Games Will Generally Air on ESPN2 Tuesdays through Sundays
KBO League Highlights to Appear on ESPN’s News and Information Programming, Including SportsCenter
ESPN today announced it has reached an agreement with Eclat Media Group regarding the KBO League – South Korea’s most popular sports league – to exclusively televise six, live regular-season games per week in the U.S. starting with Opening Day – NC Dinos vs. Samsung Lions – on Tuesday, May 5, at 1 a.m. ET / Monday, May 4, at 10 p.m. PT.
One game will air each day, Tuesday through Sunday, generally on ESPN2 and on the ESPN App. The telecasts will air Tuesdays-Fridays at 5:30 a.m. ET, Saturdays at 4 a.m. ET and Sundays at 1 a.m. ET. The Lions vs. Dinos Opening Day telecast will air on ESPN, following SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt.
As part of the agreement, ESPN will become the exclusive English-language home for KBO League live games and highlights for the 2020 season. The deal includes the postseason and the Korea Series best-of-seven championship. ESPN’s game selections will be made and announced on a week-to-week basis during the season. The telecast schedule and ESPN platform is subject to change pending future live event considerations.
Burke Magnus, ESPN executive vice president, programming: “We’re thrilled to become the exclusive English-language home to the KBO League and to showcase its compelling action and high-level of competition. We have a longstanding history of documenting the game of baseball and we’re excited to deliver these live events to sports fans.”
ESPN play-by-play voices, analysts and reporters will provide commentary in English, remotely, from their home studios. ESPN baseball commentators contributing to KBO League coverage include Karl Ravech, Jon Sciambi, Eduardo Perez, Jessica Mendoza and Kyle Peterson. The team of Ravech and Perez will call the Lions vs. Dinos season-opener, as well as the May 6 and May 7 games.
In addition to the game telecasts, ESPN will also air highlights from KBO League games within its news and information programming, including SportsCenter. Highlights from all KBO League games will be available and are not limited to the games ESPN will televise. ESPN.com will also document the 2020 KBO League season.
Triton Digital, the global technology and services provider to the digital audio and podcast industry, announced today the release of the latest U.S. Podcast Report for the March 16 through April 12, 2020 reporting period, as measured by Triton’s Podcast Metrics measurement service.
The Top Podcasts are ranked by both Average Weekly Downloads and Average Weekly Users for the March 16 through April 12, 2020 reporting period, in accordance with the latest IAB Podcast Technical Measurement Guidelines.
Fourteen new entities debuted in the U.S. Podcast Report in this reporting period, including Unlocking Us with Brené Brown (RADIO.COM/Cadence13), The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast (Cumulus/Westwood One), and The Fox News Rundown (FOX News Podcasts).
Leading podcasts by Average Weekly Downloads include Up First, The Ben Shapiro Show, My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, and Planet Money, with NPR News Now remaining in the #1 spot as the most downloaded podcast in the United States. For the same reporting period, leading podcasts by Average Weekly Users include Up First, My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, The Ben Shapiro Show, Planet Money, and Fresh Air, with NPR News Now in the #1 spot as the most downloaded podcast in the United States from March 16th through April 12th.
Also within the March 16 through April 12th reporting period, COVID-19 focused episodes climbed the Average Weekly Downloads chart with NPR’s Corona Virus Daily ranking in the top 30, and Planet Money ranking #3 due to its pandemic-related episodes such as Where Do We Get $2,000,000,000,000?. Additionally, the new True Crime podcast, Joe Exotic: Tiger King, based off of the hit Netflix docuseries ranks in the top 50.
The Top Networks are also ranked by Average Weekly Downloads and Average Weekly Users for the reporting period of March 16 through April 12th (Monday to Sunday). NPR remained in the #1 spot with 42,473,000 Average Weekly Downloads and 11,662,000 Average Weekly Users, followed by RADIO.COM/Cadence 13 and Stitcher. The Top 10 Networks represent 486M downloads in total.
To view the full results of the U.S. Podcast Report, Click Here.
WFLZ 93.3 FLZTampaannounces the addition of “THEjoeSHOW” to the morning program lineup, effective June 1. The show, which originated in Detroit, will make the move to Tampa Bay and will broadcast weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m.
“THEjoeSHOW,” hosted by three life-long friends, Joe Carballo, Ashley Nics and Producer Jed Shilling is an imperfect show for an imperfect generation. Listeners can tune in to hear vulnerable, honest, self-deprecating and timely content that is focused on the Tampa Bay community each weekday morning.
Jed, Joe & Ashley
“93.3 FLZ has a long history of incredible morning personalities,” said Tommy Chuck, Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Tampa Bay. “I’m excited to announce the next great show that is poised to take over Tampa Bay. Joe, Ashley and Jed have done a great job preparing for this opportunity.”
“Since I was a kid, I have dreamed of doing mornings with my best friends,” said Carballo. “To make this dream a reality on the legendary 93.3 FLZ seems unreal. I can’t wait to be a part of the iHeartMedia Tampa Bay family.”
“I am thrilled to create great local radio alongside my two best friends,” said Nics. “Thank you iHeartMedia for this incredible opportunity!”
