Since the election, CNN has seen a 45 percent drop in prime-time viewership, down to only 394,000 total viewers. Overall, this year CNN has had its worst-ever performance among viewers in the key demographic, reports The Washington Post.
In some ways, it’s unfair to pick on one particular network. Television viewership is down across the board, as viewers unsubscribe from pricey cable packages and opt either for cheaper streaming packages or free content on YouTube or social media platforms.
MSNBC has also lost a large chunk of a viewership that was likely disappointed by the election results. It started with a larger audience, and it still trails CNN among the 25-to-54 age demographic valued by advertisers across the daily lineup.
A CNN executive, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly, said it’s wrong to compare the network’s audience to that of Fox News and MSNBC, which are more ideologically oriented. The better comparison, this person said, is to the BBC, which similarly has a large global newsgathering operation and a worldwide audience.
Ratings do matter, though. A larger audience nets CNN more money from advertisers and makes the channel a more desirable option for cable companies when deciding how much they are willing to pay to include it in their lineup.
“Ratings control everything,” said a former senior producer who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly. “It controls the money, it controls the influence, and it’s a huge morale issue. You can worry about the future all you want, but right now TV is where the money is and where the reputation is.”
Also sapping morale is the specter of layoffs on the horizon. CNN laid off hundreds of employees at the end of 2022 and, officially, the network has declined to address speculation that more cuts await.
“Everyone is concerned, but there is no clear indication when or how significant layoffs will be, or even if they are coming at all,” said a senior producer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment. “Everyone’s on edge,” the CNN political journalist said.
Incoming FCC Chairman Brendan Carr says he will pay close attention to television network ABC's efforts to ink new affiliate deals amid declining trust among viewers.
Carr penned a letter sent to Disney CEO Bob Iger that cautioned him about how ABC negotiates new affiliate contracts.
Carr also said ABC must regain trust after it agreed to pay a $15 million settlement and a further $1 million in attorneys fees for false comments made during the recent election cycle.
Carr is President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to chair the FCC and in a letter sent to Iger on Saturday said, "Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately and fairly," UPI reported.
Bob Igeer
"ABC's own conduct has certainly contributed to this erosion in public trust," Carr wrote. "For instance, ABC News recently agreed to pay $15 million to President Trump's future president foundation and museum and an additional $1 million in attorney fees to settle a defamation case."
He cautioned against ABC "attempting to extract onerous financial and operational concessions from local broadcast TV stations under the threat of terminating long-held affiliations" that might cause news blackouts and other harms to consumers, The Hill reported.
"I will be monitoring the outcome of your ongoing discussions with local broadcast TV stations to ensure that those negotiations enable local broadcast TV stations to meet their federal obligations to serve the needs of their local communities," Carr said.
He added that polling shows Americans generally trust their local media sources but not national outlets like Disney-owned ABC News.
Gallup in October published polling results showing Americans' trust is highest in local and statewide political and civic institutions and lowest for media and Congress.
"Americans continue to register record-low trust in the mass media, with 31% expressing a 'great deal' or 'fair amount' of confidence in the media to report the news 'fully, accurately and fairly,'similar to last year's 32%," wrote Gallup's Megan Brenan.
Brenan said Americans' trust in television, radio and newspapers first fell to 32% in 2016 and surpassed that low last year.
For a third straight year, Gallup polling showed more U.S. adults -- 36% -- have no or little trust in the media. Another 33% indicated they do not have much confidence in media. Moreover, only 31% cited a great deal or fair amount of trust in media.
After Hurricane Helene brought devastating flooding to North Carolina, internet and cell phone service were spotty at best. But many were able to coordinate relief efforts and get crucial information out over AM radio, including iHeartMedia's WWNC 570 AM in Ashville, NC.
Recent Television ratings — and now a new AP-NORC poll — clearly illustrate two-thirds of American adults say they have recently felt the need to limit media consumption about politics and government because of overload.
Smaller percentages of Americans are limiting their intake of news about overseas conflicts, the economy or climate change, the poll says. Politics stand out.
The AP reports election news on CNN and MSNBC was taking up too much of Sam Gude’s time before the election, said the 47-year-old electrician from Lincoln, Nebraska. “The last thing I want to watch right now is the interregnum,” said Gude, a Democrat and no fan of President-elect Donald Trump.
