Friday, July 23, 2021

Wake-Up Call: 3 States Have 40 Percent Of New COVID Cases


Just three states -- Florida, Texas and Missouri -- accounted for 40 percent of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. this week, White House pandemic response coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters Thursday, with Florida alone accounting for 20 percent of cases. Zients also said that 97 percent of hospitalizations and deaths are in unvaccinated people, stating, "The threat is now predominantly only to the unvaccinated." At the same time, Zients shared the good news that the five states that have had the most significant rise in infections -- Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Nevada and Missouri -- are seeing vaccinations rates go up, beating the national average for a second week in a row.


➤GARLAND SAYS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WILL CRACK DOWN ON GUN TRAFFICKING: Amid a surge in gun violence in the country, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday (July 22nd) that the Justice Department will crack down on gun trafficking. He said that will be part of a broader effort against gun violence, including funding community intervention programs. The Justice Department has launched strike forces against gun violence in Chicago, New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco. Experts say there are a number of potential causes for this year's spike in crime, including the pandemic, economic worries, and large gatherings taking place after the many months of lockdowns.

➤BIDEN CONDEMNS CRACKDOWN ON CUBAN PROTESTERS, NEW SANCTIONS IMPOSED: President Biden yesterday condemned the crackdown in Cuba on protesters who mounted recent rare demonstrations against the government, and his administration announced new sanctions. Biden said in a statement, "I unequivocally condemn the mass detentions and sham trials that are unjustly sentencing to prison those who dared to speak out in an effort to intimidate and threaten the Cuban people into silence." The new sanctions were imposed on a Cuban government special brigade that the U.S. charges was involved in human rights abuses during the Cuban government crackdown on protests as well as on Cuban military and political leader Alvaro Lopez Miera. Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which is led to by Lopez Miera, has attacked protesters and arrested or disappeared over 100 of them, according to the U.S. This comes after the White House said earlier this week that Biden had ordered several steps to increase pressure on the Cuban government.

 
➤U-S CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES IN SUPPORT OF AFGHAN FORCES: The U.S. has carried out several airstrikes this week in support of Afghan forces who are fighting Taliban insurgents, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Thursday. The strikes show the U.S. intends to continue supporting Afghan forces, at least until the end of the U.S. military withdrawal on August 31st, according to AP. The administration hasn't said whether that support will continue after the U.S. pullout is complete. Meanwhile, the House voted overwhelmingly, 407-16, yesterday to allow thousands more Afghans into the U.S. who worked with Americans in the Afghanistan war, such as translators. The U.S. is allowing those Afghans and their immediate families into the U.S. to protect them from Taliban retaliation. The Biden administration says there are 20,000 applicants so far, but half of them haven't yet completed the initial stages of review for the visas.

➤SOFTWARE COMPANY KASEYA GET DECRYPTION KEY IN RANSOMWARE ATTACK: Florida software company Kaseya said yesterday (July 22nd) that it had gotten a universal decryption key that will work for all of the more than 1,000 businesses and public organizations that were hit in a ransomware attack over the Fourth of July weekend that exploited Kaseya's software. The company wouldn't say how they got the key or whether they paid a ransom for it, with a spokesperson saying only that it came from a, quote, "trusted third party." The Russian-linked ransomware group REvil that was behind the attack disappeared from the internet on July 13th, and it's not known why.

➤LEGISLATION WOULD REMOVE TECH COMPANIES' LEGAL PROTECTION IN MISINFORMATION CASES: Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced legislation yesterday that would remove tech companies' Section 230 legal protection in cases in which they allow health misinformation to spread on their platforms, such as vaccine misinformation. 


Section 230 protects companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google from being sued for content posted on their platforms. The exception under Klobuchar's bill would be when a social media platform’s algorithm promotes health misinformation related to a, quote, "existing public health emergency." In those situations, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would define health misinformation. The law wouldn't apply if posts are shown via what it calls a "neutral mechanism," such as posts ranked chronologically, instead of an algorithm ranking what people see. Klobuchar said, "These are some of the biggest, richest companies in the world, and they must do more to prevent the spread of deadly vaccine misinformation."

➤DISAGREEMENT MAY BE A WAY TO MAKE ONLINE CONTENT SPREAD FASTER, FURTHER: If you want a post to spread on social media you’ll want to post something controversial. University of Central Florida researchers analyzed thousands of Reddit posts, and found those labeled controversial by a Reddit algorithm got viewed by nearly twice the number of people and traveled nearly twice as fast when compared to posts not labeled controversial. Researchers say the finding is important as it shows that disagreement may be a powerful way to get people to pay attention to messages. Study co-author Ivan Garibay adds, “There may be an incentive in terms of influence and audience size for a social media user to consistently include controversial and provocative topics on their posts. This benefits the person posting the messages. However, controversial comments can be divisive, which could contribute to a polarized audience and society.”

➤WIDESPREAD INTERNET OUTAGES YESTERDAY: There was a widespread internet disruption for about an hour yesterday that caused outages for the some of the world's biggest sites. The outages started to appear around 11:40 a.m. ET, and Akamai, which operates one of the world's largest and most important content delivery networks, reported a problem with its service at about 12:10 p.m. ET. Akamai tweeted at 12:47 p.m. ET that it had fixed the problem and that systems were returning to normal. The company said the issue was due to a bad software update that disrupted the DNS system, which directs users to websites.

➤NEW CHIEF FOR U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: Officials announced yesterday that J. Thomas Manger, a former police chief in Maryland and Virginia, had been appointed the new chief of the U.S. Capitol Police. The Capitol Police Board, which oversees the force, said Manger had been chosen after a nationwide search. Manger is taking over a force on which morale has plummeted as it deals with the aftermath of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Manger was police chief in Montgomery County, Maryland, for 15 years, and before that led the Fairfax County, Virginia, police department. He's taking over from Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman, who was elevated after former Chief Steven Sund was forced out immediately after January 6th.

➤VIDEO GAME GIANT ACTIVISION BLIZZARD SUED BY CALIFORNIA OVER 'FRAT BOY' CULTURE: Video game giant Activision Blizzard has been sued by California labor regulators, who charge the company has a, quote, "pervasive 'frat boy' workplace culture." The suit says female employees at the company that created Call of Duty and World of Warcraft faced sexual harassment, unequal pay, being passed over for promotions, and retaliation for raising concerns. It charges that male employees would, quote, "engage in banter about their sexual encounters, talk openly about female bodies, and joke about rape." Activision Blizzard called the claims in the lawsuit "distorted, and in many cases false."


➤STUDY..WATCHING TOO MUCH TV INCREASES YOUR RISK OF SLEEP APNEA:  Spending more than four hours a day in front of the TV increases your risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Harvard Medical School researchers monitored the health and physical activity levels of over 130,000 people for 10 to 18 years. They found that increased levels of sedentary behavior, and corresponding low levels pf physical activity increased the risk of developing OSA. The researchers say people who spend all day sitting down, such as in office jobs, should compensate by getting more exercise during their leisure time. One researcher says, “People who followed the current World Health Organization physical activity guidelines of getting at least 150 minutes of moderate activity per week and spent less than four hours per day sitting watching TV, had substantially lower OSA risk.”

➤WHEN TO VIEW JULY’S FULL BUCK MOON:  If you want to see the next full moon you’ll want to look up tonight. Called the buck moon and the thunder moon, July’s full moon will appear opposite the sun in Earth-based longitude at 10:37 p.m ET, according to NASA. The moon will appear full now through Sunday morning. The Maine Farmer’s Almanac says this full moon was named by Algonquin tribes in the Northeast for the period when new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads. It’s also known as the thunder moon due to the season’s frequent thunderstorms.


