FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said he will depart the agency after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in next month.
Wheeler, who was appointed by President Obama three years ago to lead the FCC, announced he intends to leave his post on Jan. 20, 2017.
Wheeler, in a statement, said: “Serving as FCC Chairman during this period of historic technological change has been the greatest honor of my professional life. I am deeply grateful to the President for giving me this opportunity.”
He added, “It has been a privilege to work with my fellow Commissioners to help protect consumers, strengthen public safety and cybersecurity, and ensure fast, fair and open networks for all Americans.”
His departure means the FCC will start the Trump administration with a 2-1 Republican majority, allowing the GOP to immediately begin dismantling Obama-era regulations.
While it is customary for FCC chairmen to resign at the start of a new administration, Politico reports Wheeler had for months refused to publicly commit to stepping down when Obama leaves office, angering Republican lawmakers who held up the confirmation of his fellow FCC Democrat, Jessica Rosenworcel. The Senate did not approve Rosenworcel for a new term before it left town for recess last week, and she will have to leave the commission by Jan. 3.
Chief among the GOP targets are Wheeler's net neutrality rules, passed last year, which require internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally. The rules reclassify broadband akin to a utility making it subject to stricter oversight. Republicans called the regulations burdensome on companies, and the telecom industry has sued — so far unsuccessfully — to overturn them.
WNEW Fresh 102.7 FM is unveiling new morning and afternoon shows on the station. Beginning Tuesday, January 3, Jeffrey Jameson joins Karen Carson as co-host of the morning program airing weekdays from 6:00AM-10:00AM. Former morning show host, Cane, is now hosting the afternoon show solo, weekdays from 3:00PM-7:00PM.
“Now more than ever, the personalities contribute to the local sound, music and feel of the station,” said Jim Ryan, Senior Vice President, Programming, CBS RADIO New York. “With exciting and talented hosts like Karen and Jeffrey in the morning and Cane in the afternoon, we are thrilled to give our loyal New York listeners and clients more fun and music every day.”
Added Jameson, “I have unending gratitude for everyone at CBS RADIO New York for making my dream a reality. I'm ecstatic to be working with the powerhouse that is Jim Ryan and incredibly excited to be collaborating with the extraordinary talent of Karen Carson.”
WNEW 102.7 FM (6 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area
The complete FRESH schedule can be found below:
6:00AM – 10:00AM: Karen Carson & Jeffrey Jameson
10:00AM – 3:00PM: Christine Richie
3:00PM – 7:00PM: Cane
7:00PM – 12:00Midnight: Matt Sneed
Jeffrey Jameson
Jameson was formerly the host of the syndicated morning show, Dana & Jeffrey in the Morning and worked as a Creative Consultant for many morning shows in the top 10 markets.
In addition to his career in radio, Jameson has appeared on several primetime television network series, performed at Caroline's on Broadway, written and performed his own one man off-Broadway show and opened for Sandra Bernhard's live show, I Love Being Me, Don't You? He is a style writer for Us Weekly and has hosted live events for Saks Fifth Avenue, Parlor and Macy's.
Cane joined Fresh 102.7 in 2014 as a weekend host. Previously, he worked at a variety of stations in the New York area, including WXRK and WHTZ.
Digital audio streaming has more than tripled in the last five years, as a growing number of consumers use digital platforms to access audio entertainment. According to Triton Digital, in October, the number of U.S. streaming sessions hit 4.867 million during the M-F 6am-8pm daypart, up from about 1.5 million in Q1 2011.
And, according to InsideRadio, things haven’t begun to slow down: Since then, digital streaming has been growing steadily every quarter and shows no signs of letting up.
Digital listening complements terrestrial radio listening patterns; radio’s primetime periods during morning and afternoon drive bookend streaming’s heaviest usage, with digital peaking from 11am-1pm, Triton reports. On weekends, streaming sessions are lighter, but still follow a similar pattern where usage builds throughout the morning, peaks from 11am-1pm and gradually falls off through the afternoon.
