Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Jimmy Osmond Treated For Stroke
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| Jimmy Osmond |
Osmond, 55, was playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
His spokesperson said the star went to hospital after "pushing through" the evening's performance. There are no further details about his condition.
He is part of the famous Osmond family and had chart hits including 1972's Long Haired Lover From Liverpool.
Jimmy Osmond is president of Osmond Entertainment. He has developed and supervised most of the Osmonds' merchandising business, as well as producing hundreds of hours of programming for networks including ABC, PBS, the BBC and the Disney Channel.
R.I.P.: Ray Sawyer, Lead Singer For Dr. Hook
Sawyer, perhaps best known for singing lead vocal on “Cover of Rolling Stone,” passed away in Daytona Beach, Fla., according to The NY Post citing his publicist.
Sawyer, 81, stopped performing around three years ago due to declining health.
The Alabama-born Sawyer – who founded the group with Dennis Locorriere, Billy Francis and George Cummings – was a member of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show from 1969 to 1981. A few years before the band’s formation, Sawyer lost his right eye in a car accident; Sawyer wore an eyepatch that made him resemble the Peter Pan villain Captain Hook, which served as the inspiration for the Dr. Hook moniker, according to Rolling Stone magazine.
In 1970, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show’s demo tapes wound up in the hands of author and songwriter Shel Silverstein, who recruited the band to become a vessel for his music: The group would turn Silverstein-written tracks like “Sylvia’s Mother” and “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone'” into hits and released two albums of Silverstein-penned songs, 1971’s Dr. Hook and 1972’s Sloppy Seconds.
Following their Silverstein partnership, the band shortened their name to Dr. Hook and enjoyed a string of hit singles in the mid- to late-Seventies, including “Only Sixteen,” “A Little Bit More,” “Sexy Eyes” and “When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman,” which became a Number One hit in the United Kingdom. Bruce Springsteen also notably served as Dr. Hook’s opening act in 1973.
After nine albums with Dr. Hook, Sawyer left in 1983 to pursue a solo career; he previously released a self-titled solo LP in 1977. While Locorriere maintained ownership of the official Dr. Hook moniker, Sawyer toured as Dr. Hook featuring Ray Sawyer over the past few decades. However, health issues forced Sawyer to stop performing live in 2015.
January 1 Radio History
➦In 1923...the very first radio broadcast of the Rose Bowl was beamed in Los Angeles over KHJ radio — some 42 years before 93/KHJ became Boss Radio.
➦In 1925...Lucrezia Bori and John McCormack of the famous Metropolitan Opera made their singing debuts on radio. The broadcast over New York’s WEAF Radio soon to be the NBC flagship.
➦In 1927...The Blue Network aired its first program. The Blue Network (previously the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of the now defunct American radio production and distribution service, which ran from 1927 to 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Company, the independent Blue Network was born of a divestiture in 1942, arising from anti-trust litigation, and is the direct predecessor of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC..see below) - organized 1943-1945 as a separate independent radio network and later TV broadcaster.
The core stations of the "Radio Group" were RCA's stations WJZ and WRC; the Westinghouse station WBZ, then in Springfield, Massachusetts; and WGY, the General Electric station in Schenectady, New York.
RCA's principal rival prior to 1926 was the radio broadcasting department of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company. AT&T, starting in 1921, had been using this department as a test-bed for equipment being designed and manufactured by its Western Electric subsidiary.
The RCA stations operated at a significant disadvantage to their rival chain; AT&T used its own high-quality transmission lines, and declined to lease them out to competing entities, forcing RCA to use the telegraph lines of Western Union, which were not as well calibrated to voice transmission as the AT&T lines.
Nevertheless, the WJZ network sought to compete toe-to-toe with the AT&T network, which was built around WEAF (today's WFAN). For example, both stations sent announcer teams to cover the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which was held in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Promotional material produced in 1943 claimed certain "firsts" in broadcasting by WJZ, such as the first educational music program in April 1922, the first World Series broadcasts in 1922, and the first complete opera broadcast, The Flying Dutchman, from the Manhattan Opera House.
RCA (as well as its consortium partners General Electric and Westinghouse) were to receive a break in 1926, when AT&T made a corporate decision to exit the broadcasting business and focus on its telecommunications business.
The Decatur Review (Illinois) for Sunday, December 12, 1926 reported the following in an article describing a broadcast to be sponsored by the Victor Talking Machine Company and aired the following New Year's Day, January 1, 1927, which is a description of this first Blue Network broadcast—note that it makes it clear that January 1, 1927 marked the debut of the Blue Network:
"TWO BIG NETWORKS: The network to be used for the first concert will consist of a combination of chains of stations affiliated with WEAF and WJZ, New York. It is also announced that this opening Victor program inaugurates a new chain system to be operated by the National Broadcasting Company, with WJZ as the "key" station. This new chain, which will be known as the "blue" network, will allow simultaneous broadcasting from WJZ through WBZ, Springfield and Boston, KDKA, Pittsburgh, and KYW, Chicago. For broadcasting of the first program, therefore, the "blue" network will be joined with the "red" network, as the WEAF chain is designated, as well as other stations in various cities. Following the New Year's night program, the concerts will be given bi-monthly, through the "blue" network (...)Allegedly, the color designations came from the way the networks were represented on maps, with red lines (or pushpins) denoting the WEAF network circuits, and blue the WJZ circuits
➦In 1927...The Rose Bowl football game was aired for the first time, coast-to-coast, on network radio.
