Phuket Radio: Live 89.5 FM Ordered Off-Air

That's Phuket as in Phuket, Thailand.

The country's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBT) has ordered all radio stations to cease broadcasting due to the recent coup.  According to Phuket News only government or government affiliated radio stations may continue to broadcast.

As a result radio stations such as The Phuket News' sister company Phuket Live 89.5 FM (also part of Class Act Media) have been ordered to suspend broadcasting.

Class Act Media Managing Director, Simon Samaan, has issued the following statement:

"Dear valued listener. As you may already be aware, the current political situation in Thailand has also meant that local/community radio stations have been ordered to stop broadcasting on FM. 

"Unfortunately this order remains in effect, and affects all non-government controlled/owned radio stations in Phuket and in the rest of Thailand. 

"We would like to assure you that we are in daily contact with the relevant authorities. We anticipate this will be a temporary measure and that we will be able to resume normal broadcasts very shortly. 

"We thank you for your understanding and look forward to being back on the airwaves as soon as we're allowed to do so."

Live 89.5 Program Director Dave O'Connor can be reached at wakeup@classactmedia.co.th.

Oops: Fox Station Reports 'Canceled' Appearance

Fox26 in Houston posted a graphic Wednesday indicating the late Poet Maya Angelou had canceled a scheduled appearance Friday.

Throwback Thursday: Programmer Chuck Geiger

Programmer/Personality Chuck Geiger Nov 1, 1975 at KCBQ San Diego.  Geiger is currently Operations Manager for Townsquare Media in Cheyenne, WY.

May 29 In Radio History

In 1939…The radio serial "When a Girl Marries" began its 18-year run, first on CBS, then on NBC starting in 1941, and switching to ABC in 1951.


In 1942…Bing Crosby, backed by the Ken Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra, recorded Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," which became the biggest-selling single of all time until Elton John surpassed it with "Candle In The Wind (Princess Diana Tribute)" in 1997. Crosby re-recorded "White Christmas" in 1947 and the re-recording is the version heard most often on the radio at Christmastime.

In 1961...Jack Spector starts at WMCA 570 AM NYC.




In 1963…Del Shannon's cover of the Beatles' "From Me to You" became the first song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney to appear on the American record charts.

In 1977...the NBC News & Information Service, which was a 24-hour-a-day news service, came to an end.

NBC launched the NBC News and Information Service (NIS) in 1975.  According to Faded Signals, it allowed local radio stations to launch all-news formats, providing affiliates with up to 55 minutes of news per hour.

NBC aired the service on its Washington station, WRC.  It also added the all-news format on its network-owned FM stations in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco.

Many stations signed on with the service, but by 1976, NBC was not sure if its network would ever become profitable.


In 1979..."The Source", considered Radio's first rock news network, debuted.


In 2012…Radio actor Dick Beals, for many years the voice of "Speedy" in Alka-Seltzer TV commercials, died at the age of 85.

In January 1949, as a senior at MSU, Beals got a call to do a radio commercial for WXYZ, Detroit. After the show, the director asked him to be on call for all the children's voices as well as those of small, talking animals on all three network radio shows produced by WXYZ - The Lone Ranger, Green Hornet and Challenge of the Yukon.

In 1952, after performing in an episode of The Green Hornet, WXYZ station manager Jack McCarthy referred Beals to Forrest Owen of Wade Advertising. Owen showed Beals a rendering of a proposed product spokesman for their client, Alka-Seltzer and had him record a voice audition. Four months later, Beals was notified that he had been selected as the voice for Speedy Alka-Seltzer as well as the voice of Sticky, the Vaseline mascot.

Standing just 4'7" tall due to a glandular problem that also gave him his youthful voice, Beals provided the voices of 10-year-old boys well into his 70s.

Houston Radio: Dan Patrick Wins GOP Slot

Dan Patrick

Houston radio owner and  talk show host Dan Patrick soundly defeated the Texas Republican lieutenant governor in another primary runoff election, demonstrating the continuing power of the tea party.

WSJ reports Dan Patrick, a radio personality turned state senator who has won broad support among conservatives, outpolled Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst according to the Associated Press, which projected Mr. Patrick as the victor after early results showed him holding a commanding 63% to 36% lead.

The 64 years old Patrick now becomes the favorite to win the state’s general election in November and occupy a powerful office that presides over the state senate and helps set Texas’ legislative agenda.

A hard-liner on illegal immigration, he has vowed to run the senate in a more partisan fashion, appointing fewer Democrats to serve as committee chairmen.

Allen Blakemore, a spokesman for the Patrick campaign, said we are “very comfortable and confident in the results.” He said he hadn’t yet heard from the Dewhurst campaign so he declined to say more.

