Gen Media Partners With School Sports Media

Gen Media Partners has announced its newest partnership with School Sports Media, a national school representation firm that delivers hyperlocal community-based marketing solutions with cause-related benefits, hypertargeting mobile capabilities, and robust customization abilities.

The deal brings another dimension of multi-platform marketing to Gen Media Partners’ expanding resources.

“High school sports are embedded in the culture of America and ignite strong passion in local communities across the country,” stated Kevin Garrity, Chief Executive Officer, Gen Media Partners.  “The synergies with radio allow us to create unique local and regional advertising packages and draw revenue from promotional budgets that are earmarked for local sports marketing.  Our alliance with Schools Sports Media enriches the multi-level Gen Media national/regional/local approach to ad sales representation and gives us another opportunity to introduce radio to new advertisers that have not used the medium previously.”

School Sports Media creates customized brand engagement opportunities at high school and collegiate games, concerts, graduations, and other events.  Its highly advanced location-based mobile technology – the same used by Ford, Sprint, and AT&T – can target within 100 yards to deliver a message during a game or drive in-store traffic after one.  On-field signage, player books, game programs and digital tie-ins with schools’ websites, social media, and email marketing create a full 360-degree brand integration experience.  Brand image and loyalty are boosted because Sports School Media delivers sixty-five percent of every sponsorship dollar directly to the school, enhancing the brand’s connection with the passion of school sports’ fans.

“We are committed to keeping kids playing sports in schools and delivering community marketing that matters to each of our brand partners,” said Dave Shamberger, President and Founding Partner, School Sports Media. “Aligning ourselves with Gen Med Partners will allow us to better serve schools across the entire country, while also expanding our local media platform capabilities.”

L-A Radio: Larry Elder On Hollywood's Walk of Fame

Larry Elder-Twitter photo

Radio personality Larry Elder got his Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame Monday during an unveiling celebration. Actors Dean Cain, Jon Voight and others were there to congraulate Elder. Elder iis the 2,549 recipient of a star.

April 28 Radio History

In 1922...WOI-AM, Ames, Iowa, became the country's first licensed educational radio station.

The history of WOI can be traced back to 1911 when Physics Professor "Dad" Hoffman set a transmission line between the Campus Water Tower and the Engineering Building and set up a wireless telegraph station. By 1913 this was known as experimental station 9YI and it was sending and receiving weather reports by morse code on a regular basis. The first sound broadcast was an hour of concert music on November 21, 1921.

The Commerce Department issued a full radio license for station WOI in April 1922 and the first regular broadcast took place on April 28, 1922. It is the oldest fully licensed noncommercial station west of the Mississippi River. The original callsign 9YI is now W0YI and is retained by the ISU Campus Radio Club, with the amateur radio station located in the Electrical Engineering building.  The first regular programming on WOI was farm market reports gathered by ticker tape and morse code and broadcast throughout the state.


In 1932..."One Man's Family" was first broadcast on the NBC Radio Network.

One Man's Family, was an American radio soap opera, heard for almost three decades, from 1932 to 1959. It was the longest-running uninterrupted dramatic serial in the history of American radio. Television versions of the series aired in prime time from 1949 to 1952 and in daytime from 1954 to 1955.



One Man's Family debuted as a radio series on April 29, 1932 in Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco, moving to the full West Coast NBC network the following month, sponsored by Snowdrift and Wesson Oil. On May 17, 1933, it expanded to the full coast-to-coast NBC network as the first West Coast show heard regularly on the East Coast. The show was broadcast as a weekly half-hour series (1933-1950) [sustained by Standard Brands from 1935 through 1949], then shifted to daily 15-minute installments, initially originating from the studios of San Francisco radio station KPO, NBC's flagship station for the West Coast, eventually moving to Los Angeles.

In 1958...Herb Oscar Anderson starts at WMCA.  HOA can still be heard on WOSN - 97.1 FM - Vero Beach, FL.


 

In 1972...Arthur Godfrey does last CBS Radio Network show.