Poll finds more Democrats than Republicans stepping away from news.
The poll, conducted in early December, found that about 7 in 10 Democrats say they are stepping back from political news. The percentage isn’t as high for Republicans, who have reason to celebrate Trump’s victory. Still, about 6 in 10 Republicans say they’ve felt the need to take some time off too, and the share for independents is similar.
The differences are far starker for the TV networks that have been consumed by political news.
After election night through Dec. 13, the prime-time viewership of MSNBC was an average of 620,000, down 54% from the pre-election audience this year, the Nielsen company said. For the same time comparison, CNN’s average of 405,000 viewers was down 45%.
At Fox News Channel, a favorite news network for Trump fans, the post-election average of 2.68 million viewers is up 13%, Nielsen said. Since the election, 72% of the people watching one of those three cable networks in the evening were watching Fox News, compared to 53% prior to election day.
Some of the Americans who have turned away from political news lately also had some advice for getting them engaged again.
Gude said, for example, that MSNBC will always have a hard-core audience of Trump haters. But if the network wants to expand its audience, “then you have to talk about issues, and you have to stop talking about Trump.”
A San Antonio native and radio personality is getting back on the airwaves. Tony Cortez will join the morning show at KONO 101.1. The move comes amid mass radio layoffs, which hit Cortez, Jenni Lee at 105.3 and Joe Pags at 1200 WOAI last month.
"Our friends, Jenny & Tony are no longer on the air with us at Hits 105.3. They’ve been a vital and successful part of our team for a long time and we’re going to miss them. They are both wonderful people and they will always have our appreciation and respect," the media company wrote last month.
However, Cortez is now headed to the iconic San Antonio radio station at the end of the month, reports mysantonio.com.
Tony Cortez
"Please welcome San Antonio favorite Tony Cortez to the KO-NO Airwaves. Tony takes over the KO-NO Morning Show Monday 12/30," KONO 101.1 wrote on social media.
Cortez, a Texas State University graduate, has been in radio for more than two decades. The news of his latest career adventure quickly spread, as well as congratulatory messages from fellow radio personalities including Steve Casanova.
"I'm so happy for my friend and fellow broadcaster Tony Cortez," he shared on Facebook along with a picture next to Cortez.
On the KONO 101.1 Facebook post about Cortez's arrival to the station, Casanova wrote, "Tony Cortez is a consummate radio personality. I can't wait to hear him blast off next Monday!"
Casanova recently retired from his position at KONO 101.1. in October. The San Antonio veteran radio personality worked with the station for 42 years.
Richard Perry, a record producer who became one of the most sought-after figures behind the scenes of pop music in the 1970s and ’80s through his work with Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, the Pointer Sisters and others, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 82, reports The NY Times.
The cause of his death, in a hospital, was cardiac arrest, said Daphna Kastner Keitel, a friend.
Perry began his producing career in the late 1960s with some of music’s most inspired oddities: He recorded Tiny Tim’s debut album, “God Bless Tiny Tim” (featuring “Tip-Toe Thru’ the Tulips With Me,” a Top 20 hit in 1968), and Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band’s “Safe as Milk.”
But by the early 1970s, he had become one of the most reliable hitmakers in the business, wrapping stars in a clear, powerful production style that sounded superb on the radio.
He recorded Ms. Streisand’s 1971 album “Stoney End,” on which she embraced the contemporary pop songwriting of Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman. After that, he produced Harry Nilsson’s “Nilsson Schmilsson” (1971), featuring the hits “Without You,” “Jump Into the Fire” and “Coconut”; Ringo Starr’s solo LPs “Ringo” (1973) and “Goodnight Vienna” (1974); and Ms. Simon’s “No Secrets” (1972), which included her signature song “You’re So Vain.”
A trained oboist and drummer who had sung in a teenage doo-wop group, Mr. Perry had a deft ear for crafting the sharpest and most appealing performance of a song. That often involved huge studio budgets and exacting attention to detail.
For “You’re So Vain,” he went through three drummers in search of the ideal beat; Simon told the British music magazine Uncut in 2010 that he recorded 100 takes before he was satisfied. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart and created a lasting mystery about its subject, a self-absorbed playboy who tossed women aside the way he changed his apricot-colored scarf. Over the years, Simon has been coy about who inspired the character, but Perry said she told him it was a composite largely based on the actor Warren Beatty.