First local broadcast of the New Years Day Rose Bowl Football Game from Pasadena by KHJ, Los Angeles aired in 1923. (USC played Penn State. The broadcast of the game, which was then called the East vs West Football game.)
➦In 1930..."The Cuckoo Hour" was broadcast for the first time on the NBC-Blue Network (it later became the ABC Radio Network).
➦In 1934...the classic radio horror show Light’s Out was heard for the first time on WENR Chicago. The show became an ‘almost midnight’ NBC thriller 16 months later.
➦In 1940…Broadcasting from the Empire State Building in New York City, radio station W2XDG, the first FM station licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, became the first to broadcast with the new Frequency Modulation technology.
➦In 1941...Lorne Greene was appointed first announcer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's new national radio news service. Years before his emergence as Pa Cartwright on the TV western series "Bonanza," Greene's stentorian tones in nightly wartime broadcasts earned him the nickname, "The Voice of Doom."
➦In 1945...WKSE, Buffalo signed on as WHLD-FM. It changed its call sign to WZIR in 1980, WRXT in 1984, and the current call sign in 1985. It currently runs a Top 40 format, which has been in place since September 1984. The station is now owned by Entercom.
➦In 1950...Twenty-six-year-old disc jockey Sam Phillips opened his Memphis Recording Service where, in July of 1953, Elvis Presley spent $3.98 to make his first recording.
➦In 1953...legendary Hank Williams died at the young age of 29 from a drug/alcohol-related heart attack. You may recall or even be able to sing along with some of the songs Hank wrote or co-wrote: “Cold, Cold Heart”, “Half as Much”, “Jambalaya”, “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “Hey, Good Lookin”, & “I’m So Lonesome I Could Die.” Indisputedly the biggest star in the history of country music, Williams’ legacy is being carried on by his son, Hank Williams, Jr.
In 1976 WRVR was purchased by Sonderling Broadcasting, owner of WWRL, with the hope that it could move to an urban format and compete against WBLS, which had cut into WWRL's ratings. However, community opposition prevented the format change and WRVR remained a jazz station under Sonderling ownership. At that time it developed the precursor to what would later become known as the "smooth jazz" format.
However, ratings were low, as they were unable to compete with WHN, which also had a country music format at the time. In 1988, a new jazz station appeared on the New York airwaves, with the call letters WQCD "CD101.9" later changing calls to WEMP, then back to WRXP, and now WFAN-FM.On January 23, 1984, Viacom dropped country and changed the calls to WLTW. The station became an MOR station known as "Lite FM 106.7 WLTW".
➦In 1968...the ABC Radio Network split into 4 networks: the Information, Entertainment, Contemporary and FM networks.
ABC Radio originally began after the split of NBC Red and NBC Blue (later Blue Network) networks with ABC taking over operations from RCA in 1943 before adopting its name 2 years later.
ABC Radio was known to broadcast the first nationwide report of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was shot in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas at 18:30 UTC on November 22, 1963 and ABC Radio's Don Gardiner anchored the network's initial bulletin at 1:36:50 EST, minutes before any other radio or television network followed suit.
Despite a number of different owners (Capital Cities Communications and later Disney), the radio division remained under ABC's wing until June 12, 2007 when it was sold to Citadel Broadcasting as well as its O&O stations (not including Radio Disney and ESPN Radio nor its affiliates) in a restructuring effort. The radio division has kept the ABC name for about 2 years until Citadel renamed it Citadel Media. Then sometime in September 2011, Cumulus Media has absorbed the now-defunct Citadel Broadcasting and rebranded it to the current Cumulus Media Networks. In 2013, Cumulus Media Networks merged with Dial Global Radio Networks to form Westwood One.
ABC Radio Networks Tribute Website: Click Here
On August 7, 2014, the Walt Disney Company announced that ABC will relaunch its radio network division on January 1, 2015. When its current distribution deal with Cumulus comes to an end, ABC will revamp its radio programming services under a new deal with Skyview Networks. ABC will continue to make its radio news programming via ABC News Radio.
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| Alison Steele |
Steele was born in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1950s while running errands for a local television station at the beginning of her career, at the age of nineteen, she met and married orchestra leader Ted Steele, who was twenty years her senior. They eventually went their separate ways.
Steele achieved her greatest following as a disc jockey on WNEW-FM, where she hosted the night shift in a new format when contemporary rock music began to be featured on FM radio. FM stations broadcast in high fidelity and, typically, had featured classical or instrumental music in the New York market. This all changed in the 1960s when this station led the switch to FM stations for the musical preferences of the counter culture of the 1960s and 1970s. After a major change in station programming from a briefly instituted all-female middle of the road (MOR) music format to what was becoming known as progressive rock radio occurred at WNEW-FM, she took the new late night position.