Among formats, AC posted the largest listening gains in October, up 9.5% over September, followed by urban contemporary (8.7%); country (6.7%); modern AC (6.7%) and urban AC (6.2%). Spoken-word formats posted mixed results in October, with sports up 2.9%, news/talk down 4.5% and talk down 4.8%. Digital listening increased in 14 of the top 15 markets in October, led by Miami, which was up 9.6%. The only market to show a drop in listening was San Francisco, off 15.5%.
Among radio broadcasters, iHeartRadio ranked as the most listened-to digital publisher in October, averaging 406,068 AASs during the M-F, 6am-8pm daypart, followed by Cumulus with 62,294 AASs; NPR Member Stations (57,970); and CBS Radio (51,908). Rounding out the top ten were ESPN Radio (25,978), Entercom (25,452) and Univision (23,661).
Pandora (with 2.46 million AASs) and Spotify (1.47 million) again dominated among pureplays.
A pair of CBS programs were the top-viewed shows of 2016, dethroning NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” as the most-watched regularly-scheduled primetime program on television, according to a new report from Nielsen.
The Wall Street Journal reports “The Big Bang Theory” averaged 19.94 million viewers this year, followed by 19.89 million for “NCIS” and 19.28 million for “Sunday Night Football,” which last year topped the list with an average of 23.29 million people tuning in. The report measured live viewing plus seven days of delayed viewing.
NBC said that “Sunday Night Football” is averaging 20.08 million viewers this year when factoring in live and same day viewing for games through Dec. 12, while the Nielsen report only covered contests through Nov. 6.
The figures come during a tough year for ratings for NFL games, which were once thought of as immune to the challenges in the traditional television business. While CBS carried six out of the top 10 primetime shows, the network saw “Thursday Night Football” drop from sixth to ninth on Nielsen’s list this year. (It has split the package of games with NBC.)
Overall, there was a downshift in viewership among the top shows, with last year’s top three all generating audiences above 20 million viewers.
(Reuters) -- Yahoo Inc warned on Wednesday that it had uncovered yet another massive cyber attack, saying data from more than 1 billion user accounts was compromised in August 2013, making it the largest breach in history.
The number of affected accounts was double the number implicated in a 2014 breach that the internet company disclosed in September and blamed on hackers working on behalf of a government. News of that attack, which affected at least 500 million accounts, prompted Verizon Communication Inc to say in October that it might withdraw from an agreement to buy Yahoo's core internet business for $4.83 billion.
Following the latest disclosure, Verizon said, "we will review the impact of this new development before reaching any final conclusions."
A Yahoo spokesman told Reuters that the company has been in communication with Verizon during its investigation into the breach and that it is confident the incident will not affect the pending acquisition.
Yahoo required all of its customers to reset their passwords - a stronger measure than it took after the previous breach was discovered, when it only recommended a password reset.
Yahoo also said Wednesday that it believes hackers responsible for the previous breach had also accessed the company’s proprietary code to learn how to forge "cookies" that would allow hackers to access an account without a password.
"Yahoo badly screwed up," said Bruce Schneier, a cryptologist and one of the world's most respected security experts. "They weren't taking security seriously and that's now very clear. I would have trouble trusting Yahoo going forward."
Yahoo was tentative in its description of new problems, saying the incident was "likely" distinct from the one it reported in September and that stolen information "may have included" names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers.
It said it had not yet identified the intrusion that led to the massive data theft and noted that payment-card data and bank account information were not stored in the system the company believes was affected.
Yahoo said it discovered the breach while reviewing data provided to the company by law enforcement. FireEye Inc’s Mandiant unit and Aon Plc's Stroz Friedberg are assisting in the investigation, the Yahoo spokesman told Reuters.
The breach is the latest setback for Yahoo, an internet pioneer that has fallen on hard times in recent years after being eclipsed by younger, fast-growing rivals including Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc.
Hours before it announced the breach on Wednesday, executives with Google, Facebook and other large U.S. technology companies met with President-elect Donald Trump in New York. Reflecting its diminished stature, Yahoo was not invited to the summit, according to people familiar with the meeting.
The Yahoo spokesman said Chief Executive Marissa Mayer was at the company's Sunnyvale, California headquarters to assist in addressing the new breach.