Perry also lived the high life as a top-of-the-heap producer. His book “Cloud Nine: Memoirs of a Record Producer” is packed with tales of late-night cruising with Paul Simon, dancing with Tina Turner and star-filled parties at his home in the Hollywood Hills, which was once owned by Ronald Reagan. In recent years, he had been romantically involved with Jane Fonda.
Richard Van Perry was born in Brooklyn on June 18, 1942, to Mack and Sylvia Perry, who ran a business selling musical instruments to schools. In his memoir, he described teenage pilgrimages to the disc jockey Alan Freed’s concerts at the Brooklyn Paramount, where he saw early rock heroes like Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau said Paramount Global is being fined $244,952 for violations of emergency alerting rules and the company has entered into a consent degree detailing how it will work to avoid future violations.
TV Technology reports the fine and decree follow an FCC investigation into allegations that various operations owned by Paramount improperly transmitted Emergency Alert System (EAS) codes, the EAS attention signal or recordings or simulations during two TV programs and one radio program.
In the consent decree, Paramount admitted violations involving the syndicated “Entertainment Tonight” broadcast on Oct. 25, 2023 and the CBS News Radio “On the Hour” newscast on June 6, 2024. It also admitted certain facts regarding an episode of “Young Sheldon” broadcast by the CBS Television Network on May 18, 2023.
The FCC has rules against broadcasting emergency alert tones outside of emergency alerts because their regular use in programming might desensitize viewers and listeners, causing them to ignore actual emergency alerts.
The FCC issued several significant fines regarding a variety of EAS rules in 2024, against such companies as ESPN and Charter Communications.
The investigation into CBS News Radio began after Paramount emailed the FCC on June 7 indicating that a news story concerning an event at Universal Studios “may have improperly transmitted or caused to be transmitted an EAS tone or simulation thereof,” the FCC said. The company said a top-of-the-hour newcast airing on 400 CBS News Radio affiliates at 4 p.m. (ET) on June 6 contained about three seconds of the EAS attention signal. Most affiliates carried the newscast, the FCC said.
The latest Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) report highlights significant challenges in achieving diversity and inclusion in public media newsrooms.
Despite efforts, many employees still feel disenfranchised and out of place in their workplaces.
The report, based on a 2023 survey with 215 responses from public media journalists, reveals that leadership and employee retention are key areas needing improvement.
The survey reached journalists at over 80 stations, with varying response rates to different questions.
Stan Jastrzebski, who analyzed the research, found that leadership often does not reflect the diversity that newsrooms aim to achieve.
Thirty-two respondents described their workforce as mostly white, attributing this to their station's location or small staff.
PMJA Executive Director Christine Paige Diers emphasized that this report is a "first step" and that future efforts will focus on curriculum development and leadership training. The report also includes recommendations for building diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility into everyday operations and planning.
Paige Diers
PMJA’s report includes recommendations that drew upon other sources such as networking meetups and feedback from conference attendees, Diers said.
Those recommendations include:
Going beyond race and ethnicity so that the newsroom has a “variety of abilities, ideologies, and experiences”
Taking concrete steps to build diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility into everyday operations and planning
Considering new reporting strategies and partnerships
Regularly updating staff on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives and being transparent about finances and audience development
Investing in onboarding and professional development
The report also pointed to questions for future research, such as examining turnover at stations or if and why LGBTQIA+ journalists are better represented in public media newsrooms than at commercial outlets.
The Federal Communications Commission has officially adopted new rules allowing FM broadcasters to use booster signals for program content, up to three minutes each hour. These changes are set to take effect on January 13, 2024, following their publication in the Federal Register.
According to the Media Bureau, the initial phase of these new regulations will focus on ensuring compliance with the Emergency Alert System, service parameters, licensing requirements, and political programming guidelines. However, other changes are still under review by the Office of Management and Budget, including new and modified information collection requirements. These additional updates will take effect at a later date once finalized and published.
In a unanimous vote last November, the Commission transitioned the use of FM boosters for originating programming from an experimental status to a permanent one. This move could see an increase in stations utilizing the technology developed by GeoBroadcast Solutions, which has sparked some controversy.