Godfrey 1948

Godfrey became nationally known in April 1945 when, as CBS's morning-radio man in Washington, he took the microphone for a live, firsthand account of President Roosevelt's funeral procession. The entire CBS network picked up the broadcast.  Unlike the tight-lipped news reporters and commentators of the day, who delivered news in an earnest, businesslike manner, Godfrey's tone was sympathetic and neighborly, lending immediacy and intimacy to his words. When describing new President Harry S. Truman's car in the procession, Godfrey fervently said, in a choked voice, "God bless him, President Truman." Godfrey broke down in tears and cued the listeners back to the studio. The entire nation was moved by his emotional outburst.

Godfrey made such an impression on the air that CBS gave him his own morning time slot on the nationwide network. Arthur Godfrey Time was a Monday-Friday show that featured his monologues, interviews with various stars, music from his own in-house combo and regular vocalists. Godfrey's monologues and discussions were usually unscripted, and went wherever he chose. "Arthur Godfrey Time" remained a late morning staple on the CBS Radio Network schedule until 1972.





In 1975…Influential radio disc jockey/programmer/manager (KSAN-San Fracisco, KMET-Los Angeles, KPPC-Los Angeles, KMPX-San Francisco, KYA-San Francisco, WIBG-Philadelphia)/record label owner (Autumn)/concert promoter (Beatles at Candlestick Park)/Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Tom Donahue, inventor of "free form,""deep cuts" and "classic rock" radio, died following a heart attack at age 46.


In 1987…For the first time, a compact disc of an album was released before its vinyl version. The album was "The Art of Excellence" by Tony Bennett.


In 2006…After radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was accused by Florida prosecutors of "doctor shopping" for painkillers, his attorneys announced a deal under which a single prescription fraud charge would be dismissed after 18 months, provided Limbaugh remained drug-free and did not violate any laws.

Research Update: The Changing Media Landscape

Jacobs Media has released the findings of its 11th annual national web survey.  The annual "Techsurvey" looks at how consumers are receiving their audio and video entertainment. The latest survey concludes that the car continues to be an important story for radio as a majority of the audience spends the lion's share of their listening in a moving vehicle.  It also shows a highly evolving and changing media environment.

Fred Jacobs

In its new web study of radio listeners, the fast-moving media environment is now tracked using two different “pyramids” that track the ways in which consumers are using their new media entertainment and information options. Overall, 13 different radio formats and four generations provide the narrative that explains this evolving landscape.

As Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs points out, "Every year when we sit down to analyze the data, we're in search of "the one big thing" that impacts radio. This year the story is different - there's a steady drumbeat of digital growth in all directions, as radio listeners enjoy a widening array of options. The good news is that consumers continue to strongly listen to radio as the media landscape continues to expand."

The traditional Media Usage Pyramid is comprised of gadgets (smartphones, Smart TVs), big media activity (TV viewing, radio listening), as well as key activities (social media profile, audio and video streaming).

Click to Enlarge

And a new Brand/Platform pyramid provides broadcasters with a visual look at the specific channels their audiences are regularly using – from SiriusXM to Pandora to YouTube to Twitter.

Click to Enlarge

Here are some of the key takeaways from Jacobs Media’s Techsurvey11:

• Radio listening is solid as 92% of the sample listen for one hour a day or more. But the listeners continue to make use of the many options and choices that have become more accessible.
• The car continues to be an important story for radio broadcasters. A majority of the audience spends the lion’s share of their listening in a moving vehicle. Among those who are in the market for a new vehicle in 2015, nearly nine in ten (89%) say an AM/FM radio is very important.
• Of the 18% of the total sample with a connected car, satisfaction with these systems is very strong. Three-fourths love or like their in-car media systems.
• The vast majority (74%) say they rarely or never change their car radio pushbuttons or media settings.
• Facebook continues to lead the way as more than nine in ten (94%) of those with a social media profile use Mark Zuckerberg’s site. And nearly three-fourths (73%) of those on Facebook visit the platform at least daily.
• Secondary social media sites are important and highly used among fans of various radio formats. While Facebook dominates, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat are all major players among key audience groups.
• More than eight in ten (81%) now own a smartphone. And one-third (34%) of respondents with a mobile phone say they’re addicted to these gadgets.
• Radio remains #1 for music discovery, but among Millennials, other options like Pandora and YouTube are growing in importance.
• Pandora is the dominant smartphone app among those who download radio applications on their smartphones and tablets. But complaints about a lack of song skips and annoying commercials continue to grow.
• One-fourth (24%) are aware of the FM radio chip. Overall, nearly six in ten (58%) say they’d listen to FM radio a lot or a little more if it were activated in their smartphones.
• Just as many people who wake up with the aid of clock radio now rise and shine with a cell phone (both with 40%).