(Reuters) -- About half of television viewers who opted for slimmed down pay-TV packages to lower their costs ended up paying more for their overall video content because of added streaming services, according to a new study from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Rising costs are the reason most consumers reduce or drop their TV subscriptions, so called "cord-shaving" or "cord-cutting," according to PWC. But for those who scaled back what they were paying for TV, adding streaming services had the opposite effect.
The company surveyed 1,200 U.S. consumers as part of its annual TV and video consumption study, and found that 51 percent of those who opted to scale back their pay-TV packages ended up paying more for video content than they did a year ago. Of those surveyed who have dropped their TV packages entirely, 68 percent said they were paying less for their video content than they were a year ago.
“Apparently, trimming the cord did not save them money, likely because they added costs of streaming services or paid apps. This indicates they are willing to pay extra for a more streamlined or focused experience on where they find value,” said the report.
PWC’s survey found that more pay-TV customers expect to keep their subscriptions next year: 84 percent said they expect to have a TV subscription one year from now, compared to 70 percent who said that a year ago.
While PWC predicts the cord-cutting phenomenon weakening in 2017, the U.S. pay-TV industry is coming off a particularly brutal year.
Pay-TV services have shed roughly 1.4 million subscribers through the first three quarters of 2016, according to analysis by MoffettNathanson. That would make it the largest decline through three quarters on record.
That is why pay-TV companies including Dish Network and AT&T Inc's DirecTV are moving toward providing live streams of TV channels as a way to keep consumers who eschew traditional TV bundles. Dish Network introduced SlingTV last year and AT&T launched DirecTV Now two weeks ago.
MoffettNathanson estimates that Dish has added 911,000 SlingTV subscribers since the first quarter of 2015, when Dish first included SlingTV in its subscriber count.
But they are not alone in this new burgeoning market: Sony Corp has its own live streaming TV service called PlayStation Vue and Hulu is adding a live TV service next year as well.
(Reuters) -- President-elect Donald Trump left Twitter off the invitation list for a meeting of technology company executives on Wednesday because it is too small, a spokesman for his transition team told Reuters.
The omission of Twitter from the meeting surprised some in the industry given Trump's prolific use of the social media platform during his election campaign and the company's high profile in discussions over policy issues such as cyber security and the spread of violent online propaganda.
"They weren’t invited because they aren’t big enough," the transition official said.
With a market capitalization of $13.85 billion, Twitter is smaller than Facebook and Amazon, companies that were included in the meeting in New York.
The smallest company in attendance was electric car maker Tesla, with a market capitalization of $31.92 billion.
Twitter's platform played a big role in Trump's ability to speak directly to millions of voters. Trump leveraged his sizable following on Twitter to circumvent traditional media to speak directly to the public and to bash his opponents.
During the Obama administration, Twitter was a regular participant in meetings meant to address technology concerns, especially given its use by groups such as Islamic State and the ease with which the site is used for online bullying.
One source familiar with Trump's relationship with Twitter said the decision to exclude Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey was motivated by the president-elect's ire at the company, which rejected an advertising deal with his campaign in October.
Trump's election campaign had offered to pay to have an emoji, or small picture, that would show up on tweets during the second presidential debate anytime Twitter users tweeted the phrase "#Crooked Hillary," Republican Trump's nickname for his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Twitter rejected the deal, saying it might mislead users who would not be able to tell that the campaign had paid for the emoji.
The Trump transition spokesman said the emoji had nothing to do with the invitation omission. The official said Trump has had public spats with other tech leaders who were invited, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, who hosted a fundraiser for Clinton.
Trump, speaking to the group of technology officials at the meeting, acknowledged others had been left off the list, but he did not mention Twitter specifically.
"I won't tell you the hundreds of calls we've had asking to come to this meeting," he said to laughter in the room, "and I will say Peter (Thiel) was sort of saying 'no that company's too small,' and these are monster companies."
Cable TV channels that televise games of local professional sports teams are highly popular among sports fans, a Nielsen report commissioned by Fox Sports has found.