The National Association of Broadcasters and various radio organizations have expressed strong opposition to this technology, citing concerns over potential interference with other FM stations and the implication for advertisers to "red line" their buys. This could negatively impact many minority-owned stations that have been foremost advocates for ZoneCasting.
To address these interference concerns, the FCC has included additional safeguards in the final rules, establishing procedures for predicting and mitigating potential issues. The order (FCC 24-121) limits the number of program-originating boosters a single station can operate to 25 and includes notification procedures to keep other broadcasters and emergency alert officials informed about the FM's programming on geo-targeted signals, thereby protecting the Emergency Alert System.
➦In 1921..Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen was born in 1921 (Died October 30, 2000). He was a radio and TV personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-creator and first host of The Tonight Show, the first late-night television talk show.
Steve Allen
Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his extensive network television career. He gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. After he hosted The Tonight Show, he went on to host numerous game and variety shows, including his own The Steve Allen Show, I've Got a Secret, and The New Steve Allen Show. He was a regular panel member on CBS's What's My Line?, and from 1977 until 1981 wrote, produced, and hosted the award-winning public broadcasting show Meeting of Minds, a series of historical dramas presented in a talk format.
Allen was a pianist and a prolific composer. By his own estimate, he wrote more than 8,500 songs, some of which were recorded by numerous leading singers. Working as a lyricist, Allen won the 1964 Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition. He also wrote more than 50 books, including novels, children's books, and books of opinions, including his final book, Vulgarians at the Gate: Trash TV and Raunch Radio (2001).
Allen was an announcer for radio KFAC in Los Angeles, then moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1946, talking the station into airing his five-nights-a-week comedy show Smile Time, co-starring Wendell Noble. After Allen moved to CBS Radio's KNX in Los Angeles, his music-and-talk half-hour format gradually changed to include more talk in an hour-long late-night format, boosting his popularity and creating standing-room-only studio audiences.
During a show's segment, Allen went into the audience with a microphone to ad lib on-air for the first time. It became a commonplace part of his studio performances for many years. His program attracted a huge local following, and as the host of a 1950 summer replacement show for the popular comedy Our Miss Brooks, he was exposed to a national audience for the first time.
Allen died at age 78 on October 30th, 2000 after a minor traffic accident caused a blood vessel in his heart wall to rupture.
➦In 1926...WSM, the “WSM Barn Dance” began regular Saturday night broadcasts. Within two years it was renamed the “Grand Ole Opry.”
➦In 1950...The Gillette Safety Razor Company & Mutual radio signed agreements for the radio rights for the next six years to baseball’s World Series and All-Star games. The price tag: a comparatively paltry $6 million dollars.
➦In 1953...The soap opera “Big Sister” was heard for the last time on CBS radio. The 15-minute melodrama had been on the air daily for 16 years. “Big Sister” was the ongoing story of Sue Evans Miller and her relationship with her big sister, Ruth Evans.
➦In 1954...Original "The Shadow" radio programs lurked around the airwaves for the final time. It originated in 1930 with vigilante crime-fighter Lamont Cranston battling greed and corruption on a weekly basis. “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows….”
➦In 1963...Capitol Records rushed released its first single by The Beatles. “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, backed with “I Saw Her Standing There”, was released after DJ Carroll James on WWDC in Washington, DC had begun airing an imported copy. "Hand" reached #1 on February 1, 1964. The flood of music by John, Paul, George and Ringo had started the British Invasion, changing contemporary music forever.
➦In 1965...Beatle Paul McCartney was interviewed on pirate radio station “Radio Caroline” while spending Christmas at his father’s home in Cheshire, England. Later Paul crashed from the moped he was riding and suffered a five-inch cut to his mouth.
➦In 1974...one of the true titans of both big-time radio & TV, Jack Benny died of pancreatic cancer at age 80.
His weekly radio show was consistently top rated over a 23 year run ending in 1955. He appeared regularly on CBS-TV from 1950-65. He is credited with developing a broadcast format for comedy that is still being widely followed today.
Benny had been a minor vaudeville performer before becoming a national figure with The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show that ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. It was among the most highly rated programs during its run.
