Audio On-Demand Streaming at an All-Time High

Nielsen Music, the industry's leading source for music data and insights, has released its U.S. Mid-Year Report for the six-month period ended June 29, 2017. Included in the report are the coveted Nielsen Music Mid-Year charts, presented by Billboard, as well as key insights into the most important industry trends in sales and streaming, social media and consumer engagement across today’s most popular platforms.

The Nielsen Music U.S. Mid-Year Report confirms that streaming is still on the rise, with weekly on-demand audio streams surpassing 7 billion for the first time ever, during the week ended March 9. On-demand audio streams have reached over 184 billion streams so far in 2017, a considerable 62.4% increase over the same time period in 2016. Meanwhile, overall on-demand streams (including video) have surpassed 284 billion streams this year, an increase of 36.4% over the same period in 2016. There was however a decrease in album sales (-18.3%), album sales + TEA (track equivalent albums) (-19.9%), digital album sales (-19.9%) and physical album sales (-17%), highlighting consumer listening habits and an industry focus on single releases. Total audio consumption (albums + TEA + Audio on-demand SEA) is up 8.9% over last year.

The top streaming on-demand song (audio and video combined) is Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” followed by Migos’ (feat. Lil Uzi Vert) “Bad and Boujee” and Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee’s (feat. Justin Bieber) “Despacito.”

“The first half of 2017 has seen some incredible new benchmarks for the music industry,” said David Bakula, SVP of Music Industry Insights. “The rapid adoption of streaming platforms by consumers has generated engagement with music on a scale that we’ve never seen before.”

Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. is the leading album in total volume this year with total activity of more than 1.77 million units (albums, track equivalent albums and audio on-demand streaming equivalent albums combined) and held the number one spot on the Billboard 200 for three weeks. DAMN. is followed by Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) with 1.74 million units and Drake’s More Life with 1.69 million units. Drake’s release of More Life on March 18 set a record for audio on-demand streams in one week, with its tracks earning a combined 385 million streams, beating the record held by his previous album, Views, which logged 245 million streams in its first week for its songs.

The biggest song at the mid-year point, in terms of total song consumption (digital song sales with streaming equivalent on-demand audio) is “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran with 4.53 million units. The track also tops the Digital Song Sale charts with over 2 million downloads sold so far this year.

Super Bowl LI in Houston proved that the biggest day in American sports is still a boon for its halftime performers. Following her halftime performance, Lady Gaga saw a massive 1,580% lift in digital track sales over the previous week, as well as increases of 844% in albums with TEA and SEA (Streaming Equivalent Albums) and 210% for overall on-demand audio streams. Sales of Gaga’s album Joanne grew 814% with TEA and SEA in the week following the Super Bowl, compared to the prior week.

The Grammy Awards also proved to be a catalyst for engagement, with many of the artists who performed seeing considerable lifts in sales and streaming during the week following the awards. The songs performed at the Grammys added 319,000 song sales and nearly 21 million on-demand streams. Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book led all album on-demand streams with a unit increase of over 15 million; Adele’s 25 was a distant second with a unit increase of over 5 million on-demand streams. Prince was the single-most streamed artist, with an increase of over 16 million on-demand streams (5500% increase). Chance the Rapper followed close behind, with an increase of just under 16 million on-demand streams (84% increase).

SNL Kagan: KPWR Is Q2's Biggest Radio Deal

The volume of broadcast-station mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. reached $4.47 billion in the second quarter of 2017, according to estimates from Kagan, a group within S&P Global Market Intelligence. The TV segment contributed $4.22 billion of the total, with $3.82 billion coming from just one deal.

On May 8, Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. announced a successful bid for Tribune Media Co. The $43.50-per-share price represents $3.94 billion in cash and equity and the assumption of approximately $2.70 billion in net debt.