“Having the opportunity to continue to do a morning show with Joe and Ashley is such a blessing,” said Shilling. “I can’t wait to embrace Tampa Bay and the awesome radio culture and audience.”
Joe, Ashley and Jed join iHeartMedia Tampa Bay from iHM's WKQI Channel 955 in Detroit, MI. While at Channel 955, Joe most recently served as the top-ranked afternoon host and assistant program director, Ashley served as a producer for “The Mojo in the Morning Show” and also hosted middays and Jed worked in the programming and digital department. Together, the three also hosted the “Heavily Anxious” podcast.
CUMULUS MEDIA’s Westwood One today launches Morning Koffy, a new Country radio morning show airing Monday-Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET. Paul Koffy, an award-winning broadcaster widely known for his authentic and perceptive interview style, hosts the syndicated program with Jasmine Sadry, another veteran Country morning radio personality, as his sidekick.
Each morning, Koffy and Sadry offer an energetic mix of today’s Country music hits, timely news updates, and interviews with top Country music stars, celebrities, and notable guests.
Paul Koffy
“Well known in the radio industry and well-liked by Country artists, Paul is the ideal host for this new show,” said Suzanne Grimes, EVP Marketing, CUMULUS MEDIA and President, Westwood One. “Paul has spent his entire career in Country music and, surprisingly, has never before hosted a program from Nashville – we can’t wait to see what he does from Music City. With Jasmine on the other mic, this show is one good morning brew.”
“The fact that this team came together over hours of Zoom and phone calls is proof that we are turning a new page at Westwood One Nashville,” said Paul Williams, Director of Programming for Westwood One Nashville. “With Paul’s home-spun ‘my tractor is more expensive than my car’ attitude and Jasmine’s Texas swagger, they just light it up together.”
“This opportunity to serve stations, businesses, communities, and individuals meets in a junction box with pivotal timing, an enormous platform, and a swell of creatives,” said Koffy. “I am deeply thankful for everyone who has been a part of bringing this together and stoked to be on the team.”
Jasmine Sadry
Before hosting the morning show at Country station KMNB Minneapolis, Paul Koffy was on-air with Country station KPLX Dallas. Koffy was previously with Country stations WUBL Atlanta and WFUS Tampa. The Utah Broadcasters Association awarded Koffy with “best morning show” while he was with KEGA Salt Lake City. Koffy has also been honored with a Country Music Association award for Personality of the Year.
Jasmine Sadry has been in broadcast media for 18 years, by way of stints at FOX Sports, CBS, ESPN, KVUE-TV, and iHeart with a lot of random TV and voice work in between. Her bits have been featured on MTV2’s “Ain’t That America” and the MLB Network. Sadry was nominated for “2018 CMA Broadcast Personality of The Year” for her work co-hosting a Country morning show on KSCS Dallas. Sadry is a co-host of First and 10s, a podcast about sports from a woman’s perspective.
Morning Koffy is available via XDS Receiver. For more information on Morning Koffy, contact Todd Alan at (212) 735-1107 or talan@westwoodone.com.
Radio Cares, a charitable organization created in response to the hunger crisis in America during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced today that together with over 10,000 radio stations across the U.S., it raised $500,146 for Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in America in the one-day Radio Cares: Feeding America Emergency Radiothon on Thursday, April 30, 2020.
The nationwide broadcast event, which kicked off Thursday at 12:00 NOON ET, and culminated at 11:59pm, continued with its fundraising effort through the weekend, drawing donations from all 50 states. The radiothon closed with a $20,000 donation from Scott and Sandi Borchetta and Big Machine Label Group, to pass the half-million dollar mark of total funds raised. All funds raised go directly to Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund. The funds raised will provide 5 million meals for Americans living with hunger.
The Radio Cares: Feeding America Emergency Radiothon was heard on radio stations across the U.S. in an historic industry effort to raise money for Feeding America and its 200-member network of local food banks across the U.S. Donations were made through the official event website, www.radiocares.org and by texting “Feed” to 95819.
The charitable initiative was developed and led by Ron Stone, President & CEO, Adams Radio Group, and Brian Philips, EVP, Content & Audience, CUMULUS MEDIA/Westwood One. The movement came together in less than three weeks.
Ron Stone, President & CEO, Adams Radio Group, said: “I will be forever grateful to every broadcaster that made the decision to participate in this historic Radiothon. Together we accomplished something that had never been done before in our 100 plus years, a nationwide radio event to raise money to help those who truly need our help. It is my sincere hope that this is the first of many annual events to come.”
Brian Philips, EVP, Content & Audience, CUMULUS MEDIA/Westwood One, said: "For us, it is impressive that this money is the sum of so many smaller individual contributions; sacrifices from determined people who made up a democracy of giving, at a time when money is tight.”
Feeding America established the COVID-19 Response Fund on March 13th. Since then, Feeding America has distributed $112.4 million and over 94 million pounds of food to food banks across the U.S., helping provide nearly 79 million meals to people facing hunger.