Apple, Beats Deal Just Got A Bit Cheaper

Apple is expected to announce its acquisition of Beats Electronics this week — at the slightly reduced price of $3 billion, The NY Post has learned.

A report earlier this month tipping the deal put the price at $3.2 billion.

That may have been the case, but negotiations between Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company co-founded by Dr. Dre were not helped by a leaked report that had Beats Music with just 111,000 subscribers to its streaming service in March.

Spotify, the industry leader, has 10 million paying subscribers — plus 30 million users who use it for free.
That factor may have led Apple’s lawyers to value the firm on a slightly lower basis.

Still, the company is understood to place a high value on the profitable Beats audio business, which retails headphones — costing up to $450 — and speakers around the globe.

That business recorded sales of $1.3 billion in 2013.

Read More Now

DE Radio: Radio Personality Suspended Over Yearbook Photo

WSTW's Spencer Graves

A Wilmington radio personality has been suspended for posting an edited version of a controversial photo reportedly included in Salesianum School’s yearbook.

But, according to delawareonline.com,  fans of WSTW 93.7 FM Wakeup Crew’s Spencer Graves can cancel their petition to get him reinstated. He’s due back at 5:30 a.m. Thursday.

Michael Reath, vice president and general manager of WSTW and WDEL 1150 AM, on Tuesday confirmed his Friday suspension and yearbook snafu details.

Thursday, he said, “we talked about a picture ... in the Salesianum yearbook of a cross country runner who was fully exposed, out of his running shorts. Their picture was never edited. We told the story briefly,” he said, and asked listeners to share high school embarrassments. Later came “calls, tweets, Facebook posts and emails regarding the actual picture.” Graves said he was not trying to “drag this young man through the mud.”

WSTW 93.7 FM (47.1Kw) 54dBu Coverage

Reath told The News Journal that Graves, at WSTW more than seven years, was suspended as “a result of how the photo was handled online and how it was handled after more information became available from the school.”

The yearbook gaffe “was a news story,” he said, but Graves went too far.

LA Radio: Hispanic Sportscaster Sues Lakers. TWC

Fernando Gonzalez

Time Warner Cable and the Los Angeles Lakers have been jointly named in a lawsuit by a Spanish-language radio announcer claiming he has been racially discriminated against, according to THR.

Fernando Gonzalez is suing the team and the cable company for $1 million in the complaint that was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.

Read the full complaint: Click Here.

Mexican-American Gonzalez, 53, has worked for the Lakers for 18 years after being hired in 1996 as a Spanish language play-by-play announcer.

Born in Mexico, he is now an American citizen, however he claims that the team has always treated him differently to his "Anglo-American counterparts in terms of wages, hours and terms of conditions of employment," according to the legal documents, which states that neither Gonzalez nor his co-broadcaster, Pepe Mantilla, were usually mentioned in announcements of broadcasters at the beginning of games on the big screen.

The lawsuit also states that when the Lakers won the NBA championship in 2000, "almost all" the staff members and broadcasters received a $6,000 commemorative ring, but Gonzalez and Mantilla were told they had to pay $3,000 each for the memorabilia.

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Billboard Launches Twitter Real-Time Charts

Billboard debuted its new Twitter Real-Time Charts yesterday (May 27th), four interactive music charts that will rank trending songs from popular and emerging artists based on how often they are mentioned in tweets in the U.S.

The Trending 140 Chart ranks songs based on acceleration of mentions in the past hour, while the Emerging Artists Chart measures tracks from up-and-coming artists who have fewer than 50,000 followers and who have never been a main artist in the Billboard Hot 100's top 50 spots.

The constantly updated real-time charts will be accessible on Billboard.com, and a recap of the rankings will be printed weekly in Billboard magazine.

The two other new charts are the Weekly Billboard Twitter Top Tracks Chart and The Weekly Twitter Emerging Artists Chart, which will display the number of shares that songs and artists accumulate every week.

ESPN's George Bodenheimer Exits This Week

George Bodenheimer

George Bodenheimer, who joined ESPN in 1981 as a driver in the mailroom and rose to the top of the cable sports giant, is exiting the company at the end of the month.

The LA Times is reporting Executive chairman of ESPN's board, Bodenheimer told staff Tuesday that this would be his final week. ESPN is a unit of Walt Disney Co.

Bodenheimer had stepped back from overseeing the day-to-day operations of ESPN in 2012 when John Skipper became president and chief executive.

“It is impossible to completely capture the impact George has had on our company and on so many of us during his remarkable 33 years with ESPN," Skipper said in a staff memo.

Bodenheimer joined ESPN just two years after the sports channel launched.