🏈NFL TEAMS TOLD COULD FACE FORFEITS FOR COVID OUTBREAKS AMONG UNVACCINATED: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell warned all teams in a memo yesterday that teams that have Covid-19 outbreaks among unvaccinated players next season could forfeit games, according to media reports. The memo said no games would be rescheduled in those cases and forfeits could happen instead, with players not getting paid. The memo said, "If a game can’t be rescheduled and is canceled due to a Covid outbreak among non-vaccinated players on one of the competing teams, the team with the outbreak will forfeit and will be deemed to have played 16 games for purposes of draft, waiver priority, etc." If there's a Covid outbreak because of cases in vaccinated players, the memo said, "we will attempt to minimize the competitive and economic burden on both participating teams." The NFL hasn't made vaccinations mandatory, but the league and the players associations are strongly urging them, and the memo ramps up the pressure.
 

🏀PARADE HELD IN MILWAUKEE FOR NBA CHAMPION BUCKS: A parade was held in downtown Milwaukee Thursday for the NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks, with thousands of fans lining the street to celebrate the city's first NBA title in 50 years. Open-air buses and flatbed trucks carried the Bucks players, including NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. He spoke to cheering fans in the Deer District, which is the area outside the Bucks' Fiserv Forum, declaring, "Milwaukee, we did it baby! We did it!"

⚾RAYS GET CRUZ IN TRADE WITH TWINS: The Tampa Bay Rays acquired Nelson Cruz in a four-player trade with the Minnesota Twins last night. The Rays obtained the 41-year-old Cruz, a seven-time All-Star, and minor league player Calvin Faucher from the Twins in exchange for minor leaguer pitchers Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman. Cruz's 19 home runs are tied for the second most among designated hitters this season.

🏀PELICANS HIRE WILLIE GREEN AS NEW HEAD COACH: The NBA's New Orleans Pelicans have hired Phoenix Suns assistant Willie Green as their new head coach. This will be the first head coaching position for Green, a former 12-year NBA player who's been an assistant coach for the past five years with the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix, which just lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Finals.

🏒CANADIENS GM SAYS CAPTAIN WEBER TO MISS NEXT SEASON, CAREER MAY BE OVER: Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin said in a video conference yesterday that team captain Shea Weber won't play at all next season because of a number of injuries, and that the 35-year-old's career may be over. Weber has played 16 seasons with the Nashville Predators and Montreal, including this past season, when the Canadiens lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

🏀NBA LEGEND BILL RUSSELL TO AUCTION MOST OF HIS MEMORABILIA: NBA legend Bill Russell announced yesterday (July 22nd) that he will be auctioning off most of his memorabilia from his Hall of Fame career. Hundreds of items from Russell's personal collection will be sold, including trophies, rings, basketballs, jerseys and more. Among them are the first and last of the NBA-record 11 championship rings he won with the Boston Celtics, four of his five NBA Most Valuable Player trophies, and his 1956 U.S. men’s basketball Olympic gold medal.
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ViacomCBS Ousts Station Managers In L-A and Chicago


Jay Howell, general manager of KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles; and Derek Dalton, the head of WBBM-TV Channel 2 in Chicago, were ousted Thursday after a six-month investigation into alleged wrongdoing within CBS’ stations group, The L-A Times reports. 

The moves extend a dramatic management makeover at CBS News and the network’s stations division after a Los Angeles Times investigation uncovered alleged misconduct, racism and misogyny at a handful of CBS-owned stations.

In April, CBS tossed out Peter Dunn, the head of its flagship New York station, who also had led the group of 28 CBS-owned TV stations for more than a decade. The company also ended the employment of one of Dunn’s top lieutenants, David Friend, who was responsible for the chain’s news operations. Both men have denied wrongdoing.

CBS on Thursday did not disclose the reasons behind Howell’s and Dalton’s departures but acknowledged the moves were related to an external investigation that has been underway since The Times’ report in late January.

“The investigation cited painful revelations about experiences that we cannot tolerate today or in the future,” CBS Chief Executive George Cheeks wrote in an email to staff members Thursday, announcing the end of the review and leadership changes in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

The Times’ series shined a harsh light on an often overlooked corner of the company that lacks the prestige of the CBS television network but remains a vital source of local news for millions of Americans.

CBS’ stations in Los Angeles have been beset by turnover for years. Current and former employees have long complained about the harsh workplace culture, which they allege has been rife with sexual harassment, favoritism, pay discrimination and ageism.

CBS manages KCBS and KCAL jointly, and the stations’ audience lags in size behind market leaders KABC-TV Channel 7, KNBC-TV Channel 4 and Spanish-language stations KMEX-TV Channel 34 and KVEA-TV Channel 52.

Despite their ratings woes, KCBS and KCAL have been an important source of revenue for the company, particularly during last year’s election, according to internal documents shared with The Times.

The articles also focused on conditions at CBS’ station in Philadelphia. Former executives at KYW-TV Channel 3 alleged that Dunn made racist comments about Ukee Washington, the station’s beloved Black anchor, calling him “just a jive guy.”

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TV Ratings: CNN Event With Biden Struggled For Viewers

What you don't see on TV: Small Audience for CNN Town Hall

CNN struggled to attract an audience for its exclusive town-hall event with President Joe Biden on Wednesday night, with the event trailing Fox News’ regular programming in ratings.

Bloomberg reports the cable news network averaged fewer than 1.5 million viewers from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Eastern, with 306,000 in the 25-54 demographic most sought by advertisers. That compared with 2.7 million for Fox News, with 464,000 in the key demographic, according to Nielsen data shared by the network.

CNN has seen ratings slide following the 2020 election and its aftermath, which riveted viewers. These days, even booking the president is no guarantee that a large audience will tune in. In total viewers, CNN trailed both Fox News and MSNBC.

At the event, broadcast from Cincinnati, Biden addressed inflation concerns, saying the problem was unlikely to get out of hand.

He also alluded to Fox News, saying, “One of those other networks is not a big fan of mine” but that it had recently shifted its stance and was promoting vaccines as a way to curb Covid-19.

Fox has maintained that its on-air talent has consistently encouraged its viewers to get the shots.
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Twitter Beats Revenue Targets


Twitter Inc on Thursday reported higher revenue growth than Wall Street had expected, as the social media platform rolled out ad targeting improvements to help brands reach potential customers, reports Reuters.

Since the start of the year, Twitter has raced to introduce products in new areas like audio-only chat rooms and newsletter publishing in an effort to turn around years of business stagnation and reach its goal of doubling annual revenue by 2023.

Advertising revenue totaled $1.05 billion, up 87% from the year-ago quarter, and beat Wall Street estimates of $909.9 million.

Twitter has worked to improve the effectiveness of its ads, introducing 2,500 new topic categories during the quarter to help users find content they're interested in, all of which provides more ad targeting data back to Twitter, the company said on a conference call with analysts.

Those improvements, along with higher demand from advertisers seeking to reach consumers as countries reopen from pandemic restrictions, helped propel ad revenue, Twitter said.

Twitter reported 206 million monetizable daily active users (mDAU), its term for users who are served advertising, for the second quarter ended June 30, matching analyst targets of 205.9 million users, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Its U.S. user base declined by 1 million over three months from the previous quarter due to a lighter news cycle in the United States, Twitter said, with total users worldwide in line with Wall Street targets.

Total revenue, which also includes revenue the company earns from data licensing, rose 74% year-over-year to $1.19 billion, beating analyst estimates of $1.07 billion.