For a list of stations and companies that participated in the Radio Cares: Feeding America Emergency Radiothon, please visit: https://radiocares.org/thank-you/. Major sponsors and organizers of the Radio Cares: Feeding America Emergency Radiothon include: Benztown, Vipology, Gen Media Partners, Marketron, McVay Media, LeadsRX, and Dollinger Strategic Communication.
President Trump said last night that states can gradually lift their lockdowns while protecting safety amid the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, who's anxious to get the economy restarted, made the remarks during a virtual town hall from the Lincoln Memorial hosted by Fox News Channel at which he took questions from Americans. Acknowledging the fears of people who are worried about getting sick and those who have lost their jobs or livelihoods, Trump said, "you can satisfy both." He said some states would be able to open up earlier than others, depending on their situation with the virus. While increasing his projection of what the U.S. death toll will be, up to 80,000 to 90,000 from what he said was the 65,000 he used to say, Trump was also optimistic about the nation recovering, saying, "It is all working out. It is horrible to go through, but it is working out."
On death toll: "I used to I say 65,000. And now I'm saying 80 or 90 and it goes up, and it goes up rapidly. But it's still going to be, no matter how you look at it, at the very lower end of the plane, if we did the shutdown."
➤CORONAVIRUS DEVELOPMENTS: As of last night, there were more at least 67,680 deaths in the U.S. from the coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins University count, and nearly 1,158,000 confirmed cases.
➤SOUTH KOREA SAYS KIM JONG UN DIDN'T HAVE SURGERY: A senior South Korean official said Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un didn't have surgery or any other medical procedure, after Kim reappeared in recent days. There had been rumors that Kim might have been gravely ill or even dead after undergoing a heart procedure. North Korea said Saturday that Kim went to the completion of a fertilizer factory on Friday, his first public appearance in nearly three weeks, and released video. However, some noted that his walking looked a little stiff, continuing questions about his health. South Korea has been saying from the start that the rumors are untrue and stating there were no unusual activities in North Korea.
➤SENATE RETURNING TODAY, HOUSE STAYING AWAY BECAUSE OF CORONAVIRUS: The Senate will reopen today (May 4th), with members returning from across the country for the first time since March, but the House is staying closed because of safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic on the Capitol physician's advice, who said they didn't have the means to perform instant virus tests. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has compared the lawmakers to essential workers. President Trump offered Congress access to the instant test that's used to screen visitors to the White House, but McConnell and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned it down in a joint statement, saying resources should go to the front lines.
➤'60 MINUTES' LESLEY STAHL WAS HOSPITALIZED FOR WEEK WITH CORONAVIRUS: Lesley Stahl of CBS News' 60 Minutes revealed at the end of last night's (May 3rd) show that she'd been ill with the coronavirus and was hospitalized for a week. Stahl, who is now recovered, said she was, quote, "really scared" after fighting pneumonia caused by the virus at home for two weeks before going to the hospital. The 78-year-old praised the hospital staff who helped care for her as well as all health care workers, saying, "Thanks to them, like so many other patients, I am well now. Tonight, we all owe them our gratitude, our admiration and, in some cases, our lives."
➤'MURDER HORNETS' APPEAR IN U.S. FOR FIRST TIME: There's some more nightmare fuel for the U.S. as if we don't have enough of it right now -- Asian giant hornets, dubbed "murder hornets," have appeared in the U.S. for the first time. They were spotted in Washington state in December, and they were also seen in British Columbia in Canada last fall. The two-inch-long murder hornets" are the world's largest species of hornet. They attack and destroy honeybee hives, and although they aren't generally aggressive to people or pets, if provoked, they can and do kill humans in rare circumstances. It's not known how they arrived in the U.S.
➤NFL PLANNING TO START ITS SEASON ON TIME: The NFL isn't planning to delay its season because of the coronavirus pandemic. League spokesman Brian McCarthy told ESPN the league will release its 2020 schedule late this week without any major changes, saying, "We plan to start on time." That includes a September 10th opening date and the Super Bowl on February 7th. McCarthy said, "If we have to make adjustments, we will be prepared to do so based on the latest guidance from our medical experts and public health officials and current and future government regulations."
In an increasingly crowded streaming marketplace, platforms such as Quibi, Apple TV+ and Disney+ are enticing stuck-at-home viewers with free trials in hopes of forming viewing habits that will extend beyond the pandemic. A new Morning Consult report finds that for smaller, less-established platforms, consumers are taking advantage of free trial periods, with disagreement among experts on whether this will translate to regular-paying viewers.
The report, which uses data from an April 16-18 survey, found that 21 percent of adults have subscribed to a TV or movie streaming service since stay-at-home and social distancing measures began in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While at least 7 in 10 new subscribers are paying to watch Netflix (77 percent), Amazon Prime Video (76 percent) and Disney+ (72 percent) entertainment, that figure drops to 52 percent among lesser known platforms such as ESPN+, Quibi, YouTube TV, Apple TV+, Showtime Now, CBS All Access and Sundance Now. For those services, a larger share (59 percent) of the 923 adults who had signed up in the past month were using a free trial. (The share with paid subscriptions and those with free trials do not add up to 100 percent as they were calculated separately to avoid double-counting respondents who have signed up for multiple services.)