As far as the broadcast assets are concerned, at a 7.5x 2017-‘18 average seller's cash flow multiple, we estimate the value of Tribune’s 44 TV stations, including three stations operated through Local Marketing Agreements (LMAs), at $3.76 billion.

The purchase also included one AM radio station and the programming of one FM station, bringing the total broadcast value of the transaction to $3.82 billion.

In addition to the mega-deal, the TV deal market registered transactions worth $403.0 million. The second-largest TV deal of the quarter again involved Sinclair, which on April 21 announced the acquisition of Bonten Media Group Inc. and its 17 full-power and five low-power TV stations, including five LMAs, for $240.0 million.

In the largest deal by number of licenses since 2011, Edge Spectrum Inc., acquired the licenses for 196 low-power TV stations and construction permits to meet the spectrum requirements for its planned nationwide IP broadcasting network. Edge Spectrum paid a total of $72.0 million to several subsidiaries of EICB TV LLC and to Grace Worship Center Inc.

In the third-largest full-power TV transaction, Saga Communications Inc. left the TV industry, selling its six remaining owned-and-operated stations and three LMAs to Morgan Murphy Media for $66.6 million. At the same time, Saga expanded its radio business with the third-largest radio deal of the quarter, paying $23.0 million to Apex Media Corp. for seven FM stations, one AM and four translators.

The top radio deal was the $82.8 million sale of hip-hop FM station KPWR-Los Angeles from Emmis Communications to Meruelo Media. The transaction was the largest single radio-station sale since 2012 and represents nearly 34% of the quarter’s $245.0 million radio deal total.

The second-largest radio transaction was the radio portion of Sinclair’s Tribune Media acquisition. We estimate a value of $58.4 million for Chicago’s WGN-AM and the programming of one additional FM station.

In the first half of 2017, the broadcast deal market registered a total volume of $7.24 billion, with $4.39 billion coming from the TV sector and $2.84 billion stemming from the radio market.

Thursday's Hot Links..What Others Are Saying

➤CNN Faces Backlash After Apology From Reddit User Behind Trump Bodyslam Video

➤Greenwald: "There is something creepy" About CNN

➤Ride-Sharing Brands Top Biggest Millennial Customer Gains Over Last Year

➤Tracy Johnson On Coaching Talent: The Big But Syndrome

➤Fred Jacobs: The Genius Of Tim Westergren

Report: One America News, The Insurgent TV Network

One America News is an obscure TV channel struggling to emerge from the cellar of the cable ratings, but it is nonetheless one of President Trump’s favorite media outlets. It’s not hard to see why: On One America newscasts, the Trump administration is a juggernaut of progress, a shining success with a daily drumbeat of achievements.

According to The Washington Post, One America — a tiny father-and-sons operation that often delivers four times as many stories per hour as its competitors — promises “straight news, no opinion,” promoting itself as the antidote to the Big Three cable news networks’ focus on punditry and the one big story of the moment.

But since its inception in 2013, and especially since Trump began his march to the White House, One America’s owner, Robert Herring Sr., a millionaire who made his money printing circuit boards, has directed his channel to push Trump’s candidacy, scuttle stories about police shootings, encourage antiabortion stories, minimize coverage of Russian aggression, and steer away from the new president’s troubles, according to more than a dozen current and former producers, writers and anchors, as well as internal emails from Herring and his top news executives.

In a volatile TV news landscape where the longtime ratings leader, Fox News, is suffering through a period of internal turmoil, One America has tried to elbow itself into the big leagues, publicly wooing former Fox star Bill O’Reilly to join OAN. Although O’Reilly didn’t take the bait and the channel is available in only about 30 million homes, a far cry from Fox News’s 90 million, One America is growing — in viewer numbers, in influence in Republican circles, and as a potential alternative for conservatives and libertarians who believe Fox’s commitment to a right-wing perspective is weakening.