Steele acknowledged that she did not know much about progressive rock when she started the program, and apparently, neither did the management of the station, but the new programming was being extended to the growing market. Steele was given complete freedom to plan and present her program. In the process, she developed her persona as The Nightbird, and acquired a massive, loyal audience. Her audience was estimated in 1971 at approximately 78,000 nightly, with the majority of listeners being men between the ages of 18 and 34.
Steele began her show by reciting poetry over Andean flute music, before introducing her show in her well-known sultry, smoky voice with,
“The flutter of wings, the shadow across the moon, the sounds of the night, as the Nightbird spreads her wings and soars, above the earth, into another level of comprehension, where we exist only to feel. Come, fly with me, Alison Steele, the Nightbird, at WNEW-FM, until dawn.”She then made a transition to recordings of some of the more exceptional and experimental music being recorded at the time, as well as featuring the best of the familiar favorites of her audience.
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Steele left WNEW-FM 102.7 in 1979 and worked as a writer, producer, and correspondent for Limelight on CNN until 1985. Steele held several positions that overlapped during the decades of the 1980s and 1990s. She worked as a disc jockey on New York's WNEW from 1980–1981. She served as the announcer for the daytime soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, from 1981 to 1984, after replacing Dwight Weist; Her announcing jobs on SFT started in the final months on CBS and the first few years on NBC. In late 1984/early 1985 she left Search and was replaced by The Edge Of Night's announcer Hal Simms. For a number of years, Steele was also the "disc jockey" for the pop/rock in-flight audio entertainment channel on board Trans World Airlines.
From 1989 to 1995, she was on WXRK along with some work for VH1.
Steele died of stomach cancer on September 27, 1995, aged 58.
➦In 1968…Albums were outselling 45-RPM singles for the first time, according to Billboard magazine.
➦In 1971...the tobacco industry was banned from buying advertisements on television and radio.
➥In 1975...the NBC Radio Network began on-the-hour news, 24 hours-a-day.
NBC launched the NBC News and Information Service (NIS) in 1975. It allowed local radio stations to launch all-news formats, providing affiliates with up to 55 minutes of news per hour.
NBC aired the service on its Washington station, WRC. It also added the all-news format on its network-owned FM stations in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco.
Many stations signed on with the service, but by 1976, NBC was not sure if its network would ever become profitable. Affiliates got a six-month notice that the service would end. NIS closed in 1977.
➦In 1992...The ESPN Radio Network debuted.
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| Keith Olbermann |
At first, ESPN Radio broadcast only on weekends. By 1996, it expanded to weekdays with a show hosted by The Fabulous Sports Babe, Nancy Donnellan. One hour of that show was simulcast on ESPN2 (1-2 p.m. Eastern time). Two years later, Tony Bruno and Mike Golic were brought together for a new morning show, the "Bruno & Golic Morning Show" which aired until Bruno left the network in 2000. Mike Greenberg was named as Bruno's replacement, and the morning show became "Mike & Mike", which still airs today (and is also simulcast on ESPN2). In January, 2010, Mike & Mike celebrated their 10 year anniversary on ESPN Radio. Dan Patrick was a mainstay in afternoons until his departure from ESPN in 2007.
Gradually, ESPN added more dayparts and became a 24-hour service.
➦In 1997...EAS Rules go in effect
➦In 2006...former Chicago radio personality, Alan Stagg, died of complications from pneumonia.
A classic rock disc jockey with a deep, booming voice--"He had the voice of God, if God was a cowboy," said his onetime boss Bill Gamble-- Stagg was on the air in Chicago for most of the 1990s on stations that included WCKG-FM and WDRV-FM.
"Sanctuary" aired in the late 1990s on WXCD-FM, where Gamble was program director. A re-creation of the early days of FM radio, "Sanctuary" was a free-form melange of rock from the 1960s and 1970s, audio clips from movies and other sources, and Mr. Stagg's sometimes skewered take on life. Wind chimes tinkled in the background.
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| Alan Stagg |
The show later migrated to WCKG-FM, where Mr. Stagg was hired by former station executive Jeff Schwartz.
"To me, `Sanctuary' is exactly what radio is all about," said Schwartz, now a radio and media consultant. "It was like the hippier version of [former Chicago rock jock] Ron Britain's `Subterranean Circus.'"
Allan Stagg was the longest-running of several names Mr. Stagg used professionally, but he also used the name in everyday life, his wife said. Born Juris H. Josts, Mr. Stagg grew up in Grand Rapids, Mich., and started as an intern at a local radio station while in high school.
He knew he wanted to get into radio ever since having listened to the far-reaching signal of Chicago's WLS-AM as a boy. "He loved Dick Biondi," his wife said.
Monday, December 31, 2018
Chris Burrous Autopsy Performed
An autopsy has been completed on KTLA5 weekend anchor Chris Burrous, who was found unconscious in a Glendale motel room Thursday afternoon and later pronounced dead at a hospital, but a cause of death has not yet been determined, according to KCBS-TV.
“A cause of death was deferred pending further investigation,” Sarah Ardalani of the coroner’s office said Friday. It often takes several weeks to get the results of toxicology tests.
Saturday’s KTLA’s morning newscast marked the first weekend without Burrous and was dedicated to his memory as his tearful co-anchors shared clips and memories.