Analysts diverge on whether free trials, especially amid an extraordinary circumstance such as a pandemic, will equate to long-term customers.
Brad Gastwirth, chief technology strategist with the financial services firm Wedbush Securities, said he doesn’t anticipate a large number of cancellations when social distancing orders are lifted, due to the reasonable price point of most services.
However, Bruce Leichtman, the president and principal analyst with Leichtman Research Group said it’s reasonable to expect some attrition when normalcy resumes.
Quibi is offering new users a 90-day free trial, while Apple Inc. is offering a free year of Apple TV+ to consumers who purchase certain new Apple products. And amid the coronavirus pandemic, some services, including CBS All Access and Showtime Now, have extended their free trials to 30 days. According to Variety, since Showtime Now extended its free trial period to 30 days on March 20, the company has seen sign-ups increase by 148 percent on average.
Showtime Now and CBS All Access, which are both owned by ViacomCBS Inc., are on track to have 16 million subscribers combined by the end of the year.
Netflix added more than 15 million subscribers during the first quarter, and now has 182.86 million subscribers globally, but expects both growth and viewership to fall when governments ease stay-at-home orders.
Americans coping with the coronavirus are reporting changes in their lives occurring in days that previously took months or years, a wide-ranging study of life during the pandemic conducted by the USC Center for the Digital Future and the Interactive Advertising Bureau has found. The study shows Americans report many concerns about their lives as well as increased loneliness and anxiety since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, but they also describe strengthened relationships and enjoying the benefits of working at home. Titled “The Coronavirus Disruption Project: How We are Living and Coping During the Pandemic,” the study also found significant percentages of Americans who had never previously banked online or bought from internet sources have now been pushed into the online experience because of the pandemic.
“We are exploring the biggest disruption of our lives,” said Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “Daily life is far more disrupted by the pandemic than after 9/11 or the beginning of World War II, and anxiety is at levels only seen after Pearl Harbor and the Great Depression.
“Yet in spite of the upheaval,” Cole said, “we also found that Americans have positive views about their relationships and hope for how their lives will proceed after the pandemic ends.”
The study results, said Brad Berens, senior vice president and head of thought leadership for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, “show that the coronavirus crisis is accelerating shifts in consumer behavior that will permanently alter the way Americans watch, read, listen, play, shop, work, and socialize.”
“It’s too soon to pick particular winners and losers,” said Berens. “But changing attitudes about the news, trust in government, new favorite video channels, upstart brands, and gaming habits are certain to emerge from the rubble – as will a new appreciation for the joys of cocooning. We anticipate that nothing our 650 member companies do will return to the status quo ante.”
The Coronavirus Disruption Project explores about 100 questions involving views about life and behavior during the pandemic, including emotional concerns, loneliness, anxiety, parenting, online education, media and entertainment, shopping behavior, political views, and the problems and benefits of working at home.
“Without preparation or our permission, we are all participating in the greatest social experiment of our time,” said Cole. “We are learning how to live our lives 24/7 on the internet – whether we want to or not.”
National TV took an expected major decline in March -- down 12.8% to $3.8 billion, with the first quarter of 2020 sinking 5.4% to $10.8 million, according to Standard Media Index -- due to COVID-19 issues that forced major cancellations from TV marketers, Mediapost reports.
The scrubbing of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was a major reason for the March decline. A year ago, the big event pulled in $648 million collectively on broadcast network CBS and cable TV network group Turner.
This pushed CBS advertising revenues down by a massive 48% to $283.6 million.
NBC was down 7.6% to $317.8 million for the month -- remaining the top broadcast network overall.
But not all broadcast networks were lower: ABC and Fox witnessed advertising revenues up compared to the same month a year before -- 2.6% (to $271.4 million) and 3.7% to ($112.4 million) respectively.
Looking at cable TV networks for March, ESPN -- even without live sports (especially the NBA) -- was up 2.7% to $166 million, leading all cable networks.
But Turner’s TNT and TBS, which airs the March Madness NCAA men’s basketball tournament, took big hits. TBS sank 59% to $92.5 million (fourth place among all cable networks) and TNT, 29% down to $97 million (third place).
Still, there was good news for another Turner network --CNN’s ad revenue was 18.7% higher, reaching nearly $72 million (seventh place). CNN has seen a massive spike in viewership -- some of the highest-percentage viewing gains for any network.
One of CNN competitors also grew, but not as much. Fox News Channel posted a 4.8% gain -- $78 million for the month, coming in sixth place for all cable TV networks. MSNBC, was down 4.3%, to $36.6 million.
The biggest non-sports, non-news channel was Discovery’s HGTV dropping 5.9%, with just under $100 million. It remained in second place among all cable TV networks after ESPN.
Looking at the broader picture for the first quarter, broadcast TV was down 4% to $4.24 billion; cable TV sinking 7.3% to $6.16 billion while syndication rose 7.1% to $435 million.
Los Angeles Times’ newsroom guild agreed Friday to accept a 20% reduction in pay and hours for its members amid a devastating decline in advertising because of the coronavirus crisis.