“We’re a no-fluff, very fast-paced live news service meant to inform,” said Charles Herring, Robert’s son and president of Herring Broadcasting, which owns One America. “News anchors are not allowed to express opinions. They simply deliver the news and we leave it up to the viewers to decide. It’s not our family’s mission to determine the news.”

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Detroit Radio: Market Vet Foolish Joins WMGC

Beasley Media Group has announced Foolish (also known as) F.raw will join BIGG in the Morning on WMGC 105.1 The Bounce as one of its newest on-air Ambassadors.

Foolish

Detroit’s Throwback Hip Hop and R & B station began rolling out on air “Ambassadors” in December of 2016, mixing long time area radio favorites with a few new names who have moved to the Motor City.

“It’s our honor to add one of Detroit’s brightest stars to the line-up of Bounce Ambassadors and welcome Foolish into the studio every morning, alongside Bigg, Shay Shay and the rest of the cast of the all new Bigg and Foolish in the Morning,” said 105.1 The Bounce Program Director Al Payne.

“That’s my job… making people laugh,” said Foolish. “Who’s next Detroit?”

“Foolish is going to be so fun to have in the studio with us all in the morning,” said 105.1 The Bounce Morning Show Host BIGG. “I’m a big fan of his personally, and I know Detroit loves him as well. This is going to make coming to work even more fun, which I didn’t think was even possible! Watch out Detroit, BiGG and Foolish in the Morning is now a thing!”

“I grew up listening and laughing to Foolish,” said Morning Show Co- Host Shay Shay. “It will be great to wake up Detroit with him every morning.”

The Detroit native, whose footprint expands across all forms of entertainment, started his comedy career on B.E.T.’s ground-breaking series, Comic View, followed by an extraordinary 17 years of hilarious comedy on radio in the morning in the Motor City.

WMGC 105.1 FM (50 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

The former morning host at WJLB and WGPR continues to tour the nation with actors and actresses doing various plays and concerts, along with headlining events for fundraising organizations. In addition, he continues to pioneer educational movements in the City of Detroit.

Charlotte Radio: Kelly Mac Joins WBAV For Mid-Days

Beasley Media Group has announced Kelly Mac will return to the Carolinas as the new Midday Host and Music Director at WBAV V101.9-FM.

She will begin her new position on July 10, 2017.

Mac most recently served as the program director and PM drive talent in Indianapolis, Indiana. Prior to that, she was the midday talent at WJMZ-FM in Greenville, South Carolina.

“It’s a blessing to be able to team up with a strong, creative, competitive, and supportive leader like Uzi who believes in live, local, personality driven radio,” said Mac. “Charlotte has been a market I’ve been watching and wanting to work in over a decade. So I am thrilled to have the chance to join forces with Uzi and the WBAV team!”

WBAV 101.9 FM (100 Kw) Red=Local Coverage Area

“I am excited to bring in a talent who is so passionate about radio and has the drive, enthusiasm, and talent to continue to grow our awesome WBAV brand,” noted Operations Manager Jeff Uzi D Anderson. “Kelly’s incredible attitude and magnetic connection that she has with her listeners both on and off the air will be a game changer in the market. I look forward to the positive impact she will bring, which is right in line with the culture that we continue to build here at Beasley Media Charlotte.”

Report: Adam Bain Top CEO Candidate For Pandora

Adam Bain

Pandora board members and top shareholders have Adam Bain, Twitter’s former chief operating officer, on a short list of possible candidates to become the company’s new CEO, The NY Post is reporting.

“They have someone in mind who is a world-class executive with an advertising background,” said one source close to the search.

That person is Bain, a second source confirmed.  The 44-year-old’s name has cropped up in recent conversations among the board members and larger shareholders of the streaming radio service — though search firm Spencer Stuart, hired to find a new boss for the Oakland, Calif., company, has yet to have substantive talks with Bain, sources said.

Bain was Twitter’s main point of contact with Madison Avenue and could help Pandora boost its ad revenue, which was up just 1.4 percent in the first quarter after rising 15 percent in 2016.