Benny's long radio career began on April 6, 1932, when the NBC Commercial Program Department auditioned him for the N.W. Ayer agency and their client, Canada Dry, after which Bertha Brainard, head of the division, said, "We think Mr. Benny is excellent for radio and, while the audition was unassisted as far as orchestra was concerned, we believe he would make a great bet for an air program." Recalling the experience in 1956, Benny stated that Ed Sullivan had invited him to guest on his program (1932), and "the agency for Canada Dry ginger ale heard me and offered me a job."
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world.
A liturgical feast central to Christianity, preparation for Christmas begins on the First Sunday of Advent and it is followed by Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many countries, is observed religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as celebrated culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the annual holiday season.
The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament, known as the Nativity of Jesus, says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with messianic prophecies. When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room, and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds, who then spread the word.
There are different hypotheses regarding the date of Jesus's birth. In the early fourth century, the church fixed the date as December 25, the date of the winter solstice in the Roman Empire. It is nine months after Annunciation on March 25, also the Roman date of the spring equinox. Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world.
However, part of the Eastern Christian Churches celebrate Christmas on December 25 of the older Julian calendar, which currently corresponds to January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. For Christians, believing that God came into the world in the form of man to atone for the sins of humanity rather than knowing Jesus's exact birth date is considered to be the primary purpose of celebrating Christmas.
Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is indeed a holiday favorite, topping the Billboard Hot 100 during the festive season for the past several years. It's the most listened-to song in states like Illinois, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Georgia. However, a Newsweek map shows, many states have their own favorites.
Other popular Christmas songs include "Run Rudolph Run," "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," "Jingle Bells," "Deck The Halls," and "Feliz Navidad." Despite its popularity, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" was also ranked as the "most annoying" Christmas song in a survey by Finance Buzz, with "Feliz Navidad" and "Deck The Halls" also making the list.
Newsweek reports Christmas songs are beloved for their nostalgic and family-oriented themes. Music producer Lee Evans notes that memorable Christmas songs touch a common nerve around the holidays, while Professor Brian Rabinovitz explains that our brains make joyful associations with these songs, enhancing their popularity. Professor Joe Bennett adds that Christmas songs often focus on themes like homecoming, togetherness, love, and family, making them timeless classics.
Brian Rabinovitz, a professor of psychological sciences and Faculty Affiliate of the Neuroscience Program at the College of William & Mary, explains that Christmas songs aren't fundamentally different from other popular music. However, we naturally form associations in our memory, and if Christmas is a joyful time for you, you'll likely associate certain songs with those happy moments. This is why people often have a soft spot for festive music.
He adds that you probably listened to these songs while spending quality time with friends and family, feeling the excitement of presents to come. These positive associations make Christmas music particularly memorable and beloved.
➦In 1931...Lawrence Tibbett was the featured vocalist as radio came to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The first opera broadcast was “Hansel und Gretel”, heard on the NBC network stations. In between acts of the opera, moderator Olin Downes would conduct an opera quiz, asking celebrity guests opera-related questions.
The program’s host and announcer was Milton Cross, who stayed with the weekly broadcasts for 43 years.
Arturo Toscanini
➦In 1937...Arturo Toscanini conducted the first broadcast of “Symphony of the Air” over NBC radio.
➦In 1945...Gary Lee Sandy born. Sandy played program director Andy Travis on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati.
➦In 1948...92.3 FM NYC frequency signed-on as WMCA-FM. (Today the station is WINS 92.3 FM and is owned by Audacy Communications, simulcasts All-News 1010WINS).
For the next year, it operated daily from 3p-9p, simulcasting WMCA, 570 AM.
The WMCA Happy Face logo
In December 1949, Nathan Straus, president of WMCA, announced he was closing down the station because he was losing $4000 a month.
He had said several times that baseball games were cut short on the FM, deliberately to elicit response from listeners and he had received only 2 letters in regard to this practice during all of the summer of 1949.
Straus cited several reasons for the failure of FM: drifting of receivers, difficulty in tuning them, the union rule that announcers who were simulcast on FM and AM be paid double in New York and he said people could already hear WMCA on AM.
Further, Straus said that he had twice tried to give WMCA-FM away and couldn't.
This announcement drew sharp criticism from Major Edwin Armstrong, the inventor of the FM system of broadcasting, who said that Straus was not giving FM a fair chance.