Techsurvey11 was powered by NuVoodoo who provided analytical and platform support.

ESPN Hits the Road for Big Sports Week

• Mike & Mike to broadcast from Chicago in advance of NFL Draft
• The Herd with Colin Cowherd in Las Vegas for Mayweather-Pacquiao
• ESPN Radio at the NBA Playoffs
• MLB: New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox on May 3

ESPN Radio will hit the road this week beginning Wednesday, April 29, through Sunday, May 3, and will offer more than 90 live programming hours around some of the biggest sporting events of the year. SportsCenter AllNight will kick it off Thursday, April 30, at 2 a.m. ET, followed by Mike & Mike broadcasting live from 6 – 10 a.m. from Harry Caray’s 7th Inning Stretch and the Chicago Sports Museum at Water Tower Place. Mike & Mike will again air live from Chicago on Friday, May 1.  Former NFL wide receiver and ESPN analyst Cris Carter will join hosts Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg for two hours each day.

NFL Draft

Later that evening, ESPN Radio will broadcast Day One of the 2015 NFL Draft on Thursday, April 30 (coverage beginning at 7 p.m.), and continue with Day 2 on Friday, May 1 (coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m.). Host Dari Nowkhah, NFL analyst Louis Riddick and NFL Insider John Clayton will provide updates and analysis. Freddie Coleman will host post-draft coverage alongside NFL Insider Adam Caplan on both days at 11:30 p.m.  Weekend program Dari & Mel will also provide coverage, with co-host Nowkhah in Chicago and guest co-host Danny Kanell (filling in for Mel Kiper Jr.), from 8 a.m. – noon on Saturday.

At the Fight

In addition, The Herd with Colin Cowherd will air live poolside from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on Wednesday, April 29 – Friday, May 1, from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.  Cowherd will be in Las Vegas in advance of the much-anticipated boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.  Cowherd will welcome guests throughout the three days to discuss and analyze the bout.
Also in Las Vegas, SirusXM’s The Stephen A. Smith Show (weekdays, 1–3 p.m.) -- produced by ESPN -- will broadcast live from Radio Row at the MGM Grand, Wednesday - Friday. Additionally, Smith will host an afternoon Red Carpet Special that will be broadcast nationally on ESPN Radio from the MGM Grand lobby on Saturday from noon-3 p.m.

NBA Playoffs and MLB

Over the weekend, basketball and baseball will take center stage on ESPN Radio – The 2015 NBA Playoffs will continue Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., with games to be determined; and MLB on ESPN Radio plays on with a California clash Saturday as the defending World Series champions San Francisco Giants host the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at 3 p.m. On Sunday, the New York Yankees will face longtime rivals the Boston Red Sox in primetime, at 7 p.m.  Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton will describe the action.

Report: NBC Shaming Brian Williams To Resign

Brian Williams

Longtime broadcast executives say a triple crown of leaks about Brian Williams late last week appear to be an effort by NBC News to shame him into resigning, to avoid the messiness and possible additional expense of the firing.

According to Mike Allen at Politico, the brutal leaks were designed to send the message to Brian Williams and his superlawyer, Robert Barnett: “You’re dead. Now negotiate.”