Early on, a representative of the Torrance Rose Float Association announced plans to include a remembrance of the veteran anchor on its float during the New Year’s Day parade, an event Burrous was scheduled to help cover.
Richard Stellar, a guest blogger for TheWrap.com entertainment news website was among those who continue to post tributes, photos and other commemorations online.
“He would bond with people – returning military veterans, parents of ill children, immigrants,” Stellar wrote under the headline “Why I’ll Miss KTLA’s Citizen Journalist.” “His microphone, when angled in the direction of his subject, was like a bridge of tolerance and understanding.”
Police were contacted at 1:15 p.m. Thursday by a caller who said a man he was with at the Days Inn, 450 Pioneer Drive, had passed out and was possibly not breathing, according to Sgt. Dan Suttles of the Glendale Police Department.
A dispatcher gave the man instructions on how to perform CPR and he was attempting to administer emergency aid when firefighters arrived, Suttles said.
Glendale firefighters found Burrous, 43, inside the motel room, not breathing, Suttles said. They administered CPR and he was taken to a hospital, where he died.
The original call to police stated Burrous may have overdosed, but detectives will await the Los Angeles County coroner’s office final report for a determination of the cause of death, Suttles said.
Reporters To Cheer-In New Years In Times Square
Reporters will be the guests of honor at the New Year’s Eve party in New York’s Times Square on Monday, in what organizers said was a celebration of press freedom after an unusually deadly year for journalists at U.S. news outlets.
According to Reuters, two attacks in particular weighed on organizers as they discussed in autumn whom to give the honor of initiating the ceremonial ball drop just before midnight, according to Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance.
One was the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for the Washington Post and U.S. resident, inside a Saudi Arabian consulate in Turkey. The other was the mass shooting in June in the newsroom of The Capital, a newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, in which five employees were killed.
Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the Times Square Alliance approached his group because of “the perception that the journalism and journalists in particular are under threat and their role is being questioned.”
Simon, who said he usually spends New Year’s Eve playing Scrabble with his wife in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, will be in the spotlight at the Times Square festivities, joining Mayor Bill de Blasio to launch the ball drop a minute before midnight.Simon will be joined onstage by journalists from U-S and international news outlets, including NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC anchor Lester Holt, ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz, and Karen Attiah, global opinions editor at The Washington Post.
Snoop Dogg, Sting and Christina Aguilera will welcome 2019 in a packed Times Square Monday along with revelers from around the world who come to see the traditional crystal ball drop, fireworks and a blizzard of confetti.
According to the A-P, spectators are expected to start assembling in early afternoon for the made-for-TV extravaganza. As has been the case for years, the celebration will take place under tight security, with partygoers checked for weapons and then herded into pens, ringed by metal barricades, where they wait for the stroke of midnight. Last year’s event was one of the coldest on record at 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Forecasters say Monday’s party will take place amid mild temperatures but possibly rain. Umbrellas are banned for security reasons.
Bloomberg Tracks Its 'Market Moving' News Stories
This is one of many metrics that is factored into reporters' annual bonuses.
This practice is not widespread in the financial news industry, and journalists BI spoke to from other outlets were not aware that it is used at Bloomberg. BI also canvassed traders, bankers and public relations professionals. None of them had heard this before, either.
Most of the people BI spoke to, especially traders, were startled to hear about this practice, worrying that it might create an incentive for Bloomberg reporters to "push" or stretch stories with the specific aim of moving markets. Traders react instantly to headlines and news stories, and the decisions they make often make or lose significant amounts of money.
Not surprisingly, given this compensation structure, the reporters at Bloomberg definitely care about moving the market.
"Anyone who moves the markets gets a bonus. Your team gets awards. If you don't move the market [it's] like there's something wrong with you. You don't get a full bonus."
Bloomberg News reporters get a compensation report each year, the former Bloomberg employee says. The bonuses are calculated based mostly on the reporter's team's performance as well as market moving stories. A percentage of the bonus is also based on personal performance, and it's all weighted.
TV Antennas Gaining Popularity
The TV antenna is a piece of 20th century technology that evokes memories of rabbit ears placed atop the mahogany cabinet of the old Zenith in your grandparents’ living room. But a growing number of consumers are turning to over-the-air digital antennas — a one-time investment of as little as $20 — as a way to slash their monthly video subscription costs.
The L-A Times reports research firms and electronics manufacturers say cord-cutting consumers have driven up TV antenna sales and usage in recent years. These “value-conscious streamers,” as they are known in the industry, are willing to cobble together a mosaic of video sources to replace the traditional pay TV bundle, which now costs an average of $107 a month, according to a recent study by the Leichtman Research Group.
This year, 8.1 million over-the-air TV antennas will be delivered to retailers in the U.S., up 2% from last year and 8% over 2016, according to the Consumer Technology Assn.
Nielsen estimates that 13.8% of U.S. homes depend on antennas to get their TV, up from 10.3% in 2014. Research firm GfK North America puts the number of over-the-air TV homes at 16.4 million.
The rapid acceleration of cord-cutting has put heavy pressure on the cable industry and media companies that own pay TV channels that depend on the steady revenue stream that subscribers provide. The number of consumers who’ve canceled traditional pay TV service is expected to climb 33% to nearly 25 million this year, according to estimates from research firm eMarketer.