The San Francisco-based company now expects headcount and total costs and expenses to grow at least 30% for the full year, up from its previous guidance of 25%, as it invests in its engineering and product teams.

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Nashville Radio: Talker Phil Valentine Gravely Ill


Talk show host Phil Valentine is hospitalized with COVID-19, according to his family.  In a statement released Thursday, relatives said Valentine is “in very serious condition” and is suffering from “Covid Pneumonia,” along with other side effects.

WKRN TV reports he is in the critical care unit of a Nashville area hospital breathing with assistance, but is not on a ventilator.

Valentine, who hosts The Phil Valentine Show on Nashville’s SuperTalk WWTN 99.7 FM, confirmed July 11 on his Facebook page that he had tested positive for COVID. He spoke about his battle with the virus on his radio show.

“I think I’m on the other side of it,” Valentine said of the virus, as he described coughing, congestion, and fatigue that “hurts like crap.”

Valentine had previously expressed his disagreement with mask mandates, stating that hospitals were never in danger of being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients. He has also been critical of the virus vaccines, voicing his concerns over their safety.

“Phil would like for his listeners to know that while he has never been an ‘anti-vaxer’ he regrets not being more vehemently ‘Pro-Vaccine’ and looks forward to being able to more vigorously advocate that position as soon as he is back on the air, which we all hope will be soon,” his family wrote in their statement.

Their statement concluded, “Phil & his family would like for all of you to know that he loves y’all and appreciates your concern, thoughts & prayers more than you will ever know. Please continue to pray for his recovery and PLEASE GO GET VACCINATED!”

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Philly Radio: Sue Schilling Returning To Sports WIP-FM

Sue Schilling
Sue Schilling, who was a host and update anchor for sports WIP 94.1 FM for more 20 years, dating back to the Fourth of July weekend in 1999, is returning to the station . She was let go in April 2020 as part of layoffs by then-parent company Entercom in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Inquirer reports Schilling will return to WIP to host the station’s overnight shift Saturday into Sunday, from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. And despite the terrible hours, she’s excited to get back behind the microphone.

“I definitely have a lot to say about the Phillies and this issue with vaccinations,” Schilling told the Inquirer, alluding to a scoop by Marcus Hayes that nearly half the team’s roster remains unvaccinated. “If they’re in the middle of the pennant race, and if you’re a fan, you have every right to get angry if players get sick.”

Schilling has tried her best to remain busy during the pandemic. She continues to host a weekly show for families with special needs children, Everything Special Needs, which airs live on 1360-AM WNJC Mondays at 6 p.m. Shilling was inspired to launch the show in 2014 by her daughter, Jessica, who has autism and is considered nonverbal — except when she’s watching Phillies or Eagles games.

“The other night there was a base running blunder, and she yelled out, ‘Oh no,’ just before Tom McCarthy said ‘Oh no’ on the Phillies broadcast,” Schilling said. “That’s why I love sports so much. It brings us all together.”

The spot is just a one-off for Schilling, but she’s hoping it will lead to future hosting gigs during the summer, when schedules get tight as hosts go on vacation. She’s also not the only WIP veteran to return to the station recently — longtime host Rob Charry, whose tenure dates back to January 1989, returned as a fill-in host last month.

“It’s great to see some of our WIP family returning to the flock,” said longtime morning show host Angelo Cataldi.

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July 23 Radio History


➦In 1912...Jackson Beck born (Died at age 92 – July 28, 2004). He was an announcer and actor best known as the announcer on radio's The Adventures of Superman and the voice of Bluto in the Famous era Popeye theatrical shorts.

Jackson Beck
Beck's early radio experience included work at WINS and WHN, both in New York City. Beginning in 1931, he worked with Myrt and Marge, among other roles. In 1934, he was the announcer for The Adventures of Babe Ruth on the radio. In 1943, he took over as narrator of radio's The Adventures of Superman; it was Beck who intoned the familiar prologue "strange visitor from another planet..." He also had recurring roles, voicing an occasional tough guy and also portraying Beany Martin, the Daily Planet's teenage copy boy. On Superman episodes featuring Batman, he played Bruce Wayne's butler, Alfred Pennyworth.

He also impersonated Joseph Stalin and other world leaders for The March of Time radio series, starred as The Cisco Kid on radio from 1942 to 1945 and sleuth Philo Vance in a syndicated series from 1948 to 1950, starred in the dramatic anthology Brownstone Theater on Mutual, and served as narrator for the radio adventures of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet.

Beck also co-starred in several episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

 ➦In 1937...Robert Wilbur Morgan born (Died  – May 22, 1998). He was a Top40 radio personality best known for his work at several stations in Los Angeles, California, in particular KHJ-AM.

Morgan also did morning drive at KMPC-AM, KIQQ-FM and KMGG-FM, and finished his career at KRTH-FM, where he retired for health reasons in 1997. He died from lung cancer on May 22, 1998.

As a youth growing up in Galion, Ohio, Morgan's interest was piqued while listening to his favorite DJs on Cleveland's top forty giant KYW which would eventually lead to his first on-air job was at Wooster College in 1955 on WWST & WWST-FM, for an initial salary of $1 per hour.

In 1959 Morgan moved from college radio to KACY Port Hueneme, California where he hosted the over night show called Kegler's Spare Time with Bob Morgan live from the Wagon Wheel Bowl before moving on to a succession of brief stints beginning in 1961 at KTEE Carmel as the second half of a two-man classical music announcer on KTEE with Bob Elliott, a Marine Corps Heavyweight Champion who later went on to radio fame as "K.O. Bailey," then a short time later as the morning drive DJ and mid-day board op for the Arthur Godfrey Show at KMBY, Monterey, then a jump to KOMY Watsonville, then back to KMBY Monterey followed in 1962 at "K-MAKE", KMAK, Fresno where he first worked with program director Ron Jacobs. This was followed in 1963 by an eight-month stay at KROY Sacramento before finally landing his first major-market job in 1964 at KEWB, San Francisco. It was here that he met and worked with his lifelong friend "The Real" Don Steele.



On April 27, 1965 the careers of Morgan, Steele and programmer Ron Jacobs would gain superstar status almost overnight when they joined the staff of 93KHJ-AM, Los Angeles. Programming genius Bill Drake along with a staff of talented DJs called "Boss Jocks" had transformed a sleepy giant into the city's most dominant radio station.

It was here that Morgan enjoyed his greatest on-air success as one of the original "Boss Jocks" on 93/KHJ which dominated the Top 40 radio market in Southern California from 1965 to 1973.


Morgan's signature, "Good Morgan Boss Angeles!" to his devoted morning drive time audience would stay with him until the end of his career. It was also Morgan that voiced much of the "Boss Radio/93 KHJ station promos and imagery. It was also during this time that Morgan co-produced and narrated the 48-hour History of Rock and Roll in 1969, a definitive on-air encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. It was the first-ever "rock-umentary" aired worldwide as a definitive history of the Rock & Roll genre—a "rockumentary," as producers Drake and Gene Chenault would call it—that would stretch from the early 1950s to 1989.

In 1970 Morgan made a surprise move from Los Angeles to WIND Radio Chicago where he remained in the morning slot until finally being enticed back to his KHJ morning show in 1972.

Until his departure from KHJ in October 1970, Morgan had commanded unparalleled radio ratings in Los Angeles. Morgan's return to his former time slot in L.A., which saw a significant spike upward for KHJ until he departed just a year later.