Williams was reported to be under a contract of as much as $50 million (five years, at up to $10 million each). Speculation is that he’ll get $20 million to $30 million to leave. The $20 million camp says that he’s so weak, he’ll get less than 50 cents on the dollar. The $30 million camp says Brian has plenty of ways to embarrass the bosses and colleagues who threw him under the bus, and NBC should stop the bleeding/leaking. “He knows things, too,” a wise man pointed out.

However, Allen points out a few problems with this theory: Some of the leaks are arguably inaccurate. The Williams camp believes that it can disprove them, and that only a small number of incidents will prove to be problematic. And even those are explainable.

Read More Now

Dan Rather: Brian Williams Probably Will Be Fired

On CNN's Reliable Sources Sunday, Dan Rather says he thought Brian Williams had a slim chance of surviving the many lies that he was caught making, but with the new “vicious” accusations, he’ll probably be fired.

• Rather on Brian Williams’ future at NBC: “Brian has real friends or what he thought at least were real friends in the absolute upper reaches of the corporation.  That stands him in good stead. When I said his chances now are slim to none, and slim may have left town, if slim is still in town, it will be because he has these friends in the very top of the corporation.  They would like to keep him.  I think they want to keep him.  It's in the end, can they figure out a way to do it and move on from it?”

Hartford Radio: WTIC-AM Launches PM Drive Sports Talk

Starting today, N/T WTIC 1080 AM is launching a new PM Drive SportsTalk show featuring Joe D’Ambrosio and Andy Gresh.

Joe D and Gresh will feature D’Ambrosio and Gresh, who are described as a New York sports fan and a Boston sports fan respectively. They will talk about national, college and local sports topics.

Operations Manager Steve Salhany says, “We are excited to begin this next chapter of afternoon drive on WTIC. Sports has always been a huge part of WTIC Radio and now we are dedicating time every afternoon for sports fans, regardless of where their loyalties lie, to come together and talk about their teams”.

On co-hosting the new show at WTIC Joe D says, “This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I’ve known Andy and really am looking forward to working with him on a daily basis. I have no doubts that we will work hard to make this show a big success.”

Joe D’Ambrosio has been with WTIC for 23 years and in radio for 36 years. He has been “the voice of the Huskies” for 23 years and in that time has called 8 national championship games and one BCS Bowl game. He is an 8 time “Connecticut Sportscaster of the Year”.

Andy Gresh was most recently the midday host at WBZ 98.5 FM The Sports Hub in Boston.  He is a college football color analyst for Comcast Sportsnet/NBC and the American Sports Network as well as an analyst/co-host for Comcast Sportsnet New England. Andy spent 10 years as the pregame and postgame analyst on the New England Patriots Radio Network. He started his career in 1997 at WPRO-AM in Providence, RI. Andy played college football at the University of Rhode Island from 1992-1995 and was a 2 year letterman as an offensive lineman.

“I’m excited to be joining such a legendary radio station. I feel like I’ve hit the New England trifecta coming to WTIC-AM”, said Andy Gresh, “The vision for this show is so exciting. We can talk New York sports. We can talk Boston sports. We can talk college sports. It’s going to be a lot of fun”.

WTIC NewsTalk 1080 is owned and operated by CBS Radio. Find WTIC at 1080 on the AM dial, on the HD2 channel of co-owned WTIC FM and online at wtic.com.

The show will air opposite "The Rob Dibble Show" on ESPN radio, 97.9 FM in Hartford. Dibble, the former major league reliever from Southington, has been hosting the show, also 3 to 7 p.m., since March 2014.

Louisville Radio: Ben Davis Promoted To OM For Alpha Media

Ben Davis

Alpha Media/Louisville has announced the promotion of morning host and WDJX 97.9 FM Program Director Ben Davis to Operations Manager for the five-station cluster there, including WGZB-FM, WDJX-FM, WMJM-FM, WXMA-FM and WGHL-FM.

Davis has been at WDJX since 2003 where he started as the night host. In 2008, he was promoted to morning host of "The Ben Davis & Kelly K Show," and later that year to Program Director.