Though worrisome for Hollywood, the trend has been a boon to antenna manufacturers like Channel Master. Although it does not disclose sale figures, the Chandler, Ariz.-based manufacturer has recently doubled the size of its facilities to meet demand for its products, said Joe Bingochea, the company’s president.
The market plummeted in the mid-1980s as consumers moved to cable and satellite to get better picture quality and then-new channels such as HBO, MTV and ESPN. This hurt Channel Master, which went through several ownership changes and a bankruptcy in the decades that followed.
But the brand name is still recognizable to older consumers, which prompted a group of private investors to acquire the company in 2012 and focus on the emerging cord-cutting market.
Computer Virus Stops The Presses
A computer virus hit newspaper printing plants in Los Angeles and at Tribune Publishing newspapers across the country, according to USAToday.
Tribune Publishing said a computer virus disrupted production of the Chicago Tribune and its other newspapers, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The print edition of the Chicago Tribune was published Saturday without paid death notices and classified ads, while in other markets a similarly slimmed-down version of the Saturday newspaper will be delivered on Sunday, the company said.
Tribune Publishing also reported the attack to the FBI on Friday, the Chicago Tribune said.
The virus that hit Los Angeles prevented it from printing and delivering Saturday editions of the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and other papers to some subscribers.
The Los Angeles Times, which runs the facility, said the computer virus infected systems that are associated with the printing process.
Spokeswoman Hillary Manning said the paper has been working to fix the issues but added that Sunday deliveries may be affected as well.
Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong bought both the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this year for $500 million.
D-C Radio: NBC Sports Launching Radio Gambling Show
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| Michael Jenkins and Tim Murray are hosts of a sports gambling show on NBC Sports Radio |
The Washington Post reports “The Daily Line,” will debuts Jan. 2.
It will be broadcast out of NBC Washington’s studio in Bethesda and hosted by longtime local anchor Michael Jenkins, currently the host of “D.C. Sports Live” on NBC Sports Washington, and Tim Murray, a host for SB Nation Radio and the studio host for Navy football, who previously hosted and produced shows for WTEM The Team 980.
The show, which will be produced in conjunction with Westwood One, will air from 3-7 Eastern every weekday and will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Radio app, as well as a group of radio affiliates around the country. At some point next year, “The Daily Line” is expected to be simulcast on some of NBC’s sports networks.
In May, the Supreme Court overturned a decades-old law that limited most sports wagering to Nevada and states have since rushed to enact legislation. Earlier this month the D.C. Council voted to legalize sports gambling. In the fall, Rhode Island became the eighth state to accept sports wagers and a report found that nearly $600 million was wagered in New Jersey in the first four-plus months of legalized sports gambling. More states are expected to consider bills next year.
The Action Network was founded in 2017 to and recently hired sports business reporter Darren Rovell away from ESPN. The Vegas Sports & Information Network broadcasts live from a Las Vegas Casino every day, while Fox Sports 1 airs a 30 minute gambling show every afternoon.
Survey: 1 In 4 Adults Check Phone Less Than A Minute After Waking Up
How long do you wait after waking up before you pick up your smartphone and check your texts, notifications, or social media apps? Many Americans don’t even give themselves enough time to stretch. According to Study Finds, a new survey finds that nearly one in four people grab their phones less than a minute after getting up each morning.
Researchers say that, not surprisingly, millennials led the way when it came to smartphone obsession.
Thirty-one percent of the young adult segment said they check their devices almost immediately after waking, compared to just 9 percent of baby boomers. Men were also more likely to look at their phones before anything else, with 27 percent checking right away, compared to 20 percent of females.
The findings are part of RootMetrics’ Lifestyles of Mobile Consumers survey, which polled 1,200 adults across the U.S. to probe the impact of smartphones and other digital devices on the daily lives of consumers.
While 23 percent of survey participants overall check their phones in less than than 60 seconds after waking up, another 34 percent wait five to 10 minutes. Conversely, about six percent wait at least two hours.
“Smartphones play an integral role in our daily lives, meaning that consumers must ensure they have a network that supports their increasing mobile needs,” says Kevin Hasley, head of product at RootMetrics by IHS Markit. “Whether they mostly use their smartphones to share on social media, play mobile games or binge-watch Netflix, a fast and reliable mobile network is key to getting and staying connected. Luckily, the carriers in the U.S. are working hard to align with subscribers’ growing demands.”
As for other takeaways from the survey, researchers found that a third of smartphone users spend most of their time texting, while nearly a third (32 percent) use their devices mostly for social media. About one in 10 primarily listen to music or podcasts, and 11 percent watch streaming videos.
Interestingly, more than half of baby boomers (54 percent) say they spend the majority of their phone time texting, compared to just a quarter of millennials. Conversely, far more millennials (40 percent) use their phones to check social media than the older generation (19 percent).
The survey was conducted October 24, 2018 by Pollfish.
R.I.P.. James Eiseman, Rochester Radio's 'The Iceman'
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| James Eiseman |
Eiseman hit the Rochester radio scene in January 1984 when he was hired to host a weekend show at WPXY (now Sports WHTK) 1280 AM following part-time gigs at WABC in New York, and as a producer and music director at WHDH in Boston.