According to The LA Times, The study, released Wednesday, revealed that in certain markets, including Detroit and St. Louis, fans ranked the local regional sports channel as more essential than ESPN, Discovery, History or HBO. The findings were derived from a survey of 1,500 pay-TV subscribers who identified themselves as sports fans, which means the study was not necessarily representative of the broader base of pay-TV subscribers.
The “passion index” study comes as Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and owners of other regional sports channels brace for pitched battles with pay-TV operators over the high cost of these channels.
“We think these channels are very valuable for what they deliver,” said Jeff Krolik, president of Fox Sports Regional Networks. “The message to us was that many viewers regard these regional sports networks as the ‘fifth network’” in terms of popularity.
The issue is a sensitive one in the TV industry. Pay-TV operators have complained that the accelerating cost of sports channels is a prime contributor to higher bills for consumers, and network owners are worried about losing a public relations war.
Nielsen often finds that, in certain cities, a regional sports channel can draw larger audiences in prime time than traditional broadcast networks NBC, ABC, CBS and the national Fox network. During the most recent Major League Baseball season, for example, 23 of the 29 teams based in the U.S. ranked in the top five of all networks in their market when the teams played in prime time, according to the Nielsen findings.
(Reuters) -- Classical crossover singer Jackie Evancho, who charmed TV audiences as a child on "America's Got Talent" six years ago, will sing the U.S. national anthem at the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump - the first performer to be announced for the ceremony.
Trump's inaugural committee made the announcement on Wednesday, saying Evancho, 16, "represents the best and the brightest of America."
"I'm so excited. It's going to be awesome," Evancho said on the "Today" show on Wednesday.
Celebrity news website TMZ reported on Wednesday that Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli would also be singing at the Jan. 20 ceremony, but there was no official confirmation.
As a tiny 10-year-old, Evancho wowed Americans with her soaring soprano on classical arias like Puccini's "O mio babbino caro," taking second place on "America's Got Talent." She will follow in the footsteps of Aretha Franklin and Beyonce, who performed the "The Star-Spangled Banner" at President Barack Obama's two inaugurations.
After her "America's Got Talent" run, Evancho became the youngest solo artist to have a platinum-selling album in the United States. She met Trump at that time and has a photo on her Facebook page of the two of them standing together.
The inaugural committee has said it has "world-class talent" offering their services for the ceremony, but Evancho is the first celebrity to be announced.
The inaugural committee's chairman, Tom Barrack, quashed speculation on Tuesday that rapper Kanye West, who had a surprise meeting that day with the Republican president-elect at Trump Tower in New York, would be performing.
Country singer Garth Brooks is in discussions to perform, and, according to celebrity media, other names thought to be in talks include Kid Rock, rocker Ted Nugent and country star Lee Greenwood.
Beyonce, Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen and many other leading music stars backed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the election, and Elton John last month denied a report that he would be playing for Trump.
The Trump administration is considering doing away with the assigned seating in the White House briefing room, the president-elect's pick for chief of staff, Reince Priebus, told Salem radio host Hugh Hewitt, according to ABC News.
Seats in the front row of the briefing room are coveted and occupied by the networks, cable outlets and wire services.
Priebus also incorrectly asserted that the arrangement was put in place by the Obama White House. The seating assignments are actually controlled by the White House Correspondents' Association.
“There was a notable factual inaccuracy in Mr Priebus's remarks: News organizations have had assigned seats in the briefing room since those seats were installed in 1981. That was not an Obama-era innovation as Mr. Priebus suggested,” WHCA President Jeff Mason said in a statement.
Wednesday morning, Priebus incorrectly told Hewitt that reporters could take any seat they wanted under the Bush administration.
Priebus also said the possibility of changing the current seating assignment in the briefings "is being talked about” by the transition team.
Mason said the WHCA looks forward to working with the incoming administration to address questions or concerns about the arrangement.
“The WHCA assumed responsibility for assigning the seats in the briefing room over the last two decades at the request of both Republican and Democratic administrations, who were mindful of the potential appearance of playing favorites if they assigned the seats themselves,” Mason said.