Straus announced that WMCA-FM would quit permanently on December 31, 1949, but the day before, a group of businessmen and people associated with WIBG in Philadelphia announced their intention of buying WMCA-FM for $7500.
So, WMCA-FM continued its 3p-9p schedule throughout 1950, however the negotiations with the WIBG group fell through.
In late 1950, WHOM 1480 AM, announced that it would purchase WMCA-FM. An agreement was reached and 92.3 became WHOM-FM on February 26, 1951.
By 1975, the station had evolved into a Pop/Rock leaning AC format, with calls of WKTU.
On July 24, 1978, WKTU abruptly switched to an "All Disco" format as "Disco 92", which eventually evolved into more of a Rhythmic CHR by the Fall of 1979.
In the summer of 1984, WKTU became a mainstream CHR.
Then, in July of 1985, after airing the Live Aid concert, the station switched to a mainstream AOR format, featuring new and classic rock as WXRK "K-Rock".
In September 1985, Howard Stern (who had been fired from WNBC earlier that year) joined the station, initially for afternoons and in early 1986 switched to mornings.
In 1987, WXRK had instituted a classic rock format and on January 5, 1996, evolved into an alternative/active rock format.
On April 4, 2005, WXRK debuted a mainstream rock format, encompassing music from the 60's to today.
On December 16, 2005, Howard Stern broadcast his last show on the station, before his anticipated move to Sirius Satellite Radio on January 9, 2006.
On January 3, 2006, 92.3 became an "all-talk" station (with the exception of weekends when it features a rock format) using the "Free FM" slogan and featuring David Lee Roth in mornings. Calls were officially changed to WFNY on January 1. In April 2006, David Lee Roth was replaced with Opie & Anthony.
On May 24, 2007 at 5pm, "K-Rock" returned to 92.3. Calls were changed back to WXRK on May 31, 2007.
On March 11, 2009, 92.3 switched to a CHR format as "92.3 Now FM", with the "K-Rock" format moving to 92.3's HD2 channel.
92.3 changed calls to WNOW on November 8, 2012.
On May 22, 2014 at 2pm, 92.3 re-branded themselves as "92.3 AMP."
Calls changed to WBMP on June 23, 2014. In 2017, the station was sold by CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy). The format was flipped to Alternative upon the deal closing and calls were changed once again to WNYL.
➦In 1964...In New York, "Murray The K's Big Holiday Show" featured the Zombies, the Nashville Teens, and the Hullabaloos.
➦In 1995...legendary singer/crooner, actor, comedian, and Rat-Pack member Dean Martin died of respiratory failure at age 78.
➦In 2006...the “hardest working man in show business,” urban star James Brown died of pneumonia at an Atlanta hospital. He was 73.
The one-time radio station owner was nicknamed the "Godfather of Soul", died.
➦In 2008... actress & chanteuse Eartha Kitt, best known for her hit songs C’est Si Bon & Santa Baby, who was the 2nd Catwoman on the 1960’s Batman TV series, succumbed to colon cancer at age 81.
Gary Sandy is 79
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Hanna Schygulla (“Barnum,” ″Casanova”) is 81.
Singer John Edwards of The Spinners is 80.
Actor Gary Sandy (“WKRP In Cincinnati”) is 79.
Country singer Barbara Mandrell is 76.
Actor Sissy Spacek is 75.
Blues musician Joe Louis Walker is 75.
Actor CCH Pounder is 72.
Guitarist Robin Campbell of UB40 is 70.
Singer Annie Lennox is 70.
Singer Steve Wariner is 70.
Actor Klea Scott (“Millennium”) is 56.
Guitarist Noel Hogan of The Cranberries is 53.
Singer Dido is 53.
Singer Mac Powell of Third Day is 52.
Country singer Alecia Elliott is 42.
Singer Jess and Lisa Origliasso of The Veronicas are 40.
Actor Perdita Weeks (2018′s “Magnum P.I.”) is 39.
Singer-guitarist Lukas Nelson of Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real is 36.