In an effort to help management reduce expenses, nearly 440 journalists represented by the Media Guild of the West will have their wages and hours cut for 12 weeks, beginning May 10. Journalists will work four days each week instead of the usual five days. The reductions are expected to save more than $2 million.
“This is the best possible deal we could have made under the circumstances,” Anthony Pesce, president of the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America Local 39213, said. “We worked very quickly to arrive at a solution that will ultimately help everyone.”
With the agreement, The Times becomes the latest news organization to cut pay for journalists due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Newspaper advertising has been decimated as retailers, movie theaters and live event sponsors have pulled their ad buys because their stores and venues are closed. Newspapers were already struggling before the pandemic because of a migration of ad dollars to internet giants like Facebook and Google, but the health crisis has made the situation more dire.
As part of the pact, The Times’ management said it would not lay off any member of the guild during the 12-week period. At the guild’s urging, The Times also made a commitment to apply for California’s Unemployment Insurance “Work Sharing Program,” a program established in 1978 and that allows eligible employees to receive unemployment benefits even though they still have a job. The Times also will seek unemployment benefit coverage for its journalists in Washington, D.C.
Should the state decline The Times’ application, the paper would abandon its plan to reduce the wages and hours of those represented by the guild.
The pay reductions will not extend beyond Aug. 1, unless the two sides agree to further cuts.
The paper, along with its parent California Times, has already taken steps to slash costs in response to the pandemic. Senior managers, including eight top editors in the newsroom, had their pay cut by as much as 15% in mid-April. Some business-side employees were furloughed, and some non-guild employees will have the company’s match to their 401K contributions suspended.
The Santa Barbara News-Press lost its editor in chief this weekend after the newspaper published an editorial by owner and co-publisher Wendy McCaw that accused Democratic lawmakers of using the coronavirus for their own political agenda and compared stay-at-home orders to Nazi Germany, The L-A Times reports.
“Our liberties are being stripped for what, a virus?? Think about this,” McCaw wrote in the editorial, published Friday and titled “We are living in tyranny.”
She continued: “If this country can be put into this situation by a virus, what would it take to completely turn us into the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany? We are not that far away now, having to stand in line to get into supermarkets....”
A note at the end of the editorial read: “Wendy P. McCaw is the co-publisher of the News-Press and the views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the SBNP staff.”
On Saturday, the Santa Barbara Independent reported that News-Press editor in chief Nick Masuda had stepped down from his 18-month stint at the helm of the paper. His last byline on the News-Press website is dated April 30. A source said that with Masuda’s departure, 12 journalists remain in the newsroom.
Whether Masuda was fired or quit is still unclear, according to the Independent. When reached by an LA Times reporter, Masuda confirmed that his last day at the paper was Friday but said he had no other comment at this time.
iHeartMedia has announced the launch of the Small Business Crisis Resource, a new initiative to help local small business owners across the country easily find available benefits and resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Small Business Crisis Resource serves as a centralized source for small business owners and includes a weekly iHeart Small Business newsletter and a website providing critical information on the Federal stimulus package, up-to-date small business news, state by state resources, links to top business-focused podcasts and more – all in one place. The site is available at iHeartRadio.com/SmallBusiness and SmallBusinessCrisisResource.com.
Small business owners also have the opportunity to sign up for special webinars, kicking off this Monday, May 4 featuring iHeartRadio’s Elvis Duran joining senior officials from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and discussing ways small businesses can find assistance and vital information during this unprecedented time. The webinar will also include a Q&A session offering small business owners the opportunities to ask SBA questions. Details on how to sign up for the webinar are available here.
In March, the U.S. government approved a historic $2 trillion stimulus package that includes $376 billion in relief for small businesses. However, it can be challenging for many small business owners to understand the key details of the stimulus package, including eligibility requirements. Small Business Crisis Resource helps these business owners know exactly what they must do in order to apply for Paycheck Protection Program loans and additional support from the U.S. government.
In addition, iHeartMedia is offering local business owners bonus media incentive opportunities and extended payment terms to help with their advertising and marketing “re-opening” strategy.
“At iHeart, our focus continues to be about serving our local communities, including the small businesses that support many residents,” said Hartley Adkins Chief Operating Officer for iHeartMedia Markets Group. “We also know that studies show business owners look to radio as their trusted news source more than any other medium, so we want to do everything we can to ensure that these businesses have the important information they need to survive and get through this pandemic as best they can.”
Small Business Crisis Resource is available free of charge online and is promoted across iHeartMedia’s 850 broadcast stations in 150 markets, station social media and websites and iHeartRadio.com – reaching millions of listeners and small business owners nationwide.
On June 27, 1957, radio station WJJC 1270 AM went on the air in Commerce, Georgia — with a 19-year-old Bill Anderson in front of the microphone.
The Tennessean reports stardom was still a few years away for the future Country Music Hall of Famer who'd become known as Whisperin' Bill Anderson. At the time, he was a journalism student at the University of Georgia, and he penned his first No. 1 hit, "City Lights," during his time in Commerce.
Sixty-three years later, Anderson is still a country star, and WJJC is still on the air — but as of Friday it has a new name, Whisperin' 95.5, in honor of its first on-air personality.