Los Angeles radio personality Doug McIntyre has signed a two-year contract extension to continue his long-running McIntyre in the Morning show on Talk Radio KABC 790 AM in Los Angeles.
McIntyre just completed his 20th year in radio, having originated Red Eye Radio both locally in Los Angeles and the syndicated national edition for powerhouse 77 WABC in New York City prior to hosting legacy station KABC’s coveted morning drive slot.
“We’re thrilled Doug will be with us for at least another two years given the dramatic growth he has achieved for us over the past year.” said KABC Operations Director, Drew Hayes. Hayes cites an impressive 61% increase in weekly listeners in the third quarter of 2016 over 2015 and 70.6% growth year-to-year in the key 25-54 demographic. “Doug has also been a hit with women listeners”, says Hayes, citing “explosive growth” for McIntyre with women 25-54 and an amazing 333% increase per quarter hour.
KABC 790 AM (5 kw, DA-N)
“Great, another two years of no sleep!” said McIntyre who gets up at 3:45 every morning to prep for his show. “It’s been a crazy year between the election and pop music icons dropping like flies”, continued McIntyre. “I think we’ve found success by evolving talk radio away from stridency; by striking the right balance between today’s headlines and laughs without beating people over the head with ginned up outrage and demoralizing partisanship. “
Dolly Parton's star-studded "Smoky Mountains Rise: A Benefit for the My People Fund" telethon has raised nearly $9 million so far, and donations are still being counted, according to The Tennessean.
“I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the people who have donated from all over the country and to my friends who donated their time, their talent, and money for My People,” Parton said in a statement. “The response has been so overwhelming that we haven’t been able to count all of the donations yet; right now, in total, we have raised about $9 million for the folks who lost everything in Sevier County.”
The telethon aired Tuesday on a host of networks, including GAC, AXS-TV and RFD, and featured more than 20 live and pre-taped performances from stars ranging from Cyndi Lauper and Don McLean to Parton, Kenny Rogers, Chris Young, Chris Stapleton and Reba McEntire. Celebrities including Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Stapleton, Young, Paul Simon and Dierks Bentley made significant donations to the My People Fund as did the Academy of Country Music, ACM Lifting Lives and the Country Music Association.
Through Parton's My People Fund, money raised will go to benefit victims of the wildfires that ravaged parts of Parton's native Sevier County at the end of November. The My People Fund, started by Parton, The Dollywood Foundation and Sevier County businesses, ensures $1,000 a month for six months to each family who lost their primary residence in the blaze, which killed 14 people and scorched 17,000 acres in the tourist community. More than 1,300 families are known to have lost their homes.
The telethon is set to be broadcast multiple times in the coming days so the tally is expected to continue rising.
Donations to the My People Fund are tax-deductible and can be made at dollywoodfoundation.org, by texting DOLLY to 501501 for a one-time $10 donation or DOLLY25 to 501501 for a one-time $25 donation, or mailed to: My People Fund, c/o Dollywood Foundation, 111 Dollywood Lane, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863.
KLUC 98.5 FM’s 18th Annual Chet Buchanan & the Morning Zoo Toy Drive, presented by The Venetian and Sands Cares, ended the year with another record setting year of donations. The 12-day event filled (30) 50-foot trailers with new toys, along with 6,700 bikes and $442,669 in cash and gift cards.
The December 1 – 12 event benefited HELP of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit organization that assists less fortunate families during the holiday season. They will help over 3,000 families along with 65 other nonprofit organizations in southern Nevada to ensure that as many families as possible have gifts to unwrap this holiday season.
"98.5 KLUC’s Chet Buchanan & the Morning Zoo Toy Drive would have not be this successful without the support from the Las Vegas community, along with the dozens of businesses and celebrities that contribute to this event year after year,” said CBS Radio Las Vegas Senior Vice President and Market Manager Tony Perlongo.
“The KLUC Toy Drive has become an annual tradition for local families and companies, and will continue to be a part of the Las Vegas holiday tradition for years to come.”
