our indefinite-lived intangible asset balance.
Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of $697 million, down from $950 million in the year ended December 31, 2022
Generated Cash Flows from operating activities of $213 million
Free Cash Flow of $110 million, Free Cash Flow including net proceeds from real estate sales was $118 million
Received cash proceeds of $45 million from a sale leaseback of radio broadcast towers in Q3 2023
“We’re pleased to report that our fourth quarter results were in line with our previously provided Adjusted EBITDA and Revenue guidance ranges.” said Bob Pittman, iHeartMedia’s Chairman and CEO.
“This quarter the Digital Audio Group achieved the highest Adjusted EBITDA and margin in its history, illustrating the success of this high growth business. We view 2024 as a recovery year in which the company returns to growth mode — we expect to see our Multiplatform Group performance improve quarter by quarter throughout the year, and we expect our Digital Audio Group, including our industry leading podcast business, to continue to grow and reinforce its leadership position in the segment.”
“We continue to see signs of improvement throughout our business and the broader advertising marketplace. Our results this quarter are a strong indication that the reallocation of resources towards our high growth Digital Audio Group has been successful – through our relentless focus on efficiencies we have reduced our Multiplatform Group expenses by approximately 7% since 2019, which has in part enabled us to build a Digital business that generated $1 billion of revenue in 2023 with an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 33%,” said Rich Bressler, iHeartMedia’s President, COO and CFO.
“We expect to see a significant year over year improvement in our 2024 financial performance, supported by our ongoing efficiency efforts and what is anticipated to be record-setting political advertising year.”
Longtime Chambersburg morning radio hosts Lisa Harding and Rick Alexander signed off for the last time from Alpha Media'sWIKZ MIX 95.1 on Thursday.
The two hosts have been on the air in South Central Pennsylvania together for 38 years and married for 33 years. The pair announced their retirement last Friday, according to Fox TV43.
Alexander celebrated 40 years with WIKZ last year. In 1985, Alexander transitioned to program director and became the morning host. Harding joined WIKZ and took over the PM Slot and then was moved to mornings with Alexander in 1986.
Paramount Global missed revenue expectations for the fourth quarter Wednesday but posted a surprise quarterly profit and posted strong results from its streaming platform Paramount+.
For the last three months of 2023, Paramount reported a profit of $514 million, or 77 cents per share, up from $21 million, or 1 cent per share, the year prior. Adjusted for one-time items, earnings per share were 4 cents for the period.
CNBC reports Paramount — home to brands such as CBS, Showtime, BET, Nickelodeon and its namesake movie studio — reported a 6% year-over-year revenue decline but posted notable strides in its streaming segment.
Paramount+, its flagship streaming service, reached 67.5 million subscribers during the period, a net increase of 4.1 million, and recorded 69% revenue growth year over year. The company expects to achieve profitability for Paramount+ by 2025, it said Wednesday.
Subscription revenue in the fourth quarter grew by 43%, partially driven by price increases, and revenue across its entire direct-to-consumer segment grew 34%.
Paramount saw a 27% jump in global viewing hours across Paramount+ and Pluto TV during the fourth quarter.
“Looking ahead, we continue to be focused on maximizing the return on our content investments and scaling streaming, while transforming the cost base of our business,” CEO Bob Bakish said in a press release. “And I couldn’t be more thrilled with the early momentum we’ve had across every platform in 2024, demonstrating the power of our strategy and assets.”
Paramount has been exploring sale options for all or parts of its business in recent months as the media landscape rapidly changes. Paramount has struggled without a solid growth narrative, with shares down more than 50% over the past two years.
Paramount announced about 800 layoffs earlier this month, just a day after the company revealed it had reached record viewership numbers for this year’s Super Bowl.
The company on Wednesday reported its TV media revenue declined 12% year over year. Advertising revenue declined 15% due to overall “softness in the global advertising market and 5-percentage point impact from lower political advertising,” according to the earnings release.
Revenue in Paramount’s filmed entertainment sector sank 31% year over year driven by lower licensing revenue.
Within the report, Paramount revealed that it had gained 4.5 million streaming subscribers on Paramount+ between the start of October and the end of December, leading to a current total of 67.5 million. At the end of Q3 2023, Paramount+ had 63 million paid subscribers. This represents a 7.14% increase in subscribers over the previous quarter and a 20.75% jump year-over-year.
Does where one lives in the U.S. affect what one listens to? Edison Research’s Share of Ear® study finds that indeed, listeners from urban, suburban, and rural areas (as defined by the U.S. Census) exhibit distinctively different behaviors when it comes to AM/FM radio listening, and podcast listening.
As seen in the graphic below, those who live in rural areas spend a much higher portion of their audio listening time with AM/FM radio, as compared with those living in suburban or urban areas. Rural listeners spend 43% of their daily audio listening time with AM/FM radio and radio streams, compared with urban listeners who spend 34% of their time with AM/FM radio and radio streams.