Bain isn’t currently working full time and quit Twitter in November.

Pandora CEO Tim Westergren stepped down in June — as did president Mike Herring and chief marketing officer Nick Bartle.

Westergren will likely remain involved with Pandora, sources said.

Tucker Carlson, Mark Steyn Destroy CNN Over Blackmail

Commentator Mark Steyn said CNN has gone off the deep end in their reaction to a GIF showing President Trump punching them in the face.

Steyn, a "Rush Limbaugh Show" sub-host, said it was ridiculous for the network to have researchers comb the internet to find the GIF creator's identity, according to Fox News.

CNN forced the person to apologize and remove his content in exchange for the network keeping his identity secret.

"Why not figure out where [ISIS leader Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi is?" Tucker Carlson asked.

"A major news organization is policing some no-name schlub's internet content and threatening to reveal his identity if he transgresses their particular standards," Steyn said.

"Wolf Blitzer has basically put a horse's head in this guy's bed," he added, referencing "The Godfather."


Steyn blasted anchor Chris Cuomo for a now-deleted tweet asking the public whether his network should reveal the GIF creator's identity.

"Should CNN reveal name of Reddit user who made trump wrestling video?" Cuomo, brother of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), wrote.

"Get lost you creeps," Steyn said of Cuomo and his coworkers.

He said the media who should really feel under threat are those who have been either killed or threatened as a result of their coverage of things like the Danish Mohammad cartoon.

Howard Kurtz On Life Beyond The Media Bubble

Robert Leonard

If you live inside the Beltway hothouse, you’re practically fainting from all the Trump taunts against the media, from the CNN faux-wrestling video to the cosmetic slap at Mika Brzezinski.

But out in the rural heartland, it’s a different story, according to Media Watcher Howard Kurtz at Fox News.

That viewpoint snuck onto the New York Times op-ed page courtesy of Robert Leonard, News Editor at KNIA, KRLS Radio in Knoxville, Iowa who talks to plenty of Trump supporters in his part of the state.

And guess what? They don’t much care about wrestling videos and insulting cable news hosts. They think the president is doing just fine, that the media are out to get him, and that most of what obsesses the press is just noise.

He writes: “What I do hear from my conservative friends — most still ardent Trump supporters — is a collective yawn at the Washington maelstrom. Few care about his tweets — even about Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough and the CNN body slam. The whacking of James Comey? About time. President Obama’s appointee anyway. Mr. Trump’s asking if Mr. Comey could drop the Michael Flynn investigation? It was a simple question, not obstruction of justice. The Comey testimony? Vindication for Mr. Trump! Mr. Comey is a leaker, he lied under oath, and he’s going down. He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t serve prison time.”

And then Leonard gets at an underlying reality that many media folks miss:

“For many conservatives, they support Mr. Trump because he’s their de facto leader in a cultural war. Liberals mock Christianity and demean Christian morals. Conservatives respect our police and military, while liberals romanticize street thugs. Conservatives’ tax dollars help pay for public schools and colleges that indoctrinate liberal values.”

That doesn’t make them right, but it’s a point of view that isn’t terribly popular in New York and Washington, and which must be reckoned with."

Houston Radio: KTRH's Matt Patrick Stops Cancer Treatment

On the sixth anniversary of taking the airwaves in Houston, KTRH 740 AM radio host Matt Patrick announced Wednesday that he would no longer seek treatment for the aggressive cancer he's been fighting since late 2015.

According to The Houston Chronicle, Patrick's esophageal cancer has reduced his once-booming broadcasting voice to something just above a whisper at times. It's far-removed from the usual tone that listeners have grown used to since 2011. Even during sickness though Patrick's jovial attitude can be heard.


"On Houston's Morning News this morning, Matt revealed he has exhausted all options and has discontinued cancer treatments," read a status update on the AM station's Facebook page. "Matt and all of us at NewsRadio 740 KTRH, and the iHeartMedia family, thank you all for your constant love and support during this difficult time."