In 1973, Morgan and Steele walked out of KHJ and joined Bill Drake six months later at KIQQ-FM, Los Angeles. The ratings were sub-par, though, causing Morgan to leave the morning slot a year and a half later for weekends and fill-in slots at the prestigious KMPC Los Angeles. He stayed at KMPC until 1984. After a short stint at KMGG, Morgan returned to KMPC.

Morgan was heard in 1973 on Saturday night segments of the long-running NBC Radio program Monitor, an attempt to freshen that program's image. While with KMGG, he was at one time heard as a substitute host of American Top 40. During the mid to late 70s, Morgan also did his own one-hour radio weekly special highlighting one artist or group per show. "Robert W. Morgan's Special of the Week" was often played on radio stations that also carried Casey Kasem's American Top 40 as the same company, Watermark, distributed both.

The year 1992 would signal the twilight years of Morgan's distinguished radio broadcast career when he signed on as morning show host of "oldies" K-EARTH 101, where he again enjoyed solid ratings in the Los Angeles market before announcing in May 1997 that he was suffering from lung cancer. According to L.A. radio personality Bob Shannon, Morgan told his listeners, "It could have something to do with the two-packs-a-day cigarette habit I had for the last 35 years."



In an emotional on-air statement, Morgan stated that he was taking some time off to fight the disease full-time. His friend and colleague Don Steele died, also of lung cancer, in August 1997. Morgan continued to do broadcasts from his home studio until 1998.

He died from cancer May 22, 1998 at age 60. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame the following year.

➦In 1940..John Donald Imus Jr. born.  Imus was radio personality, television show host, recording artist, and author. He is known for his radio show Imus in the Morning which aired on various stations and digital platforms nationwide until 2018. A former railroad brakeman and miner, Imus attended broadcasting school in the 1960s and secured his first radio job in 1968 at KUTY in Palmdale, California. Three years later, he landed the morning spot at WNBC in New York City before his firing in 1977.

Imus - 1970
Imus was born in Riverside, California, the son of Frances E. and John Donald Imus, Sr., and the older brother of former talk show host Fred Imus.

He served in the Marine Corps as a bugler from 1957 to 1960.

Imus was a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Upon winning a talent contest at Johnny Otis's nightclub, he began working as a singer/songwriter, managed by Otis. In 1966, Imus enrolled at the Don Martin School of Radio and Television Arts and Sciences in Hollywood after seeing a newspaper advert; he was thrown out for being "uncooperative", but studied enough to obtain a broadcasting license as required by the FCC.

After hearing a morning disc-jockey, he went to the nearby radio station and persuaded the owner to hire him. Thus he began his career as a radio disc jockey on June 28, 1968 at radio station KUTY in Palmdale, California. He stayed at the station until 1969 when he left for a job at KJOY, a small radio station in Stockton, California. He was later fired for saying "hell" on air.

After being fired in Stockton, he went to KXOA in Sacramento, California. His on-air pranks, such as calling up a restaurant and ordering 1200 hamburgers to go, made his show immensely popular and boosted ratings. He was inspired to pursue a career in radio by listening to California radio personality Don MacKinnon.



After a stint at WGAR 1220 AM in Cleveland, Ohio, Imus moved to New York City and WNBC radio in December 1971. During this first stint at WNBC 660 AM, Imus recorded three record albums, two for the RCA Victor label (1200 Hamburgers to Go, including some of his more popular humor from KXOA, WGAR and WNBC broadcasts, and One Sacred Chicken to Go with Anthrax, a primarily studio-created album centering on his satirical character, The Right Rev. Dr. Billy Sol Hargis) and one for the Bang label (This Honky's Nuts, an album of his stand up comedy act at the Manhattan nightclub "Jimmy's".  There was also a 1973 RCA Victor single, "Son of Checkers," issued by Imus. The single reached #123 in the Record World survey.

"Imus...In The Morning...In The Evening" aired nationally in the fall of 1973, part of NBC Radio's attempt to revive "Monitor", it's long-running weekend magazine. The Saturday night segment rotated popular hosts Imus, Wolfman Jack, and Robert W. Morgan

Imus was fired from WNBC in August 1977 along with several of the station's other personalities, in an effort to revamp the station's sound and boost ratings. In 1978 he returned to Cleveland radio as afternoon drive host on WHK.


In a surprise change of fortune Imus was rehired by WNBC in September 1979, and revived his morning drive show. From 1982 to 1985, the station also employed talk-radio host Howard Stern, and WNBC heavily promoted the pair in print and television ads, which often featured the slogan "If We Weren't So Bad, We Wouldn't Be So Good." Although Stern's show aired later in the day, Imus and Stern often made brief appearances on each other's shows, giving the audience an occasional glimpse of an on-and-off-air rivalry that continued for many years.



During this period, Imus was best known for character Billy Sol Hargis, a radio evangelist whose name was a cross between infamous real-life radio and television preacher Billy James Hargis and real-life Texas fertilizer swindler Billie Sol Estes. As Hargis, Imus touted on-air the merits of the "First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship".

Imus was also the utility announcer for Geraldo Rivera's monthly TV series Good Night, America, which aired as a recurring segment of ABC's Wide World of Entertainment program, and he was one of the inaugural video jockeys for the launch of the VH-1 cable network in 1985.


In 1988, WNBC radio was sold to Emmis Broadcasting; on October 7, 1988, WNBC permanently signed off the air and Emmis' WFAN was moved from 1050 AM to WNBC's former spot, 660 AM. Imus in the Morning remained at 660 AM among WFAN's sports programs with his music and comedy bits as the staples of the program and the beginnings of a political forum.

The radio show became nationally syndicated in 1993, and began simulcasting on MSNBC in 1996. He wore his signature cowboy hat during his broadcasts.

Imus won four Marconi Awards, three for Major Market Personality of the Year 1990, 1992 and 1997 and one for Network Syndicated Personality (1994).

Imus retired in March 2018 and died December 27, 2019.


Dick Biondi
➦In 1963...Former Chicago personality Dick Biondi ended his self-imposed exile from radio and joined KRLA 1110 AM in Pasadena, Calif. Both KRLA and KFWB were neck and neck in the overall radio ratings in Los Angeles.

The KRLA line-up is Reb Foster, Casey Kasem, Bob Eubanks, Dick Biondi, Ted Quillin and Bob Hudson.


➦In 1963...New York City is the nation’s largest radio market and competition is fierce. Most of the larger stations were owned by corporations - WOR - RKO, WABC-ABC, WNBC-NBC, WCBS-CBS, WINS-Group W (Westinghouse), WHN-Storer, WNEW-Metropolitan. Each is 50,000 watts and all have rather good signals. There’s another competitor - this one’s only 5,000 watts and is family owned and operated - WMCA 570 AM  - which was owned by the Straus family.


The 1963 ratings placed WMCA on top for the first time ever. The station had adopted a different concept to their DJ lineup - personality and team togetherness and it shows on the air and in person - more than any other station in the United States.


Thanks to program director Ruth Meyer, the WMCA Good Guys were taking New York by storm. The WMCA Goodguys show up at events together, as many as possible - all with their sweatshirts and black pants.  WMCA’s music policy was to play the hits and be the first to jump on music trends.


➦In 1966...Coca-Cola launched the biggest radio spot campaign in its history, featuring top recording artists in an all-out drive for the teen market. Each artist is spotlighted in a different version of the “Things Go Better With Coke” jingle. Coke was the seventh largest radio time buyer in 1965, would now vault to the number one buyer of national radio commercials.

Artists signed by ad agency McCann-Erickson for showcasing include Petula Clark, the Coasters, the Four Seasons, Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Jan and Dean, Tom Jones, Roy Orbison, The Shirelles, The Supremes and Sue Thompson.