Senior VP/Market Manager Dale Schaefer commented, "Ben Davis has been an incredible leader for our cluster for many years as our Program Director and morning show host for WDJX. With this promotion, he will be able to expand his leadership role to all five of our stations and help each one reach their full potential. Our entire staff is thrilled about Ben's promotion and look forward to working with him to make each station a greater success than what it has already achieved."

"Ben is one of those rare triple threats; he's great on the air, a fantastic manager and wonderful with clients. It is very rewarding to be able to promote from within Alpha and, Ben is a respected passionate leader who is beyond ready to help guide our Louisville cluster to the very tippy top... Go Ben!" added Executive VP/Programming Scott Mahalick.

Davis remarked, "I'm excited at the opportunity given to me by Alpha Media to grow our 5 amazing and diverse brands here in Louisville! I can't wait to get working with our dynamic team and look forward to growing our reach in 2015 and beyond. I need to thank Dale Schaefer, Phil Becker, Scott Mahalick, and Bill McElveen for this amazing opportunity."

While Davis will continue to host the "Ben and Kelly Morning Show" each day on WDJX, he will turn over the day-to-day programming responsibilities for WDJX to a new hire.

Streamer Cur Media Names Jay Clark Chief Content Officer

Jay Clark

CÜR Media, Inc. has announced the appointment of radio veteran programmer Jay Clark as Chief Content Officer.

His responsibilities will include developing professionally curated genre stations for CÜR Music, the Company's social mobile and web streaming music service.

Clark joins CÜR Media after having served as a consultant to the Company since May 2014. He is the former Executive Vice President of Programming at Sirius Satellite Radio.

Previously, he wasVP for GM Radio, a web-based broadcast venture. His experience also includes WRKO Boston, WABC NYC, VP/Radio for Winstar Communications, PD for CBS Radio's KLSX Los Angeles and PD for Personality Talk WTKS in Orlando.

"We are excited to have Jay join the CÜR Media team in this important role as essentially our Chief Curator," said Tom Brophy, Founder and CEO, of CÜR Media. "His vast experience in building content for disruptive technologies has helped shape the initial design work for CÜR Music and now, as our Chief Content Officer, we believe he will help us change the course of music streaming in the same way Sirius changed the course of radio. Jay has led several notable programming radio turnarounds in tier one markets, and has decades of major market programming successes with leading broadcast companies including ABC, Greater Media, CBS, and Entercom. His experience will be invaluable as we move toward our planned launch CÜR Music in the coming months and attempt to build it into the next generation platform for music streaming."

Clark added, "I am extremely excited to take on this important role at CÜR Media as they move toward the launch of this dynamic mobile and web music experience. Much like Sirius was for radio, CÜR Music is a truly disruptive streaming product that when complemented with a line of unique programming, will offer a comprehensive music experience at a very compelling price point. I look forward to driving that development as we work toward our product launch later this year."

Aussie Radio: Royal Baby News Banned On 2DayFM

The arrival of the second royal baby is the most anticipated birth of the year - but Aussie radio station 2DayFM have been banned from reporting on it - at all.

The broadcaster came under fire in 2012 after two of its personalities prank-called the hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated for morning sickness while pregnant with Prince George.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian rang the King Edward VII hospital in London pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles and unsuspecting nurse Jacintha Saldanha nurse put the call through to a colleague who was treating the Duchess.

Saldanha was later found hanged with cuts to her wrists. She also wrote an email to her colleague blaming herself for the hoax.

So now with Kate's second baby about to arrive any day, 2DayFM has called for a total blackout amid the legal wranglings surrounding the call.

According to The Mirror, a confidential email was circulated by bosses of parent company Southern Cross Austereo last week stating that 'under no circumstances' is the birth of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William’s second child to be reported.

The edict comes as the broadcaster faces a licence suspension in the wake of the call and comes on the same day Australia's media watchdog ACMA released its ­report, which found 2DayFM breached the condition of its broadcast licence over the secret recording of a private conversation.

President Obama Jokes At WHCD

President Obama once again threw out cutting zingers at this year’s White House Correspondents Assn. dinner Saturday night, skewering cable news, the Republican presidential field and even Hillary Clinton’s just started presidential campaign, according to Variety.