His co-host Shara Fryer (a cancer survivor) helped Patrick get through the morning show as Patrick's wife also stayed in the studio with him and the rest of the show team.

July 6 Radio History

➦In 1924...in an experiment, the first photo was sent across the Atlantic by radio from the United States to England.


➦In 1925...rock `n’ roll pioneer Bill Haley (William John Clifton Haley Jr.) was born in Highland Park, a section of Detroit. The biggest hit for Bill Haley & His Comets was the rock `n’ roll classic “(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock,” a No. 1 song for eight weeks in 1955. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He died of a brain tumour Feb. 9 1981 at age 55.


➦In 1925...singer/host/entrepreneur Merv Griffin was born in San Mateo Calif.  His singing career began at KFRC San Francisco, and hit its peak as vocalist with Freddy Martin’s Orchestra.  He was the singer on a number of hits, including I”ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts.   He was a TV quizmaster, and started guest hosting the Tonight Show, which led to his own wildly popular syndicated talk show.   He became enormously wealthy after selling his two successful TV quiz creations, Jeopardy & Wheel of Fortune.  He died of prostate cancer Aug. 12 2007 at age 82.


➦In 1943...after several years in supporting radio roles with Rudy Vallee, Paul Whiteman and Edgar Bergen, Judy Canova began her own weekly comedy-and-music show on CBS. The show continued for the next 10 years, mostly on NBC Radio.


In 1947...a hidden microphone eavesdropped on unsuspecting people for the first time, as Candid Microphone hit the airwaves. Allen Funt was the host of the ABC radio show the forerunner of the long-running TV version, Candid Camera.  Candid Microphone didn’t have as long a run on radio, however, lasting one year on ABC, taking a two year hiatus and returning 1n 1950 on CBS Radio for a three-month summer run.


➦In 1950...the CBS Radio answer to NBC’s Dragnet aired for the first time. The Lineup had a distinguished three-year run in the waning days of bigtime radio.

➦In 1957...Liverpool teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time after a performance by Lennon's band, the Quarrymen.


➦In 1963...Dick Biondi - the once-popular evening DJ on WLS 890 AM inChicago, begins on KRLA 1110 AM in Pasadena, Calif. He walked out on WLS about 2 months ago in a disagreement. KRLA is in a top-40 battle with KFWB.Even though KFWB is #1 - the new KRLA lineup looks like this - Reb Foster, Casey Kasem, Bob Eubanks, Dick Biondi, Ted Quilin. (Today, Biondi airs on WLS 94.7 FM in Chicago.)

KRLA overtook KFWB by the mid-1960s. In 1965, KHJ start its “Boss Radio” Top 40 format, which launched it to the No. 1 position.  KRLA was the second-place Top 40 station.  KFWB abandoned music and flipped to all-news in 1968.



As music listeners moved to FM, KRLA evolved to adult contemporary by 1982.  It became an oldies station in 1983.  That lasted until 1994, when KRLA moved to urban oldies.  In 1998, KRLA went to an all-talk format before flipping to all-sports KSPN in 2000.  Today, it’s KDIS, a Radio Disney children’s music station.

When KRLA became KSPN in 2000, the KRLA call letters went to 870 AM, which carries a conservative talk format.


➦In 1974..."A Prairie Home Companion," a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor and first broadcast from Macalester College in St. Paul, made its debut on Minnesota Public Radio.

NAB Urges FCC To Do Away With Main Studio Regs

The National Association of Broadcasters is calling on the FCC to move ahead with its plans to end the main studio rule for radio and TV broadcasters, according to fiercecable.com.

In an FCC filing (PDF), the NAB said the main studio rule, along with the related equipment and staffing requirements, should be ditched since audiences now more often interact digitally with licensees.