The jingle was written by William Backer of McCann-Erickson. Backer says each commercial will strive to retain the artist’s individuality in the recording of each version of “Things Go Better With Coca-Cola.” In that way, the artist’s unique singing style and basis for his appeal is harnessed to capture the listener’s attention.


➦In 1966...KBLA 1500 AM in Burbank, Calif, fired its staff of DJ’s in order to give listeners more music. According to general manager Mel Leeds, the Top-40 station would now be able to play more music than those stations with air personalities. The policy now for KBLA will be to play two-three or more records without DJ interruptions. This is unheard of in top-40 radio. Released by the station were DJ’s Chet Douglas, Larry Tyler, Jim Wood, and Tom Clay.  Leeds says that by eliminating talk, the commercial messages were showcased more dramatically and effectively.  Today, KBLA is a progressive talk format.


➦In 1966...Both WMCA and WABC, New York pulled ‘They’re Coming To Take Me Away” by Napoleon XIV off the air. WMCA says they have received various complaints about the record, which lampooned mental illness. Even though the record is #1 on the WMCA Good Guy survey, they didn't air it! Teens picketed WMCA carrying such signs as “We’re coming to take WMCA Away! Unfair to Napoleon in Everyway.” 77 WABC Program Director Rick Sklar said his station had letters from doctors and institutions saying the record hurt their image.

➦In 1982...The FCC approved stereo transmission for AM Radio. KTSA 550 AM San Antonio started stereo broadcasting.

WCAR - 1926
The station began on September 1, 1922, as WCAR, founded by John C. Rodriguez of the Alamo Radio & Electric Company in September 1922. WCAR was the second radio station in San Antonio, taking the airwaves shortly after WJAE which only lasted a few months. WCAR originally broadcast on 1290 AM, sharing time with WFUL in Galveston. (Before 1923, radio stations in Texas were given call signs beginning with W.) The station's full-time operation was approved April 29, 1933, when the Federal Radio Commission approved WCAR's purchase of WFUL and it was taken off the air. Several years later, WCAR's call letters were changed to KTSA.

In the 1930s, KTSA moved to 550 kHz, increasing its coverage area by going from 1,000 watts to 5,000 watts. KTSA, which was owned by Southwest Broadcasting Company at that time, became an affiliate of the Southwest Network and the CBS Radio Network. KTSA carried the network's schedule of dramas, comedies, news, sports, soap operas, game shows and big band broadcasts during the Golden Age of Radio.

On October 28, 1940, KTSA played host to the first and only meeting between noted science fiction author H.G. Wells and radio dramatist Orson Welles, which occurred nearly two years after the panic created by Welles' broadcast of The War of the Worlds. An advertisement in the 1949 edition of Broadcasting Yearbook said KTSA had been a CBS affiliate for 20 years, delivering 25.1% more radio families in the daytime and 20.6% more radio families in the nighttime. The ad was aimed at advertisers who might otherwise want to buy time on NBC Red Network affiliate WOAI 1200 AM, which remains KTSA's rival to this day.



For a time the San Antonio Express-News Corporation owned the station. In 1956, Top40 radio pioneer Gordon McLendon bought KTSA. He made it one of the first full-time Top 40 stations in America. KTSA became an overnight sensation because of the music and outrageous promotions. One included a flagpole sitter at the O. R. Mitchell Dodge used car dealership on Broadway, and the KTSA Easter Egg Hunt, which swamped San Pedro Springs Park with thousands of listeners searching for a $1000 KTSA Golden Egg.

In 1957, KTSA got competition from AM 860 KONO 860 AM (owned today by Cox Media Group), which changed to a Top40 format and hired several of KTSA's disk jockeys. By this time, McLendon had successful stations in El Paso (KELP), Dallas (KLIF), and Houston (KILT), and used the El Paso and San Antonio stations as farm teams for his larger markets. Because KTSA was located at 550 on the dial, his station promoted on the air that it played the "Top 55 Hits." Under McLendon ownership, KTSA obtained FCC permission to use the call letters KAKI-FM on KTSA's planned FM station, reportedly to honor San Antonio's military personnel (with "KAKI" meaning "khaki", a type of fabric used in military uniforms). KTSA's call letters were also briefly switched to KAKI. After KAKI-AM-FM letterhead and promotional materials were printed, management learned that the call letters could be pronounced as slang in Spanish for baby feces. AM 550 quickly returned to its KTSA call sign. And plans to put the FM station on the air were scrapped.

McLendon sold KTSA in 1965. The FCC had a rule at that time that a single owner could not own more than seven radio stations nationally. When McLendon bought his eighth radio station, San Antonio was one of his smallest markets. So he sold KTSA to Waterman Broadcasting, with Bernard Waterman as the president. KTSA remained one of San Antonio's most listened-to stations until contemporary music listening switched to FM radio. In 1969, KTSA signed on an FM sister station, 102.7 KTFM (now KJKK).

In the 1980s, the Top40 format moved over to KTFM, while KTSA switched to a full service adult contemporary sound, with some talk programming at night. By 1986, the music had been eliminated and the station became a full-time talk outlet.

In 2000, KTSA and its FM station, then with the call letters KSRX, were acquired by the Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, a division of CBS. Then in 2007, KTSA and its FM station, KJXK 102.7, were bought by Border Media Partners (BMP Radio) for $45 million. On July 27, 2009, Border Media Partners was taken over by its lenders in an "amicable manner," according to an FCC filing. Border Media had not made a debt payment in two years, according to the San Antonio Express-News. This resulted in BMP selling the station to L&L Broadcasting (now Alpha Media) in 2013.

 ➦In 2010…Daniel Louis Schorr died at age 93 (Born - August 31, 1916). He was a journalist who covered world news for more than 60 years. He was most recently a Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio (NPR). Schorr won three Emmy Awards for his television journalism. Schorr also worked for CBS and was the first on-camera employee hired at CNN.

Woody Harrelson is 60

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
  • Actor Ronny Cox (“Deliverance,” “RoboCop”) is 83. 
  • Actor Larry Manetti (“Magnum, P.I.”) is 78. 
  • Singer David Essex is 74. 
  • Singer and former Congressman John Hall (Orleans) is 73. 
  • Guitarist Blair Thornton of Bachman-Turner Overdrive is 71. 
  • Actor Belinda Montgomery (“Doogie Howser, MD”) is 71. 
  • Actor Lydia Cornell (“Too Close For Comfort”) is 68. 
  • Actor Woody Harrelson is 60. 
  • Guitarist Martin Gore of Depeche Mode is 60. 
  • Actor Eriq Lasalle (“ER”) is 59. 
  • Drummer Yuval Gabay (Soul Coughing) is 58. 
  • Guitarist Slash of Velvet Revolver and of Guns N’ Roses is 56. 
  • Actor Juan Pope (formerly J. Lamont Pope) (“My Name Is Earl,” ″Family Matters”) is 54. 
  • Model Stephanie Seymour is 53. 
  • Actor Charisma Carpenter (“Veronica Mars”) is 51. 
  • Alison Krauss is 50
    Singer Sam Watters of Color Me Badd is 51. 
  • Singer Dalvin DeGrate of Jodeci is 50. 
  • Musician Alison Krauss is 50. 
  • Drummer Chad Gracey of Live is 50. 
  • Actor-comedian Marlon Wayans (“The Wayans Brothers”) is 49. 
  • Country singer Shannon Brown is 48. 
  • Actor Kathryn Hahn (“Transparent,” “Crossing Jordan”) is 48. 
  • Actor Stephanie March (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”) is 47. 
  • Actor Shane McRae (“Sneaky Pete”) is 44. 
  • Fiddler David Pichette (Emerson Drive) is 44. 
  • Singer Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child) is 41. 
  • Actor Paul Wesley (“The Vampire Diaries”) is 39. 
  • Actor Krysta Rodriguez (“Smash”) is 37. 
  • Actor Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter” movies) is 32. 
  • Drummer Neil Perry of The Band Perry is 31. 
  • Actor Lili Simmons (TV’s “The Purge”) is 28. 
  • Country singer Danielle Bradbery (“The Voice”) is 25.
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    Thursday, July 22, 2021

    Industry Group Wants Nielsen Decertified


    On Wednesday morning, the Video Advertising Bureau, which counts A+E Networks, Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS (among others) as members, delivered a letter to the MRC demanding that it suspend its accreditation of Nielsen’s national ratings service due to the measurement firm’s handling of its in-home panel, reports AdWeek.  That panel, which serves as the backbone of Nielsen’s television measurement products, has been cast into doubt since at least March 2020.

