Trump Claims 'Big Announcement' About President Obama

UPDATE 10/24/12 5pm : Donald Trump's "big announcement” is here, and he is offering $5 million to a charity of Obama's choice if he releases his college transcripts and passport.

UPDATE 7P 10/23:  According to London’s Daily Mail,  Donald Trump is to claim that he has unearthed divorce papers of Michelle Obama and the President, according to a respected financial pundit with links to the tycoon.

It is alleged that the eccentric real estate mogul will claim that the documents show the First Lady and the President were at one point in their two decades of marriage seriously considering splitting up.

Earlier Posting...

Donald Trump is trying to involve himself in the presidential election again, saying yesterday (October 22nd) that he has a, quote, "big announcement" that he’ll be making about President Obama.

 In a phone interview with Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends Monday, the real estate mogul and reality TV celebrity said, "I have something very, very big concerning the president of the United States. I will be announcing it sometime probably Wednesday and it's going to be very big."

 He said he'd likely make the announcement on Twitter.

When asked by show co-host Gretchen Carlson if it would change the election, Trump said, "Possibly. It's very big -- bigger than anybody would know."

Trump had also promised a, quote, "big surprise" at the Republican National Convention, which was canceled because Hurricane Isaac forced the GOP to shorten the four-day event. The surprise was to have been a video showing the Celebrity Apprentice host firing an Obama impersonator. Trump drew political attention early this year when he suggested for weeks that he might run for president and became a champion of the birther conspiracy, the repeatedly debunked claim that Obama wasn't born in the U.S.

Faces In The Crowd At The Presidential Debate

Radio Row at last night’s third Presidential Debate in Boca Raton, FL:

Jamie Dupree, Cox Radio, Aaron Katersky, ABC Radio, Eben Brown and Jared Halpern, Fox News Radio. Photo by Peter King, CBS Radio News.


Which is the real Peter King?

Peter King, CBS Radio News bumps into Congressman Peter King at last night's debate.

Tom Taylor Is Back…Soon!

Tom Taylor, former editor of Inside Radio, MStreet Daily and Radio-Info, is about to return.

Taylor, one of the industry’s most respected and widely read radio reporter-analyst, has been ‘vacationing’ since leaving as news editor for Radio-Info.com.  The publication recently was bought out at Michael Harrison’s Talkers.com magazine.

Taylor is about to return with a free-subscription daily newsletter to be titled “Tom Taylor Now.  You can sign up by clicking here.

Syracuse: Morning Duo Cross The Street

nyradio.com

C&D Delays Ex-95X Talent From KROCK Start

Fans who followed Hunter Scott and Josh Grosvent from 95X (WAQX) to KROCK (WKRL/WKRH/WKLL) expected to hear the pair sign-on at 6am Friday.  But, according to cnyradio.com,  they said their debut was delayed by approximately 90 minutes, thanks to a threat of legal action from their former employer.

It was approximately 7:30am by the time Scott and Grosvent took to the air, explaining they received a cease and desist order from Cumulus Media, the owner of WAQX.  The pair had been hosting “The Show” there for two years, until they resigned after their shift on Tuesday morning.  For those first 90 minutes, they were discussing the matter with Ed Levine, President and CEO of Syracuse-based Galaxy Communications, KROCK’s parent company.

According to the co-hosts, the C&D from Cumulus alleges Scott and Grosvent violated a clause in their contract, which says they must negotiate in good faith with Cumulus before they speak to any competing broadcasters.  But, the pair said their contract expired at the end of August.  Since then, the co-hosts said multiple requests to discuss a new contract with Cumulus went unanswered.

Read More Here.

MLB Padres Renew XEPRS Broadcast Deal

After spending much of last off-season negotiating a radio contract, the Padres have extended their agreement with XEPRS  1090-AM for three seasons through the end of the 2015 season.

The San Diego Union is reporting under the new agreement between the Padres and the Broadcast Company of the Americas, all 162 regular season games will be broadcast, although BCA committed to only 15 spring training games.

In the past, the Padres broadcast all their spring training games. But many teams have reduced the number of spring training broadcasts.

Read More Here.

What If TV Goes the Way of Music and Newspapers?

From Derek Thomas At The Atlantic: 

Do you love television but hate your cable company? Then you'll be thrilled to hear this bit of news.

Les Moonves, the chief executive at CBS, said in an interview that if the cord-cutting revolution takes off, he is prepared to distribute TV directly to viewers through apps. "If the universe changes and they [viewers] want us to bring the content directly to them, then we can," he said. 