✞REMEMBRANCES
In 1946..W C Fields, writer and comedian (Bank Dick, It's A Gift), dies at 67
In 1977..Charlie Chaplin, British actor and comedian (Modern Times, The Kid), dies in Switzerland at 88
In 1979..Joan Blondell, American actress (Real McCoys), dies of leukemia at 73
In 1989..Billy Martin, American baseball 2nd baseman (MLB All Star 1956; World Series 1951, 52, 53, 56; NY Yankees) and manager (World Series 1977 NY Yankees), killed in a car accident at 61
In 1995..Dean Martin, American singer ("That's Amore"; "Everybody Loves Somebody"; "Sway"), comedian and actor (Martin and Lewis, The Dean Martin Show), dies of throat cancer at 78
In 1996..Jon Benet Ramsey, Colorado child beauty queen, murdered at 6
In 2006..James Brown, American R&B, gospel, soul and funk singer-songwriter known as 'The Godfather of Soul' ("Sex Machine"; "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"; "Hot Pants"), dies of heart failure at 73
In 2008..Eartha Kitt, American singer (Santa Baby), dancer, comedian, actress and activist (Catwoman-Batman), dies at 81
In 2009..Tony "T-Bone" Bellamy, American rock guitarist (Redbone), dies of liver failure at 63
In 2016..George Michael, English singer-songwriter and pop superstar (Wham! - "Careless Whisper"; "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"; solo - " I Want Your Sex"; "Faith"), dies of suspected heart failure at 53
iHeartMedia subsidiary iHeartCommunications pushed back the maturity date of much of its debt by three years and reduced its amount of long-term debt by $440 million.
In November, the company’s debt holders were allowed to exchange existing debt for new debt with higher interest — and approximately $4.8 billion, or 92.2%, of them, participated in the exchange offer that ended on Dec. 18. The end result is that the “vast majority” of the debt’s maturities have been extended by three years and annual cash interest payments are expected to remain “relatively flat,” according to a Monday (Dec. 23) press release.
Billboard reports investors welcomed the financial breathing room provided by the exchange offer. Shares of iHeartMedia were up 9.6% to $2.06 in mid-afternoon trading after rising as much as 15.7% to $2.175 earlier in the day. iHeartMedia’s stock price has declined 22.7% year to date.
Rating agency S&P Global called the debt restructuring “tantamount to a default” because “lenders will receive less than originally promised without offsetting adequate compensation.” Even though the new debt carries a higher interest rate, S&P believes “the rates are well below what the company would be required to pay for new capital under current market conditions and what an issuer with a similar risk profile would have to pay to raise new capital.”
The agency lowered iHeartCommunications’ rating to “SD” (selective default) from “CC” and dropped the issue-level rating on iHeartCommunications’ senior secured and unsecured debt to “D” from “CC.” That said, S&P Global admitted the exchange was beneficial because without the restructuring “there was a realistic possibility of a conventional default.”
During a Nov. 7 earnings call, iHeartMedia CFO Rich Bressler said the exchange would help the company’s net leverage, which is the ratio of long-term debt (less unrestricted cash) to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. iHeartMedia’s net leverage currently stands at 7.2 and Bressler said he expected that number to fall to “about 5.5” by the end of 2025 and further improve to “about 3.2” by the end of 2028.
Sports was the name of the game in TV viewership this year. And not only did audiences have the usual football, basketball, baseball, golf, etc, this year also brought the 2024 Paris Olympics — which scored enough watch-time to take third place on the ranking with a 0.90% viewership share. That wasn’t enough to unseat NFL and college football, though; both remain in first and second place, respectively, year-over-year, and each saw their viewership share rise vs. 2023.
TVREV also reports Major League Baseball was another winner, taking fourth place with 0.82% of minutes watched, up from No. 5 (0.75%) in 2023.
On the basketball court, men’s college games jump from No. 33 to No. 18 year-over-year (0.48% viewership share), while the NBA slips from No. 12 to No. 14 (0.51%).
It was a big year for Fox News: The network owns five programs on the chart, with all seeing increased viewership shares and chart positions compared to 2023. Fox & Friends captured the most watch-time of the bunch (0.59%), while Jesse Watters Primetime and The Five have the biggest ranking position leaps.
Thanks to regular rerun marathons on TBS, The Big Bang Theory is a year-over-year ranking newcomer, landing at No. 15 (up from No. 27 in 2023).
CBS, which was the No. 1 network in 2023, sinks to second place this year — but it saw its viewership share rise from 7.55% to 7.84%. But up against the Olympics, it just wasn’t enough to remain king.
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