As NAB points out, when the main studio rule was established in 1940, it was meant to more easily allow viewers to actually visit TV stations. When the rule was revised in 1998, many of the ways in which stations and their audiences interact today had yet to be developed, the NAB wrote.

NAB said that eliminating the rule will have no impact on studios’ connections to the local communities they serve.

“Stations will continue to have strong incentives to know and understand the needs and interests of their communities of license, and the public will continue to interact with their local stations in ways that are not dependent upon the existence of a studio—using social media, telephone, email, letters and websites maintained by both stations and the FCC,” the NAB wrote.

“Audiences certainly had the ability to mail letters to stations,” NAB noted, “but in 1940, only 39% of U.S. households had telephones. Even when the main studio rule was most recently revised in 1998, many of the revolutionary ways in which stations and their audiences interact today had yet to be developed.

“Today’s audiences are in frequent communication with their local stations through multiple means. Stations have deployed their own mobile applications, are active on multiple social media platforms (often with multiple accounts specific to their news and weather operations) and have websites with both live and archived content.

“Audiences can and do share information with their local stations using social media, website comments, letters, emails and calls.”

In April, the FCC officially opened a docket for the review of current media ownership rules, making good on a pledge that Chairman Ajit Pai made during this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas.

“The last thing broadcast needs are outdated rules standing in their way,” Pai said. “We want to make sure the rules match the reality of 2017, not 1987.”

FCC Chair Announces New Chief Economist

Jerry Ellig

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today announced the appointment of Jerry Ellig as chief economist for the Federal Communications Commission.

Dr. Ellig currently serves as a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

“I’m excited that Dr. Ellig will lend his talents to the FCC as we continue to integrate economic analysis into our decision-making and create an agency culture that supports big-picture economic thinking once again,” said Chairman Pai. “Dr. Ellig’s record of distinguished scholarship and prior government service makes him the right person for this job.”

The FCC chief economist advises the Chairman, Commissioners, and Bureaus and Offices on economic issues. Additionally, in April, Chairman Pai announced his intention to create an Office of Economics and Data to provide economic analysis for rulemakings, transactions, and auctions; manage the commission’s data resources; and conduct longer-term research on ways to improve the commission’s policies. The chief economist will assist the agency in standing up this new office.

Currently, Dr. Ellig’s work focuses on the role of economic analysis in the U.S. regulatory process, competition policy in telecommunications, broadband and electronic commerce, and performance management in government agencies. Most recently, he has published a series of papers that assess the quality and use of regulatory impact analysis in both executive branch and independent agencies. These papers identify best practices, shortcomings, and reasons for variation in the quality of agencies’ analysis.

Fox Dealing With Another Sexual Harassment Scandal

Jamie Horowitz

Rupert Murdoch’s media company has been struggling for nearly a year to contain a sexual harassment scandal that has engulfed its Fox News unit in New York. Now, fresh allegations of a boorish workplace culture are dogging yet another unit — this time in Los Angeles — as Fox Sports announced that it had abruptly fired its controversial head of sports programming.

The LA Times reports Jamie Horowitz’s dismissal Monday came about a week after Fox began investigating allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace in its sports division. The company interviewed several women at L.A.-based Fox Sports about Horowitz’s behavior.

Late Friday, Horowitz, the president of Fox Sports National Networks, was told to report to his West Los Angeles office at 8 a.m. Monday for a meeting. That request, his attorney said, was the first indication to Horowitz that anything was amiss.

He met with Fox Sports’ human resources executives, who informed Horowitz that he was being fired, effective immediately, said one of the people familiar with the situation.

“The way Jamie has been treated by Fox is appalling,” said Horowitz's attorney, Patricia L. Glaser. “At no point in his tenure was there any mention by his superiors or human resources of any misconduct, or an inability to adhere to professional conduct. Jamie was hired by Fox to do a job that until today he was performing in exemplary fashion.

“Any slanderous accusations to the contrary will be vigorously defended.”