He left the big cities because, as he told the Democrat and Chronicle in 1985, "I was at a dead end, spinning my wheels," and relocated to Rochester because his wife was from nearby Penfield.
Eiseman landed his weekend program at WPXY. In the fall of 1984, he was "The Iceman" hosting a 7 p.m.-to-midnight show Mondays through Fridays on WPXY's FM sister station, 98 PXY.
"I have a following of sorts," he said at the time. "They're nice folks, they call themselves the Icicles. I try to give them more than the basic 'card-reading jock.' I try to inject a little personality."
After his time in radio, Eiseman managed the hearing aid dispensary at Costco, a career his relatives said he found spiritually rewarding.
Facebook Apologizes For Banning Evangelist Franklin Graham
Facebook is apologizing to evangelist Franklin Graham for banning him from posting on the site for 24 hours last week, a Facebook spokesperson told The Charlotte Observer on Saturday.
It was a mistake to ban Graham over a 2016 post he made on the site, and a mistake to have taken down the post, the spokesperson said.
Facebook has restored the 2016 post and will apologize in a note to the administrator of Graham’s Facebook page, according to the Facebook spokesperson, who agreed to speak only on background, meaning without the spokesperson’s name.
A member of Facebook’s content review team -- the team has 15,000 members -- had mistakenly decided the post violated Facebook’s policy that bans “dehumanizing language” and excluding people based on sexual orientation, race and other factors, according to the spokesperson and Facebook’s written policy.
“Why?” Graham asked in a Facebook post on Friday after he said he was banned from posting anything on the site for 24 hours last week. “Because of a post from back in 2016 about North Carolina’s House Bill 2 (the bathroom bill). Facebook said the post went against their ‘community standards on hate speech.’ Facebook is trying to define truth.”
I thank @Facebook for their apology and I accept it. All truth is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” I would encourage all Christians—as well as Facebook—to stand on God’s Word and His truth. pic.twitter.com/rgEsOZna3C— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) December 30, 2018
In his post, Graham said the social media giant is “making the rules and changing the rules. Truth is truth. God made the rules and His Word is truth. Actually, Facebook is censoring free speech. The free exchange of ideas is part of our country’s DNA.”
Graham’s 2016 post focused on singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen canceling a North Carolina concert because of House Bill 2. “He says the NC law #HB2 to prevent men from being able to use women’s restrooms and locker rooms is going ‘backwards instead of forwards,’” Graham said in his 2016 post, referring to Springsteen. “Well, to be honest, we need to go back! Back to God. Back to respecting and honoring His commands.”
In March 2016, the General Assembly passed HB2, also known as the “bathroom bill.”
MTP Chuck Todd Denies Climate Deniers
NBC's Chuck Todd at the beginning of "Meet the Press" on Sunday said that his show is "not going to give time to climate deniers" before hosting an hourlong panel with lawmakers and experts about the consequences of climate change, according to The Hill.
"This morning, we’re going to do something that we don’t often get to do: dive in on one topic,” Todd said after showing video clips of dramatic weather incidents in the last year. He continued that climate change is “a literally earth-changing subject that doesn’t get talked about this thoroughly, at least on television news."
"Just as important as what we are going to do is what we’re not going to do," Todd said. "We’re not going to debate climate change, the existence of it. The earth is getting hotter and human activity is a major cause, period."
"We’re not going to give time to climate deniers," Todd added. "The science is settled even if political opinion is not."
Todd on Sunday said that his show would not not "confuse weather with climate."
The climate panel included multiple scientists and experts, as well as potential presidential contender Michael Bloomberg, climate activist California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.).
A federal report released last month concluded that climate change is poised to slash the U.S. economy and substantially diminish the day-to-day lives of all Americans if leaders do not confront the issue of climate change head-on. The report concluded that around 92 percent of climate change stems from human activity.
Compilation: Worst of CNN In 2018
The Daily Caller has compiled the most insane moments that happened on CNN airwaves in 2018.
Among the highlights:
- CNN kicked off the year in style by having anchors Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon get wasted in a New Orleans bar on New Year’s Eve. Fellow reporter Randi Kaye, meanwhile, was in Colorado worrying about getting a “contact high” on a party bus filled with pot-smokers.
- Viewers demanded an apology from the network in November after anchor Don Lemon called white men the “biggest terror threat” in the country and pondered why there isn’t a travel ban on white guys.
- No one was safe from CNN’s divisive rhetoric about Trump supporters, not even superstar rapper Kanye West. He was maligned as a “token negro” and a panel of CNN guests laughed as they mocked his intellect and offered to “trade” him in the “racial draft.”
- While that panel was free to lob insults at a celebrity who spoke openly about mental illness, guests not dare utter “the m-word” on CNN’s airwaves. Anchors Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon repeatedly chided guests who said that chasing people out of restaurants and trying to knock down the doors to the Supreme Court is “mob-like behavior.”
Remembering 2018: The People We Lost and Top Stories
From George and Barbara Bush to Sen. John McCain, Aretha Franklin and Hollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter to television evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, it was a horrible year for tearful goodbyes.
The mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school — which killed 17 students and staff, and sparked nationwide student-led marches for gun control — was the top news story of 2018, according to The Associated Press’ annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors.