Meanwhile, Urban listeners spend over twice as much of their daily audio time with podcasts as rural listeners. Urban listeners spend 13% of their daily audio time with podcasts compared with rural listeners who spend 6% of their daily time with podcasts. For both data points, those who live in the suburbs fall in between.
Share of Ear measures all audio usage, not only radio and podcasting. But take your eye back to the graphic and add the numbers for each location together. You’ll see that in combination these numbers are essentially the same – between 47% and 49%. It appears that the ‘time budget’ for radio and podcasting combined is consistent across locations; it is just the apportionment of that time that varies.
WIVK’s Gunner is retiring June 20 after decades behind the mic. The radio DJ has met, or interviewed, some of country music’s biggest names along the way.
“It’s your cowboy pal Gunner,” he said to his listeners from his studio on Tuesday. It’s an unmistakable voice in East Tennessee. WVLT-TV8 reports.
Gunner says his career it all started because of a comment by a high school teacher. “Public speaking, it was the only thing I was good at,” Gunner said. “Her words, not mine.”
Gunner started small, beginning his career at AM 1470 in Maryville, then going to 94.3 in Knoxville and The Hit Kicker 100.3 before landing at WIVK 107.7, where he’s been for the last 25 years.
A career spanning six decades means meeting some big names in country music, like Jason Aldean and Emily Ann Roberts. The WIVK studio is decorated with country musicians Gunner interviewed before they got famous, like Blake Shelton, Kelsea Ballerini, and a 15-year-old Taylor Swift.
“She was a sweetheart,” Gunner said about Swift. “And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know a superstar when you see one. Even at 15 years old.”
Off the air, Gunner has done a lot of charity work, mainly with veterans. Gunner followed troops around Iraq in 2004 and set up a weekly radio show to allow the deployed troops to communicate with their families.
“We landed in Baghdad, and we got immediately shot at,” he said. “And basically shot at through the whole time.”
Gunner said a lot changed in the radio business over the course of his career, but one that stayed the same was how he spoke to his audience, which he says was authentic.
Beasley Media Group has announced the relocation of Kathy Romano’s empowering radio show, “Her Story”, from 95.7 BEN FM to the dynamic airwaves of 93.3 WMMR-FM, starting Sunday, March 3, 2024, at 7:00 AM.
Kathy Romano’s Her Story Weekly Program Moves to Sunday Mornings on 93.3 WMMR-FM in Philadelphia
“Her Story” illuminates the remarkable narratives of women catalyzing tangible change in their communities and beyond. Originally launched on BEN-FM in February 2017, this weekly spotlight has now found its new home on WMMR-FM.
It was a busy day in our nation's capital: Mitch McConnell is hanging up his hat as Republican Senate leader. Congress voted to avert a shutdown. And the Supreme Court ruled on Donald Trump's immunity claims. Here's the rundown:
McConnell's step down: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the longest-serving Senate leader and a colossal figure in Congress, said he is cutting loose from his leadership post in November, telling his colleagues on Wednesday, “One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life's next chapter.” McConnell, 82, will finish his current term in the Senate, which is set to end in January 2027.
After nearly two decades in the role, Sen. Mitch McConnell announced he will step down as Senate minority leader in November, saying it's "time to move on." @jonkarl reports as congressional leaders avert a partial government shutdown. https://t.co/v25n7nQn4ppic.twitter.com/stn9nmcdcI
Supreme Court will hear Trump immunity claims: The high court said it will decide whether former President Donald Trump can be tried for trying to steal the 2020 election, setting an accelerated schedule to hear the case in April while his criminal trial remains delayed.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday announced it will determine if former President Donald Trump is entitled to broad immunity from criminal prosecution for conduct that occurred while he was in office. pic.twitter.com/VeboHCej7G
Shutdown averted – temporarily: Congress has agreed on a short-term spending deal to avert a partial government shutdown, kicking the can down the road once again as lawmakers struggle to reach a consensus on a longer-term deal.
➤TRUMP OFF ILLINOIS BALLOT: An Illinois judge barred former President Donald Trump from the state's Republican presidential primary ballot on Wednesday over his alleged role in the Capitol riot. The decision reignites the battle in Illinois to remove the former president from 2024 ballots. Cook County Circuit Judge Tracie Porter agreed with a group of Illinois voters who argued that Trump should be disqualified for violating a clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Advocates in Illinois – and across the country – have argued that Trump engaged in the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. They say that bars him from serving as president again because a section of the 14th Amendment, enacted after the Civil War, blocks people from office who had engaged in insurrection after previously promising to support the Constitution.
➤JUDGE REJECTS TRUMP REQUEST: A New York appellate judge rejected an emergency request Wednesday from Donald Trump to post a $100 million bond while appealing what he called an “exorbitant and punitive” $454 million fraud judgment against him. State Attorney General Letitia James opposed Trump's request and asked for the former president to have to post the entire judgment, to ensure the state would be paid if he loses his appeal. Judge Anil Singh of the state court’s Appellate Division ruled Trump has to post a bond for the entire judgment and that his three-year prohibition against running a corporation in New York would remain in force. However, he did allow Trump's two adult sons to run the Trump Organization while the appeal is considered, despite the trial imposing a similar prohibition on Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. The business prohibition also bars him from getting loans from financial institutions chartered or registered in the state.