"I don't know of anything in my life that's ever been any more meaningful to me than this," Anderson told his fans on Facebook.
"I went to Commerce as a 19-year-old college student chasing a dream, and the wonderful people there took me in and treated me as one of their own. They gave me the confidence to move forward, and they've blessed me with their unbelievable love and support all along my journey. I'm so appreciative and so grateful for this latest chapter in our story."
Warren Buffett offered reassurance at Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s annual virtual meeting Saturday that the U.S. economy will recover steadily from the coronavirus pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Speaking onstage at an empty arena in downtown Omaha, Neb., Buffett said the range of possibilities from the pandemic was wide, but it had significantly narrowed in recent weeks.
He said it now seemed unlikely the world would face the worst possible health and economic scenarios from the novel coronavirus, compared with some of the predictions made earlier this year. Moreover, the U.S. economy will recover with time, Buffett said.
“We’ve faced tougher problems, and the American miracle, the American magic, has always prevailed,” he said in livestreamed remarks, adding that it would do so again.
Despite Buffett’s confidence in the economy’s ability to overcome obstacles over time, he said it is hard to factor in an unpredictable event like a pandemic on markets, and he underscored his policy of not using borrowed money for investments.
“You can bet on America, but you are going to have to be careful on how you bet. Simply because markets can do anything,” he said.
"The Greg Gutfeld Show" on Fox News finished April with an average of 2.86 million viewers, marking its highest ratings in program history while topping broadcast late-night rivals on CBS, NBC and ABC, according to The Hill citing Nielsen Media Research.
The weekly Saturday night program topped Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" on CBS, which averaged 2.78 million viewers. It also beat NBC's "Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and its 2.09 million viewers as well as ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" which averaged 2 million viewers in April.
The numbers are noteworthy since Saturdays are generally the least-watched nights of television, along with Fridays.
The former "Men's Health" editor launched his 10 p.m. Saturday show in May 2015.
Ratings are up across the board in cable news amid the pandemic, with many Americans still under stay-at-home orders as some states slowly reopen their respective economies.
Fox News, MSNBC and CNN finished first, second and third in all of basic cable for the second consecutive month in April, the first time that has ever occurred.
➦In 1886...The graphophone, the bridge between the earlier gramophone and the modern phonograph, was patented, featuring wax cylinders which conducted music better than Thomas Edison's original tinfoil ones.
It was invented at the Volta Laboratory established by Alexander Graham Bell in Washington, D.C., United States.
Its trademark usage was acquired successively by the Volta Graphophone Company, then the American Graphophone Company, the North American Phonograph Company, and finally by the Columbia Phonograph Company (later to become Columbia Records), all of which either produced or sold Graphophones.
It took five years of research under the directorship of Charles Sumner Tainter and Chichester Bell at the Volta Laboratory to develop and distinguish their machine from Thomas Edison's phonograph.
Among their other innovations, the researchers experimented with lateral recording techniques as early as 1881. Contrary to the vertically-cut grooves of Edison phonographs, the lateral recording method used a cutting stylus that moved from side to side in a "zig zag" pattern across the record. While cylinder phonographs never employed the lateral cutting process commercially, this was later to become the primary method of phonograph disc recording.
Bell and Tainter also developed wax-coated cardboard cylinders for their record cylinders, instead of Edison's cast iron cylinder which was covered with a removable film of tinfoil (the actual recording medium) which was prone to damage during installation or removal. Tainter received a separate patent for a tube assembly machine to automatically produce the coiled cardboard tubes which served as the foundation for the wax cylinder records. The shift from tinfoil to wax resulted in increased sound fidelity as well as record longevity.
Besides being far easier to handle, the wax recording medium also allowed for lengthier recordings and created superior playback quality. Additionally the Graphophones initially deployed foot treadles to rotate the recordings, then wind-up clockwork drive mechanisms, and finally migrated to electric motors, instead of the manual crank that was used on Edison's phonograph.
➦In 1922...WJR Detroit sign-on as WCX, owned by the Detroit Free Press newspaper, operating at 580 kHz from the Free Press Building. It shared this frequency with WWJ, another station owned by The Detroit News. In 1925, the Jewett Radio & Phonograph Company of Pontiac, Michigan purchased WCX. Sometime thereafter the station became known as WCX/WJR. Also by 1925, WWJ was at 850 kHz, and both stations were broadcasting with 5000 watts of power. On November 11, 1928, it moved to 750 as a result of the FRC's General Order 40 (it has broadcast on 950 AM since 1941).
On December 16, 1928, the station moved from the newspaper's offices to its current location in the Fisher Building. It began identifying as "WJR Detroit, from the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building," which soon became famous across the country. Goodwill Stations Inc., formed by George A. Richards (who also owned the Detroit Lions), acquired WJR in 1929, and it became known as "The Goodwill Station" (along with WGAR in Cleveland and KMPC in Los Angeles).
WCX ceased to exist, and WJR acquired all its assets. In 1931, the station raised its power to 10,000 watts; four years later, it would broadcast with 50,000 watts. On March 29, 1941, WJR moved from 750 to 760 kHz in accordance with the NARBA frequency reallocations. Before North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement of 1941, 750 kHz was a clear channel under 1928 rules.