And in a nod to his takedown of Donald Trump in 2011, he noted Trump’s presence at this dinner. “And Donald Trump is here. Still.”

After welcoming the cast of ABC’s “Blackish” comedy, he warned: “(But) being ‘Blackish’ only makes you popular for so long.”

One of his biggest laughs came when he noted that people ask him, “Mr. Obama, do you have a bucket list? Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.”

His quip about Hillary Clinton came when he noted that some Americans were going through tough times. “I have one friend who was making millions of dollars a year and now she is living out of a van in Iowa.”

He also added a twist to his delivery, bringing on “Luther, the anger translator,” aka Keegan-Michael Key, to shed light on his true feelings about media coverage of the job he is doing.

One of his biggest laughs came when he talked about his close relationship with Vice President Joseph Biden. “We’ve gotten so close that in some places in Indiana they won’t serve us pizza anymore.”

Read More Now

And The 2015 Radio Disney Music Award Winners Are...

The 2015 Radio Disney Music Awards were presented on Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles and featured the year's best artists, songs and more.

One of the biggest winners of the night, Jennifer Lopez, accepted the Hero Award for her service to women and children on behalf of the Lopez Family Foundation.

Disney star and singer Zendaya hosted this year's Radio Disney Awards, with performances by Fifth Harmony, Becky G, and Tori Kelly. Other performers included host Zendaya, Shawn Mendes, Sheppard, R5, Sabrina Carpenter, Natalie La Rose and Nick Jonas.

Dozens of Disney stars attended the 2015 award ceremony, including Nick Jonas who attended with his girlfriend Olivia Culpo, but not everyone could be a winner like Ariana Grande, Becky G, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez.

Here's the full list of winners for the 2015 Radio Disney Music Awards:

• Best Music Group: Fifth Harmony 
• Best Male Artist: Ed Sheeran
• Best Female Artist: Ariana Grande
• Song Of The Year: Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea, "Problem"
• Best Crush Song: Sabrina Carpenter, "Can't Blame a Girl for Trying"
• Fiercest Fans: Fifth Harmony
• Best New Artist: Charli XCX
• Catchiest New Song: Becky G, "Shower"
• Artist With the Best Style: Becky G
• Best Song That Makes You Smile: Maroon 5, "Sugar"
• Best Song To Rock Out To With Your BFF: Bea Miller, "Young Blood"
• Best Song To Dance To: Taylor Swift, "Shake It Off"
• Best Breakup Song: Selena Gomez, "The Heart Wants What It Wants" 
• Best Collaboration: Demi Lovato ft. Cher Lloyd, "Really Don't Care"
• Radio Disney's Most Talked About Artist: Ariana Grande 
• Hero Award: Jennifer Lopez

#RDMA Tweets

NM Radio: Personality Mike McKay Retires From On-Air Show

Mike McKay

On April 1, veteran radio personality Mike McKay stepped away from the microphone after a 40-year on-air radio career, working at 13 radio stations in 11 markets. For the past 11 years, McKay has co-hosted the KVLC 101.1 FM 101 Gold morning show with K.C. Counts, the top-rated morning show in the market.

McKay and Counts began hosting the morning show on April 1, 2004. During their tenure, the show was consistently a top-rated morning show in the market, which prided itself on audience interaction.

McKay told the Las Cruces Sun-News,  he took some time off last Christmas, and began looking back at his 40 years on the air.  He decided it was time to pass the torch, step back and begin developing the talent.

McKay's career started in Lehighton, PA on a thousand watt daytimer.  After short stints at Top 40s in Lehighton, Allentown, Pa., and Hartford, Conn., the Brooklyn native ended up on the air at the most famous radio station in the world—77 WABC in New York City.

"I was in the business about five years at that time," McKay said. "And I landed on the No. 1 station in market number 1. Working at WABC had always been my dream, of course ."

"I was hired as a full-time swing guy — it was a full-time job, I had a Saturday and a Sunday show, and I'd be the first guy called if they needed a shift covered," he said.