Fox Sports is a profitable arm of Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox media company. Horowitz, 40, a former ESPN executive, ripped a page from Fox News’ playbook by introducing loud and opinionated pundits who argue about issues in sports. The shows often feature an attractive young woman who serves as a foil for the boisterous men.

Sports Illustrated on Monday reported that a production assistant told human resources executives at Fox Sports that Horowitz once tried to kiss her. “I have been working in sports for a long time, and no one has ever been that bold with me,” the unidentified woman told the magazine. “I saw him at Fox one day, and he said he wanted to catch up.… The hook was that he could get me more work.”

He joined Fox Sports after a brief and tumultuous stint at NBC’s “Today,” from which he was fired in 2014 after two months on the job. On-air personalities at “Today” complained to superiors that Horowitz was sowing discord on the set, suggesting that high-profile anchors, including Natalie Morales and Willie Geist, were on the verge of being fired.

Wednesday's Hot Links..What Others Are Saying

➤Media Reaps Dividends From Trump Attacks

➤What Does The Future of Sports Broadcasting Look Like?

➤Why The Media Has Broken Down In The Age of Trump

➤The Era of Stand-Alone Electronic Devices is Ending

➤Why Is It So Hard For Women In Country Music

➤Goodbye Nonpartisan Journalism. And Good Riddance.

➤SiriusXM Lifetime-Deal Lawsuit Tossed By Judge

ESPN's Dan Shulman To Walk-Away From Baseball

After nearly 20 years of doing baseball games for ESPN, longtime announcer Dan Shulman is walking away from the booth after this season, reports philly.com.

“Dan recently expressed his desire to modify his schedule to coincide with some personal life changes, and he has our full support,” ESPN senior vice president Mark Gross said in a statement to Philly.com.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, Shulman said that he will be getting remarried next year and that the decision to walk away from baseball did not come from higher-ups at the network, which laid off about 100 on-air personalities back in April.

“I’m grateful to ESPN for giving me this opportunity, and equally grateful that they agreed to let me reconfigure my situation in order to make this work,” Shulman said. “The older we get, I think we sometimes reprioritize, and I guess I’m doing that.”

In fact, Shulman isn’t leaving the network entirely. He will remain ESPN’s play-by-play voice for NCAA men’s basketball, and continue to be featured in ESPN’s popular Saturday night package alongside analyst Dick Vitale.

Report: Media-Entertainment Tops Auto In Radio Ad Dollars

Media and entertainment narrowly edged out automotive as radio’s top ad category among the industry’s publicly traded companies, a new Wells Fargo Securities analysis shows.

InsideRadio reports that top category accounted for 18% of radio ad dollars, closely followed by auto with 15%. Auto, traditionally radio’s top breadwinner, has modestly trimmed ad spending on radio and other traditional media, according to industry execs.

Consumer/retail and services tied for third place on the Wells Fargo tally, each delivering 13% of revenues, followed by a tie for fifth place among financial services and food & beverage at 9% apiece.

Other major radio ad categories include health care/pharma (7%), telephone/utilities (5%) and travel & leisure (3%). Political/organization, which both radio and television stations said fell well below expectations during the 2016 election cycle, delivered 3% of ad revenues, followed by gas/oil (2%). “Other” categories made up 3% of revenues.

The new breakdown, based on data from publicly held radio companies and Wells Fargo data, is contained in a Radio Industry Refresher report put out by Wells Fargo senior analyst Marci Ryvicker in response to queries from investors about the Entercom-CBS Radio merger. It paints a mostly upbeat picture of the industry, using Nielsen and other data to remind investors that “radio is one of the few reach mediums” and that “listenership has been pretty stable.” But radio revenues “are not as stable,” the report says, pointing to low- to mid-single digit annual declines since 2012. However the revenue numbers don’t include digital media and political advertising, just national and local spot, and thus offer an incomplete picture of industry revenue.

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