The Fisher Building, a National Historic site in the City's New Center area, is home to the Fisher Theatre, with the WJR radio antenna
WJR became a CBS affiliate on September 29, 1935, after having been affiliated with NBC-Blue. On the same date, WJR's officials formally dedicated the station's new 50,000 W transmitter.
Logo '70s-'80s
Richards died in May 1951, and in 1964, Goodwill Stations was sold to Capital Cities Communications, which later merged with ABC and later with the Walt Disney Company. Upon the sale, WJR's air slogan became "The Great Voice of the Great Lakes". Also in 1964, WJR acquired full rights to Detroit Tigers baseball games with announcers Ernie Harwell and George Kell. The station became the flagship of the "Tiger Baseball Network." In the late 1960s, WJR also became the flagship station for Detroit Red Wings hockey and Detroit Pistons basketball.
Logo Today
The station is also remembered among many Metro Detroiters for its advertising campaigns and jingles including "W-J-R ... Radio 76 ... Cares About Detroit." Another: "This is America's finest - AM stereo 76." Regularly on his show, J.P. McCarthy would state in a nonchalant way "This is the world's greatest radio station, WJR Detroit," with a manner that made it seem like the most obvious of facts.
WJR signed on an FM outlet in 1948 at 96.3 MHz. The station was known as WJR-FM until 1982 when it became WHYT. It is now WDVD.
Music programming on WJR has been phased out almost entirely over the past two decades. As of June 2014.
WJR was sold with other ABC Radio stations to Citadel Broadcasting in January 2006. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
➦In 1922...KNX-AM, Los Angeles, California signed-on.
KNX began as a five-watt amateur radio station, 6ADZ, which Fred Christian put on the air on September 10, 1920, broadcasting on a wavelength of 200 meters (1500 kHz). In December 1921, the station moved to 360 meters (833 kHz) and became KGC, sharing time with other stations that broadcast on the same frequency. On May 4, 1922, the station increased power to 50 watts and became KNX. Power was raised to 100 watts in 1923. A year later, Fred Christian sold KNX to Guy Earle, owner of the Los Angeles Evening Express.
During the 1920s KNX, like most stations across the country, changed frequencies several times, landing on 1050 AM as a result of the Federal Radio Commission's reconfigurations of the AM radio band in 1927 and 1928. In 1929, the station's transmitter was upgraded from 500 to 5,000 watts, and in 1932, was raised to 10,000 watts of power. During this time, the station changed owners and was then operated by the Western Broadcast Company. In 1933, the station moved its studios to another part of Hollywood, and was granted permission by the FCC to raise its output to 25,000 watts. The following year, KNX's transmitting power was raised to the nationwide maximum of 50,000 watts, which the station continues presently. It changed to its current 1070 AM channel in 1941.
Broadcasting ad 1935
CBS purchased and began operating KNX as its West Coast flagship station in 1936, ending an eight-year affiliation with KHJ. In 1938, the CBS Columbia Square studios were dedicated for KNX as well as West Coast operations for the entire CBS radio network.
George Burns, Gracie Allen
Several legendary performers from the Golden Age of American network radio broadcast from there, including Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, George Burns, Edgar Bergen, and situation comedy star Bob Crane, who was KNX morning man between 1957 and 1965 at the same time he was appearing as a featured supporting player on the ABC television network's The Donna Reed Show.
KNX was a strong competitor in the Los Angeles market while Crane was a morning personality, but began declining in popularity after he left to star in the CBS television series Hogan's Heroes. Following the example of corporate sister station WCBS in New York City, which had enjoyed renewed success with an all-news format, KNX then became an all-news station in the spring of 1968; its first major breaking news coverage was of the assassination of Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, in June of that year.
Bob Crane
In August 2005, KNX moved out of Columbia Square after operating there for 67 years, and began broadcasting from new studios in the Miracle Mile district on Wilshire Boulevard.
In 2009, KNX adopted the slogan "All News, All the Time." It was previously used for 40 years by KFWB, KNX's historic rival in the news radio wars before both became sister stations through the 1995 merger of Westinghouse Electric (KFWB's owner) and CBS. KFWB's format change to news-talk in September 2009 now leaves KNX the only all-news outlet in the Los Angeles area, which is now emphasized in its alternate slogan, "L.A.'s only all-news radio station".
➦In 1957...The "Alan Freed Show," prime-time network television's first rock 'n' roll program, debuted on ABC. The first show in the series featured performances by Guy Mitchell, the Dell-Vikings, the Clovers, Sal Mineo, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
➦In 1965...Norman Brokenshire died from a stroke at age 66. (Born - June 10, 1898). He was nicknamed: "Sir Silken Speech" and was a familiar radio voice in the 1940s, heard as an announcer on such programs as Theatre Guild on the Air. He was the first radio announcer to break from anonymity and use his name on the air.
Norman Brokenshire - 1953
Brokenshire's broadcasting career began in 1924 at WJZ, where he immediately attracted attention. The New York Herald Tribune asked, "Who is this new AON? He speaks with perfect enunciation and exceptional modulation." That same year, he became the first announcer to cover a political convention when he worked the Democrats' meeting in New York.
In the summer of 1927, Brokenshire had his own program, A Half Hour With Norman Brokenshire on WPG.
Brokenshire was known for his folksy greeting, "How do you do, ladies and gentlemen, how do you do." By 1947, he was earning $50,000 annually.
Old-time radio programs for which Brokenshire was the announcer included The Chesterfield Hour, Eddie Cantor's Follies, Inner Sanctum Mystery, and Major Bowes Amateur Hour.
In 1961, Brokenshire returned to radio "after an absence of some years, ... doing commercials on radio station WMMM in Westport, Conn."
➦In 1975...Dick "Two Ton" Baker died (Born - May 2, 1916) He was a prominent Chicago radio and television personality for three decades; the 1940s to the 1960s.
Baker's full-time professional entertaining career began in 1938, playing for night clubs with notable dates at the Chicago Theatre and the Riverside in Milwaukee. In 1939 he began a job as a disc jockey at radio station WJJD with a two-hour show entitled Sunday Morning Party. It was early in his radio career that he was given the entertainment name "Two Ton" by a fellow radio-station employee. He quit WJJD in 1943 and concentrated on his nightclub work, but he was given his own radio show, One Man Show, on station WGN in 1944. For the next several years Baker was closely associated with that station, and vice versa.
"Two Ton" Baker performing with Bubbles the porpoise from the Chicago children's television show The Happy Pirates
Baker was part of WGN-TV's grand opening show on April 5, 1948. The next day was WGN's first full day of programming which included Baker's show Wonder House, a puppet program hosted in conjunction with Art Nelson.
Baker gained national radio exposure when The Two Ton Baker Show, originating from WGN, was carried across the Mutual network.
➦In 1981...“Rockline” premiered on KLOS 95.5 FM in Los Angeles
➦In 2008... John Eastman, a former Tampa radio and television TV personality who successfully sued two tobacco companies for contributing to his nicotine addiction, died Sunday at age 79.
John Eastman
Eastman had a popular radio show on WDAE in the 1970s and a morning talk show on WTSP, Channel 10. In 2005, he collected more than $3.2 million from Philip Morris USA and the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. It was the first time that Philip Morris, the world’s largest cigarette maker, paid a judgment in an individual case. Eastman was known as “The Dean of Tampa Bay Talk Radio.”
He started his broadcast career in the early 1950s as an announcer at a Sioux City, Iowa, radio station. He worked at radio stations in Cedar Rapids,; Jacksonville;, Mobile, Ala.,; Los Angeles and Pittsburgh. By the 1960s he was in Miami, where he worked at WIOD, WAME and WINZ (with CNN’s Larry King). He came to Tampa in 1977, and his “Talk of the Town” radio show, about a local issues and personalities, was a hit for two years on WDAE. He then went to WPLP radio, and in 1980 he began hosting “The John Eastman Show,” which ran on WTSP, Channel 10, for four years.
His career in radio and TV ended in the 1990 after he was diagnosed with emphysema, which robbed him of his voice. In 1997, he filed suit against Philip Morris USA and the Brown & Williamson. Tobacco Corp. By the time a jury ruled in his favor in 2003, he said he was living on Social Security and a small military pension.
➦In 2010...Ernie Harwell died of cancer at age 92 (Born January 25, 1918). He was a sportscaster, known for his long career calling play-by-play of Major League Baseball games.
After graduating from college, Harwell worked as a copy editor and sportswriter for the Atlanta Constitution. In 1943, he began announcing games for the Crackers on WSB radio, after which he served four years in the United States Marine Corps.
Ernie Harwell
For 55 seasons, 42 of them with the Detroit Tigers, Harwell called the action on radio and/or television. In 1948, Harwell became the only announcer in baseball history to be traded for a player when the Brooklyn Dodgers' general manager, Branch Rickey, traded catcher Cliff Dapper to the Crackers in exchange for breaking Harwell's broadcasting contract. (Harwell was brought to Brooklyn to substitute for regular Dodger announcer Red Barber, who was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer.)
Harwell broadcast for the Dodgers through 1949, the New York Giants from 1950-53, and the Baltimore Orioles from 1954-59. Early in his career, he also broadcast The Masters golf tournament,as well as pro and college football.
In January 2009, the American Sportscasters Association ranked Harwell 16th on its list of Top 50 Sportscasters of All Time.
Erin Andrews
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Jazz bassist Ron Carter is 83.
Singer Peggy Santiglia Davison of The Angels is 76.
Country singer Stella Parton is 71.
Singer Jackie Jackson of The Jacksons is 69.
Singer-actress Pia Zadora is 68.
Singer Oleta Adams is 67.
Country singer Randy Travis is 61.
Actress Mary McDonough (“The Waltons”) is 59.
Actor Will Arnett (“Arrested Development,” ″Blades of Glory”) is 50.
Bassist Mike Dirnt of Green Day is 48.
Contemporary Christian singer Chris Tomlin is 48.
TV personality Kimora Lee Simmons is 45.
Sports reporter and TV personality Erin Andrews is 42.