This is music to the ears of those who've been predicting that the End of Cable will be as inevitable and consumer friendly as the webification of newspapers and the iTunes-ification of music. It sounds like the best of both worlds. In an on-demand world, you get the TV you love, and only the TV you love, without those hundreds of pointless channels you don't, and save all this money in the process! That's the dream, at least. 

Here's the reality. If the cable bundle dissolves, buying the TV you love on-demand would probably be either much more expensive that you'd think ... or much lower quality than you'd accept. 

Let's say for example that you just want to watch ESPN and otherwise be left alone. Right now, you pay $80 to cable every month, which passes along $5 to ESPN (per its agreement with its media company, Disney). So ESPN alone would cost $5 a month, right? That's not so bad. 

But wait. Remember, ESPN isn't just getting $5 from every household that wants to watch it. It's also getting $5 per from the millions of TV-watching households who don't care for sports and just happen to have ESPN because they have cable. In our post-cable future, you might have to pay $10 a month to make up for all the households who choose to stop subsidizing your SportsCenter habit.

Read More Here.

Rolling Stones Sell Out London Shows In 7 Minutes

The Rolling Stones' two London shows for next month sold out in only seven minutes and temporarily crashed the Ticketmaster server, according to Vintage Vinyl News. Including the service charges, the tickets for the Stones' November 25th and 29th at London's O2 arena, ran from $170 to $650 -- with the "Special VIP Platinum Experience" tickets costing fans a cool $1,500. According to various Internet sites and insiders predictions, scalped tickets may run as high as $30,000 by the time of next month's UK shows.

The general on sale for the December 13th and 15th shows at Newark, New Jersey's Prudential Center is set for October 26th, with V.I.P. Hospitality Packages having gone on sale on Saturday (October 20th), and the American Express pre-sale happening today (October 22nd).

R.I.P.: Robb Mahr Formerly of WWJ

When he was covering news for WWJ Radio in the 1970s and ‘80s, there was a button in the control panel marked “VOG.”

That was the button they pushed to contact Robb Mahr, “The Voice of God.” Mr. Mahr died at his home in Keego Harbor on Oct. 16 after a year-long bout with cancer, according to a story by Dave Smith at theoaklandpress.com. He would have turned 76 on Nov. 4.

While the laid-back journalist made no claim to sounding like God, his booming, deep bass voice — even in normal conversation — was a natural for radio, his first love, and for television.

Born in Colorado Springs, Colo., Mahr attended the University of Denver and the University of Nebraska. He was an on-air reporter early in his career on radio stations in Monterey and San Jose, Calif. and continued in broadcasting until his death.

Mahr wound up in Detroit by coincidence. In 1971, while serving as news director of KSTP, a news and talk station in Minneapolis, he returned after a short vacation to discover that his office was cleared of his belongings and occupied by a young man he’d never met.

“What are you doing here? This is my office,” Mahr is reported to have said.

The office’s new occupant replied, “Not anymore.” Mahr never learned why he was fired, but he was hired in 1973 by WWJ, where he spent the next 20 years.

Read More Here.

Knife Wielding Man Arrested At Illinois Radio Station

A man armed with a knife and with a history of mental health issues, was arrested Friday morning after causing a disturbance at a Christian radio station in Peoria, Il..

28-year-old Robert T. Trent was booked on charges of aggravated assault, unlawful use of a weapon and criminal trespass.

He was taken into custody at the WCIC building. He had been to the radio station in the past and was known to employees, according to police. 

There were no injuries.

Cockroach Gets LA TV Time

NBC4 Los Angeles reporter Robert Kovacik kept his cool during a live stand-up even tough a cockroach was running on his shoulders.

ESPN Affiliate Host Suspended For ‘Die’ Tweet

UPDATE 10/25/12: 97.1 The Fan's Scott Torgerson, who was suspended after he tweeted he wished ESPN's Desmond Howard would get fired or die, has now been let go by the Columbus outlet.

Original posting....

Scott Torgerson, a sports radio host at WBNS 97.1 FM  in Columbus, Ohio, was suspended for an offensive tweet about ESPN personality and former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard.

According to The Huffington Post, Torgerson, co-host of "The Common Man & The Torg" on 97.1 The Fan (an ESPN affiliate) took to Twitter on Saturday afternoon to unleash his negative feelings toward the former Michigan star. He wrote:

"I wish Desmond Howard would get fired or die so I can watch Gameday again"

Togerson has since deleted the message.