Even though McKay only had regular shifts two days a week, the move to WABC doubled the salary he was making in Hartford.

After WABC flipped from Top40 to Talk,  McKay stayed as a staff announcer.

"I got a raise. I'd come in at 10 a.m. and leave at noon," McKay laughed. "I was reading commercial scripts when they needed me to, but mostly I just stood around in front of a microphone for a couple hours, waiting for someone to hand me something to read."

McKay left after a couple of years, because he didn't find it fulfilling.

From 1986 to 1997, McKay and his family moved around the country. He found jobs in Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, Detroit and Rochester, N.Y., before ending up in El Paso.

In 2004, he had several conversations with his current business partner Mike Smith, now general manager of Bravo Mic Communications, who wanted to talk about 101 Gold.

"The station was owned by a group of local investors," McKay said. "We ended up buying 101 Gold, and that's how Bravo Mic was born. We closed the deal on January 5, 2005."

KVLC 101.1 FM (100 Kw) Red=60dBu Local Coverage Area

The company would later acquire three more signals: 99.5, which was KROL at the time and now KXPZ, and later KMVR 104.9 FM Magic 105 and KOBE 1450 AM.  McKay will continue to  oversee programming and creative development for Bravo Mic Communications.

Iowa Governor Signs Casey Kasem-Inspired Law

Casey Kasem

A year after the children of radio personality Casey Kasem had to seek court action to see their ailing father, a new law in Iowa aims to ensure that adult children can see their sick parents — granting them visitation rights unless the person's guardian goes to court to stop them.

Gov. Terry Branstad signed the bill into law Friday, according to The Des Moines Register. Under the measure, an adult with a legal guardian — someone who cannot manage their own affairs — would have the right to receive visits from family members and others they have previously expressed interest in seeing. The legal guardian could still control factors like the time and place of the visits.

Previously, Iowa law did not address how to handle such situations, said Sen. Rob Hogg, a Cedar Rapids Democrat who pushed for the bill.

The legislation was backed by Kasem's daughter, Kerri Kasem, who appeared on Iowa talk radio several times advocating for the bill. Kasem, a radio show host herself who lives in Los Angeles, is pushing for similar laws in several other states and said she believes Iowa is the first to enact such a bill.

Read More Now

The legislation was driven by Kasem's daughter, Kerri Kasem, with an assist from WHO 1040 AM Des Moine's Simon Conway's show.

Conway told Jockline: 'It started in Atlanta, GA in February this year at the Talk Show Boot Camp conference. Kerri Kasem had just finished talking about what happened to her dad, Casey, at the end of his life and how she and her siblings had been kept away from him. She told the crowd that there was no judge anywhere in the United States that could order visitation as such a law did not exist. She said she was going to go State by State to get this done.

That's when Kerri and News Radio 1040 WHO Afternoon Drive host, Simon Conway, met. "After chatting for about five minutes, I made Kerri a promise," Conway said. "I told her I was going to find a way to get this law on the books in Iowa."

R.I.P.: MD, PA, NJ Radio/TV Exec Ron Smith

Ron Smith

Ronald "Ron" Smith, a retired broadcasting executive who had started his career in Baltimore on WFBR-AM, died of a heart attack April 17 at his Egg Harbor Township home in New Jersey.

He was 75, according to The Baltimore Sun.

"He was such a great guy. He started in radio and later switched to TV," said Dick Ireland, who had known Mr. Smith since they were both 16 and who was a familiar presence to Baltimore listeners for 26 years as a WLIF-FM radio personality. "He loved what he did on the radio, and I know he loved doing it, but I think he liked being on the other side, in sales and managing stations."

In 1957, he was hired as a personal assistant to Buddy Deane, who hosted "The Buddy Deane Show," a popular afternoon WJZ-TV rock 'n' roll show. He also was the show's announcer and would accompany Mr. Deane to dances and personal appearances.

In 1960, Mr. Smith left "The Buddy Deane Show" and worked at WDMV-AM and WICO-AM on the Eastern Shore until he developed vocal cord polyps that cut his announcing career short.