The New KMLE @ 107.9 blanketed the Phoenix airwaves with the KMLE Country Cares for St. Jude Kids Radiothon on December 1 and 2 with stories of hope asking the KMLE Nation to come together and donate to help kids fighting cancer and other deadly diseases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The event raised a total of $314,520, which was accepted by Jessica Nuttall, the Regional Development Representative ALSAC Field Operations, on behalf of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Now in its fifth year, the KMLE Country Cares for Kids Radiothon has raised over $1.2 million.
“We want to thank the KMLE Nation for the astounding support for St. Jude. The outpouring from the Phoenix community surpassed our expectations,” said Tim Richards, CBS RADIO Phoenix Vice President of Programming. “We’re honored to work with St Jude.”
“Unlike any hospital, the majority of funding for St. Jude comes from individual contributors who participate in programs like the St. Jude Kids Radiothon,” said Nuttall “Thanks to the support from KMLE and the KMLE Nation, families will never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.”
KMLE on-air personalities, Chris Matthews, Nina D., B-Dub, Jared Marshall and Producer Badger led the way in asking the people of the Valley to become a Partner in Hope and donate $20 a month – just $.67 a day to help cure childhood cancer and save the lives of those taken too soon.
All of the proceeds from the KMLE Country Cares for Kids Radiothon were donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where the daily operating cost is $2 million, which is primarily covered by public contributions.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Wednesday announced two innovation challenges will be conducted over the next two years focused on uncovering broadcast news projects that serve the needs of local communities.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is investing $200,000 to support the challenges as part of the PILOT initiative, which advances broadcast technologies and cultivates new media opportunities.
Local broadcasters play a vital role in their communities, delivering news, emergency information and entertainment that viewers and listeners rely on to stay informed and make decisions. According to a 2016 Pew Research Center poll, a majority of U.S. adults often get their news from broadcasters, more than from other platforms. However, young adults are moving to alternative platforms, particularly online, for their news and information, reflecting a change in news consumption habits.
To adapt and meet the information needs of local communities, broadcast news leaders are looking for new ideas. To this end, NAB will officially launch the call for entries for the 2017 PILOT Innovation Challenge at NAB Show, the largest media and entertainment convention in the world, held April 22-27, 2017 in Las Vegas. Participants are encouraged to submit innovative project ideas for local broadcasters. Entries will be accepted through summer 2017.
Projects will be evaluated by a panel of judges from various groups, including local broadcasters, academics, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and other media-related entities. In addition, NAB will use the challenge to build a network of broadcast news innovators and will provide guidance, support and industry exposure to winners of the challenge as they build and test prototypes. NAB will announce the winners of the 2017 PILOT Innovation Challenge in the fall.
A fast-tracked bill that would allow governments to forgo publishing budgets, bids for services and other public records in newspapers and instead post them exclusively online triggered debate Tuesday among legislators, who were split on its potential impact on New Jersey’s media landscape.
According to northjersey.com, supporters framed it as a cost-saving measure for taxpayers in an age when digital news consumption is increasingly the norm. It was denounced by opponents as an assault on the state’s newspapers that would result in less investigative reporting, staffing cuts in newsrooms and reduced governmental transparency.
Some critics also questioned the timing of the bill, introduced on the same day as a separate measure to allow Governor Christie to cash in on a book deal while in office in exchange for raises for lawmakers’ staffs, judges, county prosecutors and other officials. One legislative source told The Record over the weekend that the legal notices bill was meant to punish New Jersey’s newspapers.
When a similar and unsuccessful version of the bill was introduced in 2011, the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services said it could not determine the measure’s financial impact on local governments. Citing the New Jersey Press Association, it estimated that local governments spend approximately $20 million on legal notices annually, about 60 percent of which is reimbursed by private entities.
Spread across the state’s 565 municipalities, the average local government could save about $14,160 by publishing notices digitally, based on the numbers cited by the Office of Legislative Services.
But switching to new or expanded digital sites might mean greater costs for public governments, the report said.
Advertisement rates for legal notices are set by statute and have not risen since 1983.
In 1922...deejay Alan Freed was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He is said to have coined the phrase rock ‘n’ roll, and was in large part responsible for the wide-scale acceptance of the music through his radio shows in Cleveland and New York. Freed became a scapegoat in the payola scandals and in 1962 pleaded guilty to accepting bribes. He died, a broken man, in a California hospital on January 20th, 1965. Freed’s life was dramatized in the film “American Hot Wax.”