    In the letter, Sean Cunningham, the VAB’s president and CEO, asked that the MRC suspend Nielsen accreditation “as quickly as possible.” The MRC, which serves as a third-party watchdog that reviews and accredits various forms of media audience measurement, sets minimum standards that companies must meet to be accredited media research ratings services. Nielsen, Cunningham charged, had repeatedly violated those standards.

    The letter was accompanied by a 10-page document detailing the supposed shortcomings that the VAB and Nielsen have been butting heads over for months after the VAB accused Nielsen of “systemically under-counting” television viewership from March 2020 through March 2021. In May, Nielsen admitted that it had lowballed television viewership due to complications in maintaining its panel over the course of the pandemic after the MRC confirmed the same findings.

    “There is a narrative in the marketplace that all is well,” Cunningham told Adweek Wednesday morning. “All is not well.”

    At the center of the issue is Nielsen’s in-home panel, which is made up of households around the country who agree to have their household viewing habits monitored. During the pandemic, the company had to press pause on in-home maintenance visits, which check to make sure monitoring equipment is working properly and that people are actually occupying their homes, due to Covid-19 restrictions; those limitations, the VAB has previously charged, led to an undercount and an underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic households in particular.

    Nielsen has taken steps this year to shore up its in-home panel and improve its relationship with its networks’ clients since the controversy spilled into public view in April, when the VAB pressured Nielsen to adjust its audience measurement figures through March 2020.

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    Peak Of Weekday Listening To Radio Returns To 3pm


    With last week’s release of JUN21 Nielsen Audio data for PPM markets, The Radio Research Consortium  now have over a year of data to document radio’s recovery from the coronavirus. Winter 2020 was the leadup, Spring 2020 represented the onset of the pandemic, and now we have four full quarters of recovery.

    Their key highlights: 
    • AVG Weekly Cume is back to 95% of Winter 2020, while PUMM is back to 89%; Spring 2021 market recoveries range between 103% to 74% of Winter 2020 PUMM
    • Hour-by-hour for weekdays shows that 3pm is again the peak of listening; out-of-home listening is where the recovery is occurring.












    RRC's analysis also shows that over the course of the pandemic, out-of-home listening never lost its lead in Nielsen's PPM markets, even during Spring 2020's lockdown when out-of-home PUMM led in-home, 3.9 million to 2.8 million respectively. Additionally, out-of-home's share of PPM listening has been a steady 65% since Summer 2020, now at 66% for Spring 2021, while in-home is down to 34%.

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    TV Ratings: Olympics Could Flop For NBC


    The Summer Olympic games are set to open on Friday in Tokyo as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage countries around the world. On Monday, Japanese carmaker Toyota said it would be pulling its Olympic ads in Japan amid a nationwide backlash to the games being hosted during a state of national emergency.

    The NY Post reports other threats to the popularity of this year’s games include a ban on spectators and a steady drumbeat of athletes contracting the virus, and in some cases dropping out of the games entirely. 

    Over 70 athletes have contracted the virus in Tokyo so far, including fan-favorites like tennis player Coco Gauff, who pulled out of the global event earlier this week.

    Without star athletes, ratings stand to suffer. And while NBC has already locked in over $1 billion in Olympic ads, poor ratings threaten to create a knock-on effect for other revenue streams.

    Low ratings could dampen new sign-ups to Peacock, the company’s all-important streaming service, which is providing live coverage, replays and special programming of the Games, analysts said.

    Sagging viewership could also reduce ad spend on NBC shows leading into the Olympics — or following the broadcast, experts said.

    Some experts have estimated even more meager viewership of 17 million, citing the 13-hour time difference and the lack of pre-game promotional ads from the network.

    NBC paid the International Olympic Committee, which holds the media rights to Games, $4.4 billion for the four Olympics spanning 2014 to 2020 and another $7.75 billion for the next six games running 2022 through 2032.

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    AT&T Earnings: WarnerMedia Revenue Rises 30%


    AT&T Inc.’s second-quarter revenue rose 7.6% driven by new subscribers to its cellphone service, leading it to increase its financial outlook for the year, reports The Wall Street Journal.

    The media and telecommunications giant said it is focusing on continuing to expand its broadband business and cellphone subscriber base, its core profit engine. The company now expects consolidated revenue growth between 2% and 3%, up from a prior view of about 1% growth.

    AT&T has boosted its wireless subscriber count over the past year by dangling significant smartphone discounts in exchange for long-term commitments, prompting rivals Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. to respond with their own promotions.

    The discounts, while expensive, helped AT&T post a net gain of 789,000 postpaid phone subscribers during the second quarter. Investors value postpaid plans, which charge customers for service after it is rendered, because account holders tend to provide dependable profits.

    Verizon on Wednesday said it gained 275,000 postpaid phone customers during the most recent quarter. T-Mobile is slated to report its results next week.

    On the entertainment side, WarnerMedia’s HBO unit ended the quarter with 47 million domestic HBO and HBO Max subscribers, up from 44.2 million three months earlier. Those figures included new subscribers to HBO Max as well as customers paying for traditional HBO service, usually through a cable distributor.

    WarnerMedia revenue was up about 31% in the most recent quarter, reflecting a partial recovery from the impact of the pandemic as advertising sales returned. The entertainment company also highlighted higher content sales and more revenue from subscriptions as HBO Max grew.

    AT&T in May decided to spin off its media brands—including HBO, CNN, TNT, TBS and the Warner Bros. studio—into a new publicly traded company with Discovery Inc. The move followed a February deal to spin off a 30% stake in AT&T’s pay-TV unit while giving up operational control of the business, which will be called DirecTV upon closing. AT&T also put much of its digital advertising business, known as Xandr, on the market in 2020.

    The company’s reported net debt fell by nearly $1 billion from about $169 billion at the end of the prior quarter. The company said it expects the DirecTV stake sale to close within the next few weeks, allowing it to pay off more debt in the years ahead.

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    Wake-Up Call: China Stalls WHO Plan To Find COVID-19 Origins

    A senior Chinese health official said today that China can't accept the World Health Organization’s (WHO) plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of Covid-19. The vice minister of China's National Health Commission, Zeng Yixin, said he was, quote, "rathen taken aback" by the call for futher investigation of the virus' origin, the lab leak theory in particular, a theory he dismissed as counter to common sense and science. He stated, "It is impossible for us to accept such an origin-tracing plan." China has been accused of not being transparent about what happened in the early days of the pandemic, while Beijing charges that the issue is being politicized. Zeng noted that a team of international experts coordinated by WHO that visited the Wuhan lab earlier this year concluded that a lab leak was unlikely, and the virus most likely jumped from animals to humans.