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NYC Radio: 95.5 WPLJ Kicks-Off Summer

Todd Pettengill

WPLJ 95.5 FM in New York kicked off Memorial Day weekend on Friday, May 23rd with  thousands of people showing up for The Todd Show “Summer Kick-Off 2014” at Jenkinson’s Pavilion in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey.

Listeners started lining up the night before and were packed in the venue by 5:30am for the traditional Summer Kick-Off event.

Everyone enjoyed a live broadcast of The Todd Show with great performances by The Fray, Kacey Musgraves, Hot Chelle Rae, and MAGIC! The venue was filled to capacity and overflow traffic was out onto the beach enjoying the sounds of the concert.

For a full recap with photos /video: Click Here.

KY Radio: Longtime Programmer Moon Mullins Sets Retirement

Moon Mullins

Country Radio Hall-of-Famer and Country WBKR 92.5 FM in Owensboro, KY, Brand Manager and morning co-host Moon Mullins has announced his retirement from radio after a whopping 52 years, effective June 18.

Prior to joining WBKR in 2005, Mullins served as Director of Country Programming for Journal Broadcast Group. Mullins was also OM at co-owned Country KVOO-FM and Classic Country KXBL-FM/Tulsa and has served as PD at Journal's KFDI-FM/Wichita.

Mullins' career stops included programming and on-air posts at KVOO/Tulsa, KFDI/Wichita, WSM-AM/Nashville, WDAF-A/Kansas City and WHN/New York.

Post by Moon Mullins.

WBKR 92.5 FM (91Kw) 60dBu Coverage

The Politics Behind Fast Food.

It turns out your political affiliation may influence where you eat dinner. A poll of thousands of Americans across the country asked about political identity and which food establishments they frequent. Researchers found, for example, that liberals really enjoy Blimpie's while conservatives enjoy Chik-fil-A.

Report: Cumulus Sues Personality Michael Baisden For $1M

Michael Baisden

The end of Michael Baisden’s syndicated radio show in March 2013 came abruptly.  At the time Baisden claimed he was “locked out” by Cumulus Media Networks after negotiations on a new contract stalled. See original posting: Click Here

Now, according to InsideRadio,  Cumulus has gone to court seeking $1 million from the personality alleging an “accounting error” led it to accidentally overpay him $66,667 for 15 months. 

To date, Baisden has refused to repay the money according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas.  The complaint alleges Baisden and his production company were aware of the excessive payments and never alerted Cumulus of the mistake.  

Since being contacted by the company, Cumulus tells the court Baisden has “steadfastly refused to return the overpaid amounts.”   Allowing him to keep the cash would be a “gross inequity and would be unconscionable,” despite the network’s clerical error, the complaint argues.  Cumulus is asking the court to not only return its money but also award interest and legal fees. 

Baisden has yet to make a return to radio.

Philly Papers Sold At Auction

Philadelphia Inquirer co-owners Lewis Katz and H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest won a private auction for the newspaper and its parent company Tuesday, ending a fractious battle for control that prompted the business' sixth ownership change in eight years.

Their $88 million bid bested a group led by co-owner George E. Norcross III and was $27 million more than the partners spent two years ago to form Interstate General Media Holdings L.L.C.

Held at a Philadelphia law firm and closed to the media, the auction capped months of litigation between IGM's owners and turmoil for the company, which employs about 1,800 people at The Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, three websites, and a printing plant in Conshohocken.

It also comes as the news industry continues to battle declining revenue, decreased circulation, changes in reader habits, and struggles to profit from digital operations.

"We know more than anybody how difficult this business is," Katz told employees Tuesday afternoon at the company's Market Street headquarters. "We're going to give it our best. We're going to try to bring in the best. And, hopefully, we'll have a wonderful result."

Read More Now

Median CEO Pay Passed $10 Million in 2013

Median CEO pay crossed into 10 figures for the first time in 2013, according to a new Associated Press/Equilar study, coming in at a record $10.5 million, up 8.8 percent from just one year earlier.

By comparison, the average U.S. employee got a 1.3 percent raise last year. The study also found that CEOs now earn 257 times the national average, up from 181 times the national average in 2009.

The top 10 highest-paid CEOs in 2013 were: (media companies are bold)

1. Anthony Petrello, Nabors Industries (oil services), $68.2 million
2. Leslie Moonves, CBS, $65.6 million
3. Richard Adkerson, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, $55.3 million
4. Stephen Kaufer, TripAdvisor, $39 million
5. Philippe Dauman, Viacom, $37.2 million
6. Leonard Schleifer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, $36.3 million
7. Robert Iger, Walt Disney, $34.3 million
8. David Zaslav, Discovery Communications, $33.3 million
9. Jeffrey Bewkes, Time Warner, $32.5 million
10. Brian Roberts, Comcast, $31.4 million