➤HUNTER ADMITS HE WAS 'HIGH OR DRUNK': First son Hunter Biden claimed in congressional testimony Wednesday that he was “high or drunk” when he wrote to a Chinese associate in 2017 that he was “sitting here with my father” — shortly before the transfer of $5.1 million into Biden family-linked accounts. A readout of the 54-year-old first son’s closed-door impeachment inquiry deposition was provided to numerous news outlets Wednesday evening citing Hunter’s claim that President Biden had nothing to do with the shakedown of Chinese state-linked CEFC China Energy. The readout said “Hunter admitted that he was high or drunk when he sent the ‘sitting here with my father’ WhatsApp message, sent it to the wrong recipient, and is now embarrassed by the message.”
The South Carolina primary propelled Fox News to be the most-watched cable network in total day and primetime for the sixth consecutive week. Meanwhile, MSNBC, unfortunately, was the only network to record week-to-week declines in primetime and total day.
TV Newser reports the Nielsen live plus same-day data for the week of Feb. 19 gives Fox News another win. Not only was it boosted by the South Carolina primary, but Tuesday’s Donald Trump town hall moderated by Laura Ingraham also saw positive returns as The Ingraham Angle had its highest-rated show since moving to the 7 p.m. ET slot in July 2023. Tuesday’s show netted 3.3 million total viewers and 358,000 in the Adults 25-54 demo.
In primetime, FNC averaged 2.100 million total viewers and 236,000 A25-54 viewers. The network was flat in total viewers but saw a +2% gain in the A25-54 demo, relative to the week prior (week beginning Feb. 12). In total day viewing, Fox News averaged 1.342 million total viewers and 159,000 A25-54 viewers, which translated to a -3% drop in both categories from what Fox News averaged in those measurements the week prior.
Among all basic cable networks, Fox News maintained its No. 1 position in total primetime viewers and No. 4 in the primetime demo. In total day, the network was the only cable network to cross one million total viewers in total day, holding its No. 1 position, while it jumped up from No. 3 to No. 2 in the total day demo for the week of Feb. 19, 2024.
MSNBC in primetime averaged 1.326 million total viewers and 120,000 viewers from the A25-54 demo for the week of Feb. 19. It had a -9% drop in total viewers and a double-digit drop of -14% in the A25-54 demo from what the network averaged the week prior. CNN averaged 623,000 total primetime viewers and 129,000 A25-54 viewers in primetime for the week of Feb. 19. The news net had a drop of -8% and a gain of +3% in total viewers and A25-54, respectively, compared to the prior week.
Fox had 10 out of the 15 most-watched cable news shows of the week, led once again by The Five (3.004 million viewers at 5 p.m. ET). MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell at 10 p.m. ET was the most-watched non-Fox cable news show of the week, coming in at No. 7 with an average of 1.678 million viewers. MSNBC had four of its shows in the top 15 of most-watched cable news shows.
NBC News’ TODAY was the number-one morning show in February, topping ABC’s “Good Morning America” in the key demo A25-54 for six consecutive months.
TODAY posted its largest February demo win over GMA in three years and its best monthly streak since January 2017. Additionally, TODAY posted its best February total viewer performance in four years.
Last week, TODAY marked its 28th straight weekly demo win, its longest streak since December 2020. TODAY also narrowed the total viewer gap with GMA by 47% versus the prior week and topped GMA in total viewers last Tuesday and Thursday.
Season to date, TODAY is the top-rated morning show in the key demo, with an advantage more than seven times higher than the prior season. TODAY marked its best key demo start to a season versus GMA in five years.
iHeartMedia has named Taylor Jukes as Senior Vice President of Programming for San Diego.
Jukes joins from iHeartMedia/Miami, where she served as the Program Director of WHYI (Y100). She continues her role on the iHeart CHR Brand Team.
Taylor Jukes
Previously, Taylor was Program Director of Virgin Radio's CKFM and National Content Director for iHeartRadio Canada. She previously held programming and on-air roles at Alternative CHHR (Shore 104)/Vancouver, BC, Virgin Radio Vancouver, Top 40 CHBN Edmonton, AB and others.
"We are so excited to welcome Taylor into our San Diego cluster. Her knowledge of the audio business and track record speak for themselves. We are eager for Taylor to bring her skill set and big ideas from Miami to an already incredible cluster of stations," said iHeartMedia San Diego Market President Noreen Ippolito.
"I'm thrilled to be heading back to the West Coast to join the team in beautiful San Diego, where they have strong heritage brands and an amazing roster of talent. Thanks to Noreen Ippolito and Gene Romano for this incredible programming leadership opportunity," added Jukes.
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