The No. 2 story was the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into whether Donald Trump’s election campaign coordinated with Russia. It was one of several major stories — in a year jam-packed with dramatic developments — in which the U.S. president played a role.
A year ago, the surge of #MeToo sexual misconduct allegations that toppled many powerful men was voted the top news story of 2017. The continuing momentum of #MeToo in 2018 was this year’s No. 3 story.
Here are 2018′s top five stories, in order:
1. Parkland school shooting: It happened on Valentine’s Day — an act of senseless hate by a gunman with a semi-automatic rifle who killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Previous mass shootings had prompted passionate calls for tighter gun-control laws, but this time was different. A group of student survivors at the school, soon joined by allies nationwide, launched the March for Our Lives movement that organized massive walkouts and peaceful protests at schools across the country. The movement remains active, and has helped energize the broader campaign for tougher gun laws.
2. Trump-Russia probe: Throughout 2018, Mueller’s team investigated whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia ahead of the 2016 election and whether the president obstructed the investigation. The evidence so far shows a broad range of Trump associates had Russia-related contacts during the campaign and transition period; some former Trump aides have been indicted for lying. In a separate case in New York, prosecutors say Trump directed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to make illegal hush money payments to two women in a bid to quash potential sex scandals during the campaign.
3. MeToo: The #MeToo movement, which surfaced late in 2017, maintained its momentum throughout 2018 as many more powerful men were forced to account for past instances of sexual assault and misconduct. Once-revered comedian Bill Cosby was sentenced to prison; so was Larry Nassar, the former Michigan State and USA Gymnastics sports doctor convicted of molesting hundreds of young women. Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape. And Les Moonves was ousted as top executive at CBS after a dozen women accused him of sexual misconduct.
4. Mass shootings: When a Marine combat veteran shot dead 12 people at a country music bar in California in November, it was a grim “Not again” moment for many Americans — the fifth mass shooting of the year in the U.S. that produced nationwide shock and sorrow. In May, two months after the Parkland shooting, eight students and two teachers were killed at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. In June, a gunman shot dead five employees at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland. And in October, 11 people were killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh during Shabbat morning services.
5. U.S. midterm elections: With Donald Trump on the minds of many voters, Democrats managed to flip about 40 seats in the House of Representatives to seize control of that chamber from Republicans. Democrats also flipped several governorships around the country. But the GOP boosted its slim majority in the Senate and will have a 53-47 edge in the next session of Congress.
December 31 Radio History
➦In 1910...actor Dick Kollmar was born in Rigewood NJ.
He starred as Boston Blackie in the long-running radio show, and co-hosted a WOR New York chat show with his wife, gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen. On TV he hosted the series Broadway Spotlight & Guess What.
He died Jan. 7 1971 from an overdose of pills, an apparent suicide at age 60.
➦In 1914...Roy Rogers’ sidekick Pat Brady was born in Toledo Ohio.
He appeared in more than 100 episodes of TV’s Roy Rogers Show, after hooking up with Roy in films & on radio. He also sang with the western group Sons of the Pioneers.
He died in a motor vehicle accident Feb. 27 1972 at age 57.
➦In 1920...cowboy actor & narrator Rex Allen was born on a ranch in Arizona. Although he sang on radio’s WLS National Barn Dance, published over 300 songs, and starred in 19 Republic western movies, he is best remembered today for his distinctive narration of dozens of Disney films & TV shows. He died Dec 17, 1999 just days short of his 79th birthday, after being accidently run over in his own driveway.
➦In 1923...In London, the BBC first aired the chimes of Big Ben.
➦In 1923...the first transatlantic radio broadcast of a voice occurred between Pittsburgh and Manchester, England.
➦In 1926...radio station KOMO signed on the air in Seattle at AM 980. Today the longtime Fisher Broadcasting outlet has an all-news format at AM 1000.
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| KOMO Control circa 1948 (Photos courtesy of nwradiohistory.com) |
In July 1926, KOMO was founded on Harbor Island as KGFA 980 by two owners: Birt F. Fisher, whose lease on Seattle radio station KTCL was about to run out, and the Fisher brothers of Fisher Flouring Mills, who had been on the island since 1911. (The Fisher Brothers and Birt Fisher were not related.) In preparation for the switch to the new station, Birt Fisher changed KTCL's call sign to KOMO.
In December, his lease ended, and he took the call letters with him to KGFA. KOMO 980's first broadcast was December 31, 1926. The studios moved to Downtown Seattle in 1927. The station also began a long-running affiliation with NBC Radio that year as well, primarily with the Red Network, but also with the short-lived West Coast NBC Orange Network from 1931 to 1933. Over the following years, KOMO's frequency would go from 980 to 1080, back to 980, down to 920, up to 970, then back to 920, and settled at 950 after the NARBA frequency shakeup in 1941.
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| Circa 1948 |
Fisher's Blend Station, owner of KOMO, bought NBC Blue Network affiliate KJR from NBC in 1941. In 1944, KOMO switched frequencies with KJR (then at 1000 kHz) and sold KJR off two years later. At its new frequency, KOMO began broadcasting with 50,000 watts of power from its current transmitter site on Vashon Island in 1948. New studios at the corner of Fourth and Denny, near what is now the Seattle Center, were dedicated in February 1948.