President of WBNS 97.1 Dave Van Stone confirmed to the Associated Press that Torgerson has since been suspended.

Read More Here.

Tina Talks ‘Newsweek” On Morning Shows

Tina Brown hit the morning shows today to spin yesterday's big news about Newsweek's print edition shutting down and being replaced at the end of the year by a subscription-based digital-only title called Newsweek Global.

Capitalnewyork.com quotes Brown on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” "We just decided to take the plunge.”

"We decided that we wanted to embrace the future and not try anymore talk about the legacies of the past. It costs $43 million to print, manufacture, distribute, manage the distribution of Newsweek before you can even hire one writer or one editor. And that is just the most enormous millstone to deal with in a era where people are telling us more and more it's all about screens."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

That said, Brown did acknowledge the more somber reality that the digital transition is going to mean laying off a yet-to-be-determined portion of her staff.

Read More Here.

Tom Hanks Drops F-Bomb On GMA

On Good Morning America, Tom Hanks Friday blurted out a four letter word while talking with an accent. He was on the show to promote his upcoming film “Cloud Atlas”.  ABC issued a statement saying the show was edited for other time zone feeds.

WXTU Philly's Ken Medek Enters LMA

Ken Medek has entered in an LMA agreement to operate WAZL 1490 AM in Hazleton, PA.

Medek currently is waking up mornings at Beasley’s country WXTU 92.5 Philadelphia and for many years was a radio personality at CHR WKRZ 98.5 FM  and country WGGY Froggy 101 in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton market.

Medek's KMCS Broadcasting LLC has entered into the LMA with Panorama Pennsylvania and intends to air continuous Christmas music starting November 3rd. 

On New Year’s Day, WAZL will start airing "Playing Anything We Feel” featuring hits from the 80s, 90s and today.  Medek will continue his morning show at WXTU.

Townsquare Adds 2nd New Morning Show In Grand Rapids

Kidd Kraddick is out.  Connie & Curtis are in.

Mlive.com is reporting that starting Monday, Oct. 22, Today's Best Mix Channel 95.7 WLHT will debut a new morning radio show to wake up West Michigan. Connie & Curtis, most recently heard in Milwaukee and Madison, WI are replacing "Kidd Kraddick In The Morning", a nationally syndicated show out of Dallas, TX.

That makes two new morning shows from Townsquare Media in less than a month. Andy O’Riley and Dave Kaechele were announced as the new local morning show on Classic Hits WFGR replacing the syndicated "Bob and Tom Show" just two weeks ago.

Connie, originally from Michigan, and Wisconsin native Curtis will broadcast each weekday morning from 6 to 10 a.m. With a friendship that spans the past 12 years, they each feel their chemistry is something that will come through on their listeners' speakers.

In a statement, Channel 95-7 WLHT Program Director Tom Cook stated, “We're excited to bring "Connie & Curtis" to Grand Rapids. It was apparent that a team of their caliber would shake up morning radio in West Michigan. I can't wait to get started ... Let the fun begin!”

The show will be launched with a promotion that gives away five trips to Las Vegas.

Read More Here.

Ted Turner: CNN Needs Less Fluff

Thursday on "CBS This Morning," Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and founder and chairman of the United Nations Foundation, joined Charlie Rose to reflect on his legacy, politics, his $1 billion philanthropic pledge and the causes he cares about.

Turner said his greatest success in business is CNN but in life, it is his family. "If you don't make a success of raising your family, it's hard to be a success at anything," the media mogul said.

Touching on the state of CNN as a news network today, Turner said there is "a lot I like about it, and there are a few things I would change. I'd like to see more emphasis on hard news and international news and a little less fluff."

Salem Wants To 'Reclaim America'

Syndicated Salem talker Mike Gallagher reports a great opening night Wednesday at Eisemann Center in Richardson, TX for Salem's "Reclaim America" tour.

Onstage with Mike is former US Senator Rick Santorum and fellow KSKY 660am The Answer hosts Mark Davis and J.D. Wells. Around a thousand people attended.

This was the first of a multi-city tour for Mike which includes Columbus, Detroit, Denver and Chicago - go to www.townhall.com for details!

Gallagher and Sen. Rick Santorum sign copies of their respective books for hundreds of fans at the Reclaiming America/Talkers Tour in Richardson, TX last night. www.50thingsliberalshate.com.