In 1936....pioneering Seattle radio station KVL changed its call letters to KEEN. Later it changed again to KING-AM .. and in recent years KPTK, a talk station whose hosts espoused a progressive (left-leaning) philosophy. In the past several years AM 1090 went All-Sports, joining the CBS Radio Sports Network as KFNQ..
In 1941...the largest radio audience ever for a drama tuned in on the four national networks for “We Hold These Truths,” a one hour dramatic program written by Norman Corwin for the 150th anniversary of the US Bill of Rights. With the nation suddenly at war after the Dec. 7th Pearl Harbour attack, it was estimated that 63 million Americans, about half of the US population at the time, listened to the program.
In 1944...US Army Major and bandleader Glenn Miller's plane disappears in thick fog somewhere over the English Channel. The fate of Miller and his passengers, en route to play a Christmas concert in Paris with his Air Force band, has never been determine
In 1961...John Battison calls for Institute of Broadcast Engineers in Broadcast Engineering editorial
In 1955…Johnny Cash released the Sun Records single "Folsom Prison Blues," which peaked at #4 on the Country chart but did not break into the Billboard top pop list. Cash included the song in his repertoire for decades.
He performed it at Folsom Prison on January 13, 1968 and that "live" version was eventually released by Columbia on the "At Folsom Prison" album the same year, and as a single that reached #32 on the pop chart.
In 1956…Elvis Presley gave his final performance on the "Louisiana Hayride" after 50 appearances on the radio show, a weekly broadcast from KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana.
In 1957…Columbia Records executive Mitch Miller and entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. disparaged rock 'n' roll as "the comic books of music" during a radio talk show hosted by Davis. Another guest on the radio show, Arnold Maxim, president of the MGM record label, disagreed with them saying he saw no end to the fad in the near future.
In 1966...Walt (Walter Elias) Disney died in Burbank at age 65, a victim of lung cancer.
In 1988..."The Godfather of Soul," James Brown, was sentenced to six years in prison for failing to stop for police during a two-state car chase. He was released in 1990 on probation.
In 1990... John R. Gambling takes over Rambling With Gambling on WOR 710 AM, NYC.
John R. Gambling
Gambling joined his father as co-host of Rambling with Gambling in 1985, and took over as sole host after John A.'s retirement.
When WOR ended Rambling with Gambling in 2000 after 75 years on the air, John R. Gambling moved up the dial to WABC, taking over the post-morning-drive 10 a.m. - noon slot. Gambling was fired by WABC on February 29, 2008 in a cost-cutting move. On April 30, 2008, WOR announced the return of John R. Gambling to its air waves in his old morning-drive timeslot starting May 5, 2008. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also moved to WOR, joining Gambling on a one-hour segment, Fridays from 8-9am.
On December 20, 2013 John R. Gambling did his last morning show on WOR after announcing his retirement from broadcasting. He and his wife of 37 years Wendy are retiring to Florida ending a run of over 80 years during which the Gamblings were a staple of New York Radio.
On April 14, 2014 Gambling returned to New York radio on WNYM 970 AM weekdays from 11:00AM to 1:00PM.
In 1999...Country music superstar Garth Brooks said that he planned to keep an "extremely low" profile in 2000 and that he would "probably" announce his retirement at the end of the year.
In 2001…R&B singer/songwriter (Walking The Dog) Rufus Thomas, a popular Memphis disc jockey from 1953 to 1974, died following a heart attack at age 84.
He began working as a DJ at radio station WDIA in 1951, and hosted an afternoon R&B show called Hoot and Holler. WDIA, featuring an African-American format, was known as "the mother station of the Negroes" and became an important source of blues and R&B music for a generation, its audience consisting of white as well as black listeners. Thomas used to introduce his shows saying: "I'm young, I'm loose, I'm full of juice, I got the goose so what's the use. We're feeling gay though we ain't got a dollar, Rufus is here, so hoot and holler."