➦In 1929...Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year's Eve song for the first time during their first annual New Year's Eve Party at the Hotel Roosevelt Grill in New York. The show was broadcast on the CBS Radio network and became the longest-running annual special program in radio history.
➦In 1940...ASCAP prevented the radio industry from playing any ASCAP-licensed music. The ban lasted for ten months. It was in reaction to a dispute between the radio networks and ASCAP, the American Society of Composers and Publishers.
➦In 1943...Country singer John Denver was born Henry John Deutschendorf. He died in a crash of an experimental plane he was piloting on Oct. 12, 1997 at 53.
➦In 1948...Disco diva Donna Summer was born. She died on May 17, 2012 at 63
➦In 1951...The "Wild Bill Hickok" TV series was replicated on radio following its success on television.
➦In 1961...for $300, LA radio station KFWB hired the Beach Boys, appearing under that name for the first time, to perform at their Ritchie Valen’s Memorial Dance in Long Beach. Previously the group had played California nightclubs as The Pendletones, as Kenny and the Cadets, and as Carl and the Passions.
➦In 1963...the "Dear Abby Show" premiered on the CBS Radio network. It ran eleven years. On this day in 1966, "Pirate Radio 390" (Radio Invicata)an off-shore station near England, resumed broadcasting.
➦In 1967...Radio stations across the nation had to comply with an FCC mandate that AM/FM outlets in major cities had to air non-duplicated programming. The limit was 50 percent for simulcasts. Here's a NY Times story dated December 31, 1966 concerning NYC stations...
➦In 1970...Paul McCartney sued the other members of the Beatles for a legal dissolution of their "partnership." On the same day, the British magazine Melody Maker announced that the Beatles were looking for a new bass player. Four years to the day later, the four of them came to terms and made the separation final.
➦In 1972...TV producer Dick Clark initiated a new holiday tradition with "Three Dog Night's New Year's Rockin' Eve" on NBC. The headliners, along with Blood, Sweat & Tears, Helen Reddy, and Al Green, appeared in performances that had been pre-taped in the Grand Ballroom of the Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach, California. Clark himself did not appear on the initial program. In 1973, he began hosting the special, its name shortened to "New Year's Rockin' Eve." The show moved to ABC-TV in 1974.
➦In 1982...the "CBS Mystery Theater" aired its final episode after 8 years on radio.
➦In 1982...the NBC Radio network cancelled practically all of it's daily features.
➦In 1985...Singer/actor Ricky Nelson, his fiancé Helen Blair, and five members of the Stone Canyon Band, died in the crash of his private DC-3 airplane (which was previously owned by Jerry Lee Lewis) near DeKalb, Texas, while en route to a concert appearance in Dallas. The pilot was attempting an emergency landing after a fire, caused by a malfunctioning gas heater, broke out on the plane.
Nelson was 45.
➦In 1989...the final edit was added to the annual WLS Music Montage.
Every New Year's Eve, the "Top 89" songs of the year were counted down on WLS-AM (and FM). After the #1 song was played at about 4 minutes before Midnight, the radio station wished listeners a Happy New Year!
Then...this wonderful montage was played. Each year added about a minute of the previous top songs in Chicago. The montage originally started short, as you can guess, and ultimately ended up as this 27+ minute marathon.
After WLS-AM changed to all-talk in 1989, this montage was no longer heard in Chicago. But thanks to Scott Childers, this "rebuild" version can be heard exactly as it was played every year. Kudos to Scott for putting this together!
This is an appreciation to the production work that Scott, Tommy Edwards (the originator) and the production staff created over the years.
Thanks to Scott Childers for the permission to post this. Check out his site at www.scottchilders.com.
➦In 2013...Veteran talk radio personality (WOR, WABC, WMCA in New York, KABC, KNX in Los Angeles, WBBM-Chicago, WWDB-Philadelphia) Bob Grant died at the age of 84.
He later became sports director at KABC (AM) in Los Angeles, where after some substitute appearances he inherited the talk show of early controversialist Joe Pyne in 1964 and began to build a following. Grant hosted three shows on KABC (AM) in 1964 titled, "Open Line," "Night Line," and "Sunday Line."
Grant was approached to come to New York by executives at WMCA when WMCA was going to become a talk station. He was recommended to them by Jack Thayer, who had been the station manager of KLAC. Grant was opposed to the move, as he hated what he knew about New York i.e. the subways, crime, and congestion. He also had four children and a home in Los Angeles.
Grant was convinced to come to New York when an executive said to him at the end of a meeting, "It's just too bad that the number-one talk-show host in America doesn't want to come to the number-one market in America." Grant came to New York and did his first show on WMCA on September 21, 1970, where he worked for station manager R. Peter Strauss.
After being in New York for a short time, Grant wanted to go back to Los Angeles. He was contacted by the former news director at KLAC, who was now a program director at another station to join his station, but Grant declined, because he had signed a two-year contract with WMCA. Grant's unhappiness being in New York led to him becoming angry with the callers. He hoped to get fired by R. Peter Strauss, however his ratings soared as he got angrier.
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