    ➤BIDEN URGES COVID VACCINATION IN TOWN HALL, CALLS IT 'GIGANTICALLY IMPORTANT: President Biden again urged getting vaccinated against Covid-19 in a town hall televised on CNN last night, calling it "gigantically important" and expressing frustration over how much the U.S. vaccination rate has slowed. Speaking at the event at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Biden said that the pandemic in the U.S., now being driven by the delta variant, is now largely focused among the unvaccinated, saying, "We have a pandemic for those who haven’t gotten the vaccination -- it’s that basic, that simple." 


    Biden also answered questions about topics including his infrastructure package, expressing confidence that it will get done in Congress, and inflation, saying there will be what he called "near-term inflation" as the economy rebounds from the pandemic, stating it's, quote, "highly unlikely long-term inflation will get out of hand."


    ➤PELOSI BLOCKS TWO OF FIVE GOP APPOINTEES TO JANUARY 6TH PANEL, REPUBLICANS SAY WON'T PARTICIPATE: Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday rejected two of the five House Republicans chosen by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to sit on the House committee that will investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. The two were Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, two outspoken allies of former President Donald Trump. Pelosi cited the, quote, "integrity of the investigation" and "concern about statements made and actions taken by these members." 

    McCarthy accused Pelosi of, quote, "an egregious abuse of power" and said Republicans won't participate in the probe if the five members aren't appointed. Democrats have said the investigation will proceed, with Pelosi having appointed eight members, including Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, a Trump critic, which gives them the bipartisan representation needed according to committee rules. Cheney told reporters she agrees with Pelosi's decision, and lashed out at McCarthy, charging he's, quote, "attempted to prevent the American people from understanding what happened -- to block this investigation." McCarthy said the Republicans will conduct their own investigation, although it's unclear how that could happen, since the minority doesn't have the power to set up committees. The House voted in May to create an independent, bipartisan investigation that would have been evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, but Senate Republicans blocked it.


    ➤OHIO 'INCEL' CHARGED WITH PLOTTING HATE CRIME TO KILL WOMEN IN MASS SHOOTING: A 21-year-old Ohio man described by authorities as an "incel" was arrested Wednesday and charged in federal court with attempting to commit a hate crime to kill women in a mass shooting at sororities at an unnamed Ohio university. Tres Genco was also indicted for unlawful possession of a machine gun. Officials said Genco wrote a manifesto about wanting to kill women, quote, "out of hatred, jealousy and revenge," and hoped to have a "kill count" of 3,000 victims. Genco was part of an online community of incels, according to authorities, a group who have hostility towards women who they believe, quote, "unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention to which they believe they are entitled." Incel stands for "involuntary celibate."

    ➤SOME SURFSIDE COLLAPSED CONDO OWNERS WANT TO REBUILT AT SAME SITE: 
    The site of last month's collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex in Surfside, Florida, has largely been cleared of the rubble, and 97 victims have been identified. As the recovery period is now drawing to a close, attention is turning to what comes next, and for some condo owners who survived the collapse, they'd like that to be the rebuilding of another condo complex at the same site. 

    Some of them were asking for that to happen before a Miami-Dade judge yesterday, among them Yadira Santos, who said, "Why can’t we rebuild where we called home?" But others who lived there are against the idea, with Raysa Rodriguez, for one, saying, "That is a grave site." They spoke as part of a hearing for the many lawsuits that have been filed in the collapse. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, who's presiding over the cases, has been pushing for the property to be sold to compensate victims and relatives of those who died. Some survivors and relatives of the dead believe the site should be turned into a memorial park or left undeveloped.

    ➤MORTIFIED MOM ADMITS SHE’S UPSET ABOUT HER DAUGHTER’S NAME:  Sometimes brands can take commonly used names and make them into products—take Amazon’s Alexa, for instance. A mom named Lauren Johnson, from Massachusetts, has started a campaign called Alexa is a Human to highlight issues she says those with the name face. She’s also desperate to change her two-year-old daughter’s name from Alexa to something else. Johnson wrote on Mumsnet, “I’m 100% certain she is going to be picked on, bullied, and teased for being called this.” She added that a child of a friend has already asked if her daughter’s name means he can tell her to sing songs like his Amazon Alexa does. Fellow parents in the group assured the mom that she doesn’t need to change her daughter’s name, with one person noting the technology is bound to change, or that by the time the child is older everyone will already own the tech, and therefore won’t think the jokes are funny anymore.

    ✔FACT CHECK..ICE CUBES ARE SAFE FOR DOGS, CONTRARY TO ALARMIST SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIMS:  You may have seen a post going around social media claiming that giving your dogs ice cubes or other frozen items in the heat can hurt them. But the American Kennel Club says that is not true. The July 9th Facebook post says, “PLEASE do NOT give your dogs ice cubes or other frozen items in the heat to cool them down! Giving ice cubes to dogs in the heat has the opposite effect of cooling.” The very false post was shared nearly 3,000 times before it was deleted. The warning originated back in 2010, and has circulated online since at least 2014. But veterinarians say that giving dogs ice cubes in moderation is a perfectly acceptable way to cool them down. The experts say you should allow your dog to cool down after they exert a lot of energy and excitement prior to giving them unlimited access to food and water, as if they drink too much water they can develop a dangerous condition called bloat. And giving your dog ice cubes can actually help prevent bloat because they “slow down the rate of ingestion of water by overly excited dogs.”

    ➤FEDERAL JUDGES BLOCK TWO TRANSGENDER LAWS: Federal judges temporarily blocked two transgender laws yesterday, one in Arkansas that banned gender confirming medical treatments for transgender young people under age 18, and one in West Virginia that banned transgender athletes from competing in women's sports. The Arkansas law barred gender confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers, and sex reassignment surgery for anyone under 18. U.S. District Judge Jay Moody found the plaintiffs were likely to succeed with their challenge of the law, and that allowing it to go into effect would hurt transgender young people currently getting the treatments. In the West Virginia case, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin issued an injunction preventing the state from enforcing its ban in the case of an 11-year-old transgender girl who wanted to run cross country at her middle school. He said it was in the public interest to uphold her constitutional right to not be treated differently than her peers.

    ➤FIRST LADY STOPS IN ALASKA ON WAY TO TOKYO: First Lady Jill Biden made a stop in Alaska yesterday as she headed to Tokyo, leading a U.S. delegation to the Olympics in her first solo international trip as first lady. Biden will be in Tokyo for about 48 hours after arriving Thursday afternoon, during which time she'll have dinner with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his wife, Mariko Suga. She'll also have a virtual get-together with members of Team USA on Friday before meeting Emperor Naruhito. Biden will also attend the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday evening. She'll cheer on U.S. athletes competing in several events, and host a U.S.-vs.-Mexico softball watch party at the U.S. Embassy for staff and their families.

    ➤STUDY...INFLUENCERS ARE UNLIKELY TO CHANGE PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR:  A new study finds that influencers on social media are actually unlikely to change a person’s behavior by example, and might actually be detrimental to the cause. University of Pennsylvania researcher and senior study author Damon Centola explains it’s because when an influencer presents an idea that their followers don’t agree with “they can unintentionally antagonize the people they are seeking to persuade because people typically only follow influencers whose ideas confirm their beliefs about the world.” Basically, if you want to spread gossip, go ahead and get help from an influencer, but if you want to transmit new ways of thinking that challenge an existing set of beliefs, you should be “targeting people in the outer edge or fringe of a network.” Centola adds that the findings “turn our notions about social influence for marketing, sales, and social movements upside down. Not everything spreads through a network in the same way, and we can use this knowledge to pinpoint hotspots in the social graph. This can allow us to accurately tailor our network strategies for effecting positive social change.”  