He was working as a vice president of Adler Communications Corp. in Washington, and when the agency expanded its operations into broadcasting, Warren Adler and Mr. Smith purchased WAYE-AM in Baltimore in 1968.

The new owners changed the station's format from classical music to one featuring all news. It was the first all-news station in Baltimore. They also purchased Hagerstown stations WHAG-AM and –FM; and in 1970, Mr. Smith successfully launched WHAG-TV, also in Hagerstown. He remained with the TV station for 17 years as sales manager.

While at WHAG-TV, he briefly owned and operated WAAT-FM in Johnstown, Pa., and from 1987 to 1989, he owned and operated WCBG-AM in Chambersburg, Pa.

Mr. Smith joined the staff of WMGM-TV in Linwood, N.J., an NBC affiliate, where he was sales manager for 14 years. In 2003, he was named the station's general manager, a position he held until retiring in 2013.

April 27 In Radio History

Samuel Morse 1840

In 1791...Samuel Morse was born.

Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American painter and inventor.

After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs. He was a co-developer of the Morse code, and helped to develop the commercial use of telegraphy.

Original Morse Telegraph

In 1825 New York City had commissioned Morse to paint a portrait of Lafayette in Washington, DC. While Morse was painting, a horse messenger delivered a letter from his father that read, "Your dear wife is convalescent". The next day he received a letter from his father detailing his wife's sudden death.   Morse immediately left Washington for his home at New Haven. By the time he arrived, his wife had already been buried.  Heartbroken that for days he was unaware of his wife's failing health and her death, he decided to explore a means of rapid long distance communication.

While returning by ship from Europe in 1832, Morse encountered Charles Thomas Jackson of Boston, a man who was well schooled in electromagnetism. Witnessing various experiments with Jackson's electromagnet, Morse developed the concept of a single-wire telegraph. The original Morse telegraph, submitted with his patent application, is part of the collections of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.  In time the Morse code, which he developed, would become the primary language of telegraphy in the world. It is still the standard for rhythmic transmission of data.




In 1932...Radio personality, Casey Kasem, was born in Detroit, Michigan.

Casey Kasem on 1110 KRLA

He is best known for hosting "American Top 40" and for playing the character Shaggy in the Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo. Kasem, Don Bustany and Ron Jacobs founded the American Top 40 franchise in 1970, hosting it from 1970 to 1988 and from 1998 to 2004. Between January 1989 and early 1998, he was the host of Casey's Top 40, Casey's Hot 20, and Casey's Countdown. Also beginning in 1998 Kasem hosted two adult contemporary spinoffs of American Top 40, American Top 20 and American Top 10. Kasem retired from AT20 and AT10 on July 4, 2009 and both shows ended on that day.

In October 2013, Kerri Kasem said her father was suffering from Parkinson's disease, which a doctor had diagnosed in 2007; a few months later, she said he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, which is often difficult to differentiate from Parkinson's. Due to his condition, he was no longer able to speak during his final months.

On June 15, 2014, Kasem died at St. Anthony's Hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington at the age of 82.

In 1933...Karl Jansky reported receiving cosmic Radio signals in Washington, D.C.





In 2008...Radio Personality Big Ron O'Brien passed away at age 57.

O'Brien grew up in Des Moines, IA, and worked at the high school radio station. He started his professional career in 1969 at KUDL (now KMBZ-FM) in Kansas City. During the ensuing years,he worked for many stations, including KTLK in Denver, WCAR in Detroit, WQXI in Atlanta, WCFL (now WMVP) in Chicago, WOKY in Milwaukee, WFIL in Philadelphia, KFI and KIIS in Los Angeles, KWK (now WARH) in St. Louis (where he stayed for nine years), KZDG in Denver, WYXR (which became WLCE during his tenure and is now WRFF) in Philadelphia, WNBC (now WFAN) and WXLO (now WRKS) in New York, WPGC in Washington, D.C., and WRKO in Boston.

WOGL, also in Philadelphia, was his employer for the final six years of his life.