    ➤OLDER PEOPLE ARE WORSE AT LEARNING TO SELF-HELP, BUT JUST AS GOOD AT LEARNING TO HELP OTHERS:  Older people are better at learning to help others than they are at learning to help themselves. Researchers from the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford found that older people were slow to learn to choose the most advantageous option when their selections would only benefit themselves compared to a group of younger people, but that when making choices on behalf of another person, older folks learned equally as fast as the younger group. Dr. Jo Cutler, lead study author, adds, “We recognize that in general, cognitive processes and learning ability tend to get worse as people get older. So it’s really interesting to see that when making choices that benefit others, older adults’ learning ability is preserved. By better understanding what motivates older people in this way, we can contribute to strategies that promote healthy aging.”


     🏒EXPANSION DRAFT HELD FOR NHL'S SEATTLE KRAKEN: The expansion draft was held yesterday for the Seattle Kraken, the NHL's new franchise, which will began playing next season. The Kraken chose 30 players and didn't announce side deals or trades. Among their picks were goalie Chris Driedger, former Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano, longtime New York Islanders winger Jordan Eberle, former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Brandon Tanev, veteran defensemen Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak, and Yanni Gourde from the Tampa Bay Lightning, a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

    ➤DIRECTOR OF TOKYO OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY FIRED OVER 1998 HOLOCAUST JOKE: The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee fired the director of the opening ceremony, Kentaro Kobayashi, because of a Holocaust joke he made during a 1998 comedy show. Kobayashi was accused of using a joke about the Holocaust in his comedy act, including the phrase, "Let's play Holocaust." The dismissal came one day before Friday's opening ceremony. This comes after a composer whose music will be part of the opening ceremony stepped down earlier this week because of his bullying of fellow classmates, including disabled children, when he was a student, which he boasted about in 1990s interviews.

    ➤TOKYO OLYMPICS RESULTS, DEVELOPMENTS:
    • U.S. Women's Soccer Team Loses to Sweden: The U.S. women's soccer team, which is favored to win the gold medal, stunningly lost to Sweden 3-0 in their first game Wednesday (July 21st). The top-ranked Americans had a 44-match unbeaten streak until the loss. It was Sweden that eliminated the U.S. in the quarterfinals at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
    • U.S. Softball Team 2-0 After Beating Canada: The U.S. softball team is now 2-0 after beating Canada 1-0. Pitcher Monica Abbott threw a one-hitter.
    • U.S. Beach Volleyball Player Crabb Out with Covid: U.S. beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb will not be able to participate in the Olympics after he had four positive Covid-19 tests.
    🏀HAWKS CENTER OKONGWU OUT FOR SIX MONTHS AFTER SHOULDER SURGERY: Atlanta Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu will be out for about six months after having surgery yesterday to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. The 20-year-old, who was the sixth overall pick in the 2020 draft, is expected to make a full recovery. Okongwu played 50 regular-season games for the Hawks and averaged just over nine minutes in 18 playoff games.

    🏈HALL OF FAME COLLEGE FOOTBALL COACH BOWDEN SAYS HAS TERMINAL CONDITION: Hall of Fame college football coach Bobby Bowden announced Wednesday that he's been diagnosed with a terminal medical condition, which he didn't disclose. The 91-year-old said, "I’ve always tried to serve God’s purpose for my life, on and off the field, and I am prepared for what is to come. . . . I am at peace." Bowden had a 315-98-4 record in 34 years at Florida State, winning national titles in 1993 and 1999 and 12 Atlantic Coast Conference championships. He won 357 games overall during his 40 years in college coaching. He retired following the 2009 season.
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    NuVoodoo: 25-54 Women Most Hesitant On Vaxxing

    • New NuVoodoo Study: Under the Specter of COVID’s Delta Variant, U.S. Vaccine Hesitancy is Highest Among Women and 25 to 54-Year-Old Adults
    • 42% of People Surveyed Are at Least Moderately Concerned About the COVID-19 Delta Variant; Almost A Third Are “Not At All Concerned”
    • Vaccine Hesitancy Peaks in the Midwest and Southern U.S.
    • Hispanic Americans Are the Least Vaccine Hesitant of Any Population Segment
    NuVoodoo Media Services, a data-driven media research, marketing and content intelligence provider, announces the findings of a new study on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Americans, conducted on Tuesday, July 20, 2021, and supplementing its Ratings Prospect Study 18, fielded June 18-20, 2021. In Tuesday’s study of 1,318 respondents between 14 and 64 years of age, NuVoodoo found that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is highest among women and 25-54-year-old adults. On the flipside, the study further revealed that Hispanic Americans are the least vaccine hesitant of any population segment. NuVoodoo presented the results of this week’s bonus study today at the first in a series of free summer webinars for radio professionals, “Reboot the Commute.”

    42% of the total sample is at least moderately concerned about the Delta variant, with moderate to extreme delta variant concern running highest among those either fully, partially or intending to become vaccinated. Almost a third of the unvaccinated are “not at all concerned.”

    Carolyn Gilbert, President, NuVoodoo Media Services, commented: “Our June study was conducted about five weeks after the CDC gave the all-clear for vaccinated Americans to essentially return to a normal life, and feelings were most certainly running toward the optimistic side after 15 months of COVID-19 related restrictions. With this new variant of concern starting to impact case rates and hospitalizations, not to mention dominating the news cycle, we felt it important to provide the timeliest information, so our industry partners can make better informed decisions when planning the next few months.”

    Leigh Jacobs, EVP, Research, NuVoodoo Media Services, noted: “We discussed this as the business day started on Tuesday, July 20th. I wrote up some questions and by 2 PM, we’d fielded, tabulated and had the data ready to report. In 2021, we need information this quickly, and I’m delighted to work with a company that actually gets that done.”

    NuVoodoo will provide additional Delta-related data and breakouts to the radio industry during the remaining “Reboot the Commute” webinar sessions, which are scheduled to run through Wednesday, August 4th. Those interested in seeing both studies can reserve a spot at www.nuvoodoo.com/webinars.
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    iHeartRadio Adding Alexa-Based Song Requests, Dedications


    iHeartMedia has unveiled an interactive feature from Amazon Alexa designed to allow listeners of an iHM radio station’s audio stream to make song requests and dedications.

    The new Alexa skill is now available on Country WCOS 97.5 FM in Columbia, S.C.; and Top 40 KZZP 104.7 FM in Phoenix, WXXL 106.7 FM in Orlando and KHKS 106.1 FM Kiss FM in Dallas. 

    Other stations will added soon, iHeartMedia.

    iHeartRadio Chief Product Officer Chris Williams stated, “We’re excited that for the first time our listeners will be able to talk to us directly through Alexa. This is a direct line to allow our audience to talk back, to share their thoughts and help influence what you hear on the radio.”

    How does it work? “One can simply use their voice to seamlessly request songs and even dedicate them to family and friends,” Williams explains. “Alexa will then send the request to the station, where radio DJs can queue them for on-air playback in front of millions of other listeners.”

    “We’re excited that for the first time our listeners will be able to talk to us directly through Alexa,” iHeartRadio Chief Product Officer Chris Williams said. “This is a direct line to allow our audience to talk back, to share their thoughts and help influence what you hear on the radio.”

    iHeartRadio “is experimenting with the latest Alexa updates to deliver even more interactive features in the future.” This includes Q&As with on-air personalities and show hosts, voice-driven polls